Improving efficiency as a means to improving transport quality

In many economies, local public transport has for many years been losing favour to its more flexible competitor, the car. Improving public transport as a way of attracting back lost passengers is a key goal of all public transport service providers and of policymakers. One of the ways in which public transport might be improved—and therefore have the possibility to attract more passengers—is by engaging operators in performance measurement and the sharing of good ideas within the industry. To date, very little performance measurement has taken place in the local passenger transport sector; however, benchmarking is one option for enabling this process. Against such a background, this paper describes the setting up of a benchmarking group by a number of ex-municipal bus companies. The paper describes the aims and aspirations of the different members in the setting up of the benchmarking group and identifies the progress made and presents an analysis of the difficulties encountered. It goes on to consider how this experience could be linked to the provision of quality bus partnerships that have become a popular way of promoting patronage growth in the privatised bus operator environment of the UK.