Securing Objective Data on the Quality of the Passenger Environment for Transit Riders: Redesign of the Passenger Environment Measurement System for the Bay Area Rapid Transit District

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) recently revised the techniques it uses to collect data on qualitative areas of performance that are difficult to measure, such as station cleanliness, train cleanliness, graffiti removal, and restroom cleanliness. This paper documents the methodological changes implemented by BART and compares the accuracy of the new and the old techniques. Empirical evidence is presented demonstrating that the new data collection methods yield more reliable and objective statistics than the old system of measurement. Findings from this study suggest that reliable measurement of qualitative areas is possible. When carefully collected, these kinds of measurements can become an important component of an organization’s overall strategy to monitor and improve service quality.