DRAFT

Washington State Public Transportation Plan
Chapter Two: A Decision-Making Framework Focused On System Performance And Multimodal Integration
DEVELOPING PERFORMANCE MEASURES
FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Performance-based targets and trends can be powerful tools to help transportation
providers, policy makers and communities achieve a more integrated, high-performing and
adaptable transportation system.
Achieving the vision of an integrated, multimodal system requires moving beyond
compliance with performance reporting requirements set forth in MAP-21, Washington
state’s Biennial Transportation Attainment Report, RCW 35.58.2796, Results Washington
and Results WSDOT. The underlying themes of the Washington State Public Transportation
Plan, which include concepts such as multimodal integration, system efficiency, resilience
and vibrant communities, will require a different set of evaluation measures and associated
data. Although Washington state is one of the nation’s leaders in the development of
transportation performance measures, existing data and evaluation tools may not be
adequate to support more integrated, performance-focused transportation system
management and integrated decision-making. The Washington Transportation Plan
2035 recommends going beyond the performance areas in MAP-21, which include safety,
infrastructure conditions, traffic congestion, freight movement, environmental protection
and project delivery, to demonstrate that funds are being wisely applied and are returning
measurable benefits to individuals and the state as a whole.
Many transportation providers throughout Washington state expend considerable
resources to provide data to respond to local, state and federal information requirements
and requests. Others provide no data and are not required to do so; private providers and
carpoolers, for example. A move toward more integrated, performance-focused measures
will require us to build from a foundation of existing data and continuous improvement,
keeping in mind the costs and challenges associated with gathering, storing and using
transportation data.
CURRENT REPORTING INCLUDES:
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Transit agencies provide data to the Federal Transit Administration via the National
Transit Database, which was established by Congress to be the nation’s primary source
for information and statistics on the transit systems of the United States. Recipients or
beneficiaries of grants from the Federal Transit Administration under the Urbanized
Area Formula Program (§5307) or Other than Urbanized Area (Rural) Formula Program
(§5311) are required by statute to submit data to the database, which is used to
apportion over $5 billion of Federal Transit Administration funds to transit agencies
in urbanized areas and to support annual reports submitted to Congress summarizing
transit service and safety data.
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WSDOT | DRAFT October 2015 | WaTransPlan.com