4-4 How to Use Operations Objectives in the MTP
Performance Measurement: An Example from WSDOT, “Measures, Markers and Mileposts,” 2007.
Although this example comes from a State DOT, a similar approach could be applied at a regional level.
See: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/accountability/.
How to Use Operations Objectives in the MTP 4-5
Examples of performance measures relevant to management and operations include20:
y Travel time – Travel time measures focus on the time needed to travel along a selected portion of the transportation system, and can be applied for specific roadways, corridors, transit lines, or at a regional level. Common travel time metrics include:
– Average travel time, which can be meas-ured based on travel time surveys;
– Average travel speeds, which can be cal-culated based on travel time divided by segment length or measured based on real-time information collection;
– Travel time index: the ratio of peak to non-peak travel time, which provides a measure of congestion.
y Congestion extent – Congestion measures can address both the spatial and temporal extent (duration). Depending on how these measures are defined and data that are col-lected, these measures may focus on recur-ring congestion or address both recurrecur-ring and non-recurring congestion. Examples include:
– Lane miles of congested conditions (defined based on volume to capacity (V/C) ratio, level of service (LOS) meas-ures, or travel time index;
– Number of intersections experiencing congestion (based on LOS)
– Percent of roadways congested by type or roadway (e.g., freeway, arterial, collec-tor)
– Average hours of congestion per day – Share of peak period transit services
experiencing overcrowding
y Delay – Delay measures take into account the amount of time that it takes to travel in excess of travel under unconstrained (ideal or freeflow) operating conditions, and the number of vehicles affected. These measures provide an indication of how problematic traffic congestion is, and can address both
20 See NTOC “Performance Measurement Initiative – Final Report,” http://www.ntoctalks.com/ntoc/ntoc_final_report.pdf.
recurring and nonrecurring congestion-related delay. Examples of delay measures include:
– Vehicle-hours of recurring delay associ-ated with population and employment growth
– Vehicle-hours of nonrecurring delay associated with incidents, work zones, weather conditions, special events, etc.
y Incident occurrence / duration – Incident duration is a measure of the time elapse from the notification of an incident until the incident has been removed or response vehi-cles have left the incident scene, and can be used to assess the performance of service patrols and incident management systems.
Incident occurrence can also be measures used to assess the performance and reliabil-ity of transit services. Examples of this measure include:
– Median minutes from time of incident until incident has been removed from scene
– Number of transit bus breakdowns – Average number of transit rail system
delays in excess of X minutes
y Travel time reliability – Travel time reli-ability measures take into account the varia-tion in travel times that occur on roadways and across the system. Examples of meas-ures include:
– Buffer time, which describes the addi-tional time that must be added to a trip to ensure that travelers will arrive at their destination at, or before, the intended time 95% of the time
– Buffer time index, which represents the percent of time that should be budgeted on top of average travel time to arrive on time 95% of the time (e.g., a buffer index of 40 percent means that for a trip that usually takes 20 minutes, a traveler should budget an additional 8 minutes to ensure on-time arrival most of the time) – Percent of travel when travel time is X
percent [e.g., 20%] larger than average travel time.
4-6 How to Use Operations Objectives in the MTP y Person throughput – Examines the number
of people that are moved a roadway or tran-sit system, which can account for efforts to improve the flow of traffic, encourage high occupancy vehicle movement, or increase seats occupied on transit. Example measures include:
– Peak hour persons moved per lane – Peak hour persons moved on transit
ser-vices
y Customer satisfaction – Examines public perceptions about the quality of the travel experience, including the efficiency of sys-tem management and operations. Customer satisfaction is typically measured through surveys and may include measures such as:
– Percent of the population reporting being satisfied or highly satisfied with travel conditions
– Percent of the population reporting being satisfied or highly satisfied with access to traveler information
– Percent of the population reporting being satisfied or highly satisfied with the reli-ability of transit services
y Availability of or awareness of informa-tion – These measures focus on public knowledge of travel alternatives or traveler information.
Performance measures related to congestion will be developed through the Congestion Management Process. In the CMP, different measures of con-gestion may be used, addressing the scope, extent, or duration of congestion; recurring and nonrecur-ring congestion; and other issues related to con-gestion.
Incorporating performance measures relating to system reliability, incidents, and nonrecurrent delay can have an important role in changing how an MPO examines and defines its current or base-line conditions. Often, agencies describe basebase-line conditions as broad averages. However, such descriptions are not very useful when agencies seek to avoid transportation disruptions caused by non-recurrent congestion including special events, incidents, work zones, weather or other distur-bances. Using baseline data that do not account for these common departures from average conditions
makes it difficult to assess the value of M&O such strategies. As a result, some regions are calculat-ing the contribution of incident delay to traffic congestion and air pollution in order to better show the benefits of programs that address this form of delay.
Examples of M&O Performance Measures North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) has selected a reliability index that com-pares non-recurring delay to total delay. NJTPA uses a special post-processing module to its travel demand model to help produce this indicator.
See:
www.njtpa.org/planning/strat_eval/strat_eval.html.
Boston MPO
As another example of using performance measures, the Boston MPO measures peak-period passenger crowding and on-time performance by transit line.
Using data collected on the regional transit system, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), the Boston MPO reports number of passen-gers per seat on transit lines in the peak period as well as the percentage of trips operating within five minutes of scheduled times.
See:
www.ctps.org/bostonmpo/resources/reports.htm.
How to Use Operations Objectives in the MTP 4-7 M&O Performance Measures: Examples from Puget Sound Regional Council
The Puget Sound Regional Council, in Washington State, has proposed a range of performance measures across different modes of transportation, as shown by the examples below.
Measure Highway HOV Transit Ferries Non-Motorized Freight
Travel Time and Delay
y Point-to- Point Peak Travel Time
y Point-to-Point Peak Congestion
y Point-to-Point Peak Congestion Delay
y Congestion Duration
y Point-to-Point Peak Travel Time by Type
y Point-to-Point Peak Congestion Delay
y Congestion Duration
y Point-to- Point Peak Travel Time
y Point-to-Point Congestion Delay
y y Point-to-Point
Mid-day Travel Time
y Point-to-Point Congestion Delay
Travel Time Reliability
y Standard
Deviation of Peak Travel Time Ride Capacity Used
y Percent of
Population within x Distance of Transit
y Percent of Ridership with 2 or More
Throughput y Peak Hour Person Movement segments at or over capacity
y Percent of Terminal Capacity Used
4-8 How to Use Operations Objectives in the MTP