October 5, 2018
COVERAGE OF THE 2018 APTA ANNUAL MEETING
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Looking at Public Transit's Value Through a New Lens

What metrics should public transportation professionals use to measure the success of their agencies? Agency chief executives joined policy analysts to address this question at a Sept. 26 session, “Measuring Public Transportation’s Value.”

“We are truly at a crossroads,” said moderator Brian J. Lamb, general manager of Metro Transit in Minneapolis and a member of the APTA Board of Directors. “The era of measuring ourselves against ourselves is coming to an end; we need to measure against larger goals.”

Lamb noted that his agency is part of the Metropolitan Council, the regional MPO. This provides a wider outlook, connecting public transit to more expansive goals such as equity, livability, prosperity, stewardship and sustainability. Looking beyond ridership to support greater community outcomes, he said, makes a public transit system a smarter strategic partner in its region. His examples included targeting bus routes to employment-heavy areas—and informing employees of the service; making sure neglected neighborhoods are not forgotten in the placement of bus shelters; and preparing public transit to move commuters unable to drive because of road congestion projects.

“Measuring beyond ridership demonstrates and communicates transit as a community asset,” Lamb said.

Gary Rosenfeld, chief executive officer of the Memphis Area (TN) Transit Authority (MATA), noted that his city is only now recovering from the 2008 recession and public transit has a role to play in helping the community and its residents. He described MATA’s pilot partnership with Agape Child & Family Services, providing affordable, reliable transportation to families in underserved neighborhoods.

Panelists, from left: Robbie Makinen, Gary Rosenfeld, Josh Cohen, Darnell Chadwick Grisby and Brian J. Lamb.

Robbie Makinen, president & CEO, Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA), Kansas City, MO, suggested that “ridership is a byproduct in what we do. We provide access opportunities.” Makinen, a former KCATA board chair, lost his sight six years ago.

He cited his agency’s partnership with Transdev to provide on-demand service at a much lower cost than paratransit and its plans to give veterans access to the entire service area instead of individual passes.

“We’re not in this business for profit; we serve the community,” Makinen said. “We affect more people’s lives in a day than most people do in a lifetime. It’s our job to connect people with opportunities.”

Darnell Chadwick Grisby, APTA director-policy development and research, called on member agencies to share their information, creating a “cluster of knowledge” on ways to measure congestion and determine which areas operate most fluidly and which need help.

“It’s about moving people, not moving metal and glass,” he said. His overview touched on what he called “multi-transit” rather than multi-modalism, making all modes attractive and easy to use in concert with each other.

Josh Cohen, campaign manager for the APTA Center for Transportation Excellence and principal with New Heights Communications, Washington, DC, talked about using personal stories to share the truth of the public transit experience. Agencies have to go beyond simply collecting data and reporting; they need to show how, in APTA’s slogan, “where public transportation goes, community grows.”
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