APTA Sustainability Commitment, sustainability metrics, sustainability reporting, energy use, water usage, air pollutant emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gas savings, vehicle miles traveled, recycling, operating expense, unlinked passenger trips

Summary

Sustainability is core to the mission of the transit industry. Transit agency signatories to the APTA Sustainability Commitment are required to quantify and annually report on a series of key performance indicators and to track performance against each metric over time. The APTA Standards Development Program created the Sustainability Metrics Working Group to provide technical assistance and guidance for transit agencies to report against these metrics. The Working Group created this Recommended Practice to develop a unified resource and tool for this reporting process. Its guidance reflects a basic framework and approach for quantifying each metric with examples and provides a menu of alternative normalization factors from which to choose. The Working Group recommends that transit agencies select normalization factors that are context sensitive and best “tell the story” by representing each agency’s unique operating conditions. This Recommended Practice will remain a living document to serve as a repository for data and information as new and innovative quantification and reporting practices emerge.