BY RASHIDI BARNES

Chief Executive Officer
Eastern Contra Costa Transit Authority / Tri Delta Transit
Antioch, CA

As some public transit agencies nationwide face fiscal cliffs, we find ourselves pitted against a familiar challenge: accountability measures. For decades, key performance indicators (KPIs) determined whether or not an agency was efficient and practical. KPIs, like on-time performance and how many passengers per hour we transported, were the accountability metrics that each agency focused on. As we crawl out of the pandemic ridership devastation, advocates, stakeholders, and politicians are asking for new accountability measures if public transit agencies want future operational funding to sustain their current service offerings and avoid the fiscal cliff. Continued...