Drawing on the existing literature on different national transit investment programs abroad (Colombia, Britain, France, Germany, India, Mexico, New Zealand, the United States) and city-wide performance management systems (Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Singapore, Seoul and Vancouver), the study reveals the drawbacks of the KPI system that are narrowly-focus, incomplete, and misguided. And the study proposes recommendations in following three categories to further improve the KPI system.

First, the KPI system needs to establish and articulate clear vision, boundaries and proposition, changing from a narrow focus on transit performance to be multi-dimensional. Second, the KPIs should be stakeholder-targeted, broad in performance review and flexible to accommodate different cities. Last but not least, improving the KPI system also requires input on setting up regular project monitoring and evaluation, stringent data collection protocols, and reasonable accountability mechanisms.