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Applied Research

WHO WE ARE

Our group within the Transport Strategy Centre is led by Managing Director, Richard Anderson.

We are a multidisciplinary team bringing together people from industry, consultancy and academic backgrounds.

The team’s key objective is to work directly with industry to improve performance in public transport and airport operations worldwide, based on a systematic process of benchmarking and peer-to-peer exchange designed and developed by the TSC.

OUR ROLE WITHIN THE TSC

The Applied Research team works directly with over 100 major providers of metros, light rail, bus, rail, and airports across the globe. We facilitate annual programmes of international transport benchmarking across multiple consortia to identify actions that will lead to superior performance in transport operations and management.

We work closely with the research group in the TSC. Our main collaborations are around the revision and improvement of our benchmarking methodologies, and adding significant depth and analysis to the understanding of trends and performance in transport through statistical analysis.

Benchmarking, Performance Measurement, and Transport Policy

Map of TSC Members

The TSC facilitates and manages a number of programmes of international transport benchmarking in the rail, metro and light rail, bus and air transport sectors. These groups provide a forum for organisations to share their experiences and exchange information.

The process of benchmarking can be defined as “a structured approach to identify actions that lead to superior performance”. Benchmarking is not merely a comparison of performance data or a creation of league tables. Performance measurements, for example, deliver little benefit on their own, but they stimulate productive questions and lines of enquiry for more in-depth analysis and research.

We use this benchmarking analysis and the identification of global best practices in transport to help the leaders of those companies improve the performance of their systems and, ultimately, the services they provide to citizens.

Learn more about our benchmarking activities

Photo taken inside a Hong Kong MTR metro carriage

Metros

The TSC works with a number of large and medium sized metro operators around the world. There are two metro benchmarking groups managed and facilitated by the TSC.

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Railways

There are four rail benchmarking groups managed and facilitated by the TSC. These are international benchmarking groups for suburban rail operators, mainline rail operators as well as railway infrastructure and asset management.

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Photo of a Toronto TTC light rail vehicle

Light Rail / Tram

The TSC works with a number of light rail / tram operators through the GOAL (North American) and BOLTS (international) benchmarking groups, which are managed and facilitated by the TSC.

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Buses

There are two bus benchmarking groups managed and facilitated by the TSC. These are comprehensive programmes of benchmarking large and medium sized urban bus operations internationally and in North America.

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Airports

The TSC works with a consortium of major hub airports as part of the Airport Benchmarking Group, a benchmarking platform for to learn from each other through the sharing of performance, experiences and best practices.

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Other Activities

As well as these core activities, the TSC also carries out a number of other industry-facing research activities relating to transport economics and policy.

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The benchmarking process of the Transport Strategy Centre

The benchmarking groups undertake an annual programme of work. The core of this programme is Key Performance Indicator benchmarking, a variety of detailed case studies each year, and group meetings to disseminate and discuss performance improvement.

Objectives of Benchmarking

Benchmarking has a number of objectives and benefits relevant for the transport industry. The annual programme of work devised by the TSC ensures that transport operators and agencies can learn from their peers.

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Success Factors for Benchmarking

The TSC has identified a handful of success factors for benchmarking: diversity, confidentiality, continuity, ownership, independence, depth, and a culture of continuous improvement.

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