A New Paradigm is
Emerging in Transportation Organizations:
Shift from the management of transit assets to the management of
transportation services.
Fundamental change in public
transportation organizations is underway across the U.S. A new
paradigm is emerging based on themes and principles arising from
experiences in other businesses and industries, including intermodal
freight, package delivery, airlines, and European transit agencies.
Principles to Guide a
Paradigm Shift in Transit
-
A shift in the emphasis of
transit agencies to designing, tracking and evaluating public
transportation and shared-ride services to provide mobility broadly
throughout the region;
-
A decrease in the emphasis
transit agencies place on the direct provision of services;
-
Increased emphasis on a
broader mix of services tailored to satisfy individual users and discrete market segments,
and reduced emphasis on minimizing the cost and price of service;
-
Increased emphasis on
collaborative arrangements, alliances and partnerships, integrating
across modes and across institutions to provide needed services;
-
Use of information and
related technologies to track both operational and system-wide
performance against the needs of users, and the quality of service
from a user’s,
door-to-door perspective;
-
Increased
incentives for line managers to innovate and improve the quality of
services whenever possible; and
-
A change in more than transit
operating agencies is necessary. Effective and responsive
provision of tomorrow's transit services will require community
leaders and elected officials to alter traditional public policies and
programs in a number of areas.
If these principles are pursued
fully, the conventional transit paradigm focused on management of
publicly-owned and operated assets (vehicles and facilities) will give way to a new paradigm
focused on managing the quality of the customer's travel experience, regardless of what
assets are used to provide mobility.
The Emerging "Model"
Pursuit of these principles
and themes has led to a new organizational model that has direct
relevance to U.S. transit agencies. The three-tiered model below
highlights the shape and design of a new generation of transit
reorganization whose role is broadened to managing mobility.
This model has emerged in the intermodal freight
industry, the package delivery industry, the airline industry, and
throughout the transit industry in Europe.
In each case...
... the client deals with the
integrated service provider concerned with the entire trip...
... information technology is used to design, track
and evaluate the services provided, and to provide seamless real-time
information and universal payment systems...
... the capacity need not be provided on the
dedicated assets of the company or agency.
Charting the Course to a New Paradigm
The shift away from forty years of conventional
service delivery, management, and organization to a new paradigm is
complicated, full of risks, and time consuming.
The paradigm shift illustrated in the preceding model
occurs when change takes place across six key dimensions, as described
below:Six Dimensions of Change Leading to A New Paradigm
| Mission Shift |
From a
“provider of capacity” using owned assets to a “manager of
mobility,” regardless of whose assets might be used to provide
capacity. |
| Customer Focus |
Broadening
measures of success from service outputs, to measures of the
quality of the customer experience and outcomes of
transit investment and use. |
| Collaboration |
Expanding
relations and communications across modes, agencies, organizations,
and jurisdictions. |
| Integration |
Expanding formal
and informal arrangements that integrate facilities, equipment,
systems, services, functions, and resources. |
| Information Technology |
Full-scale introduction of state-of-the-art information technologies
such as universal fare media, real-time on-street customer
information and shared dispatching and scheduling systems. |
| Organization Structure |
Introduction of new or altered organizational arrangements,
structure, functions, business units, skills and support systems. |
In each dimension, the process of change may follow
several steps. An organization may be:
... conceptualizing the changes to
take place;
... formally
planning the changes;
... carrying out or deploying the changes on an incremental basis;
... operating under a new paradigm as changes are
fully implemented.
The six dimensions of fundamental
change described above, combined with the steps noted provide a
framework to both plan and monitor progress in pursuit of a new
paradigm, as illustrated below:
This framework is used in the
Field Reports section as an aid in
describing the extraordinary organizational changes now underway in the
transit industry.
It is the hope of the New Paradigms research team
that the experiences will be followed and updated on a regular basis to
chart the change taking place across the entire industry.
