EVOLUTION OF TRANSIT INVESTMENT MEASURES IN MINNESOTA
The Office of Transit Administration (OTA) of the Minnesota Department of Transportation has been administering state funds for transit services since 1977. Since the programs started, a data base has been maintained so that OTA could monitor and evaluate system performance. Monitoring involves checking expenses, revenues, and operating statistics monthly so that systems remain in accordance with a formal management plan. Evaluation work is geared to an annual review of the system prior to grant renewal and identifying potential areas of improvement. The evaluation work, which uses a five-year time horizon study and a peer group review, has produced results appropriate to measuring system performance only against local goals. Two levels of performance measures are applied to all systems. An aggregate measure review looks for potential trouble areas, and a disaggregate measure review confirms the source of concern. A very detailed disaggregate review may follow to pinpoint troubles. In order to rationalize and justify the state expenditure of funds, OTA has developed transit investment measures. Benefit and cost measures are used to evaluate the performance of all systems. The measurement systems used by OTA are identified, and reasons why the transit investment measures evolved are discussed.
Development of multimodal performance measures for transit systems in New York State
The New York State Department of Transportation was required to certify as to the “economy and efficiency” of transit operators participating in the State's public transportation operating assistance program. This paper describes the efforts undertaken to meet this mandate.Discussed are past efforts to link performance measures to funding programs; reasons for modifying measures which had been used in previous efforts; and some of the problems and issues raised by the use of such criteria. The paper identifies 15 performance measures being used by New York State in its evaluations, the actual ranges encountered in the transit operations being funded through the state program, and tentative “acceptable and desirable” levels of those measures which the Transportation Department is using in its evaluation. The role these measures play in the state's operating assistance policy decision process is also described.
Movement toward a predominantly electronic journal collection
Purpose – To address the UNLV Libraries movement toward a predominantly electronic journal collection including evaluation of library collection and reevaluation of organizational structure, staff resources and workflow to find the best ways to provide library users with timely and reliable access to electronic resources.Design/methodology/approach – A range of UNLV Libraries initiatives in building and managing electronic resources is described to demonstrate how the library moved from a predominantly print environment to a predominantly electronic environment. The paper consists of sections: development of the electronic resources collection, reengineering acquisitions/periodicals, new responsibilities and new skills, next steps, and conclusion.Findings – Since 1999, the composition of the Libraries journal collection has been dramatically changed. The percentage of print‐only subscriptions decreased from 59 percent in 1990 to 20 percent in 2004, while electronic journals jumped from 35 percent to 75 pe...