OTP Is Not a KPI. It Is a Symptom.
By E2Gx Editorial
On-time performance is the number that transit authorities obsess over — but managing OTP directly is like treating a fever with ice. This commentary argues for a root-cause framework that operators can actually act on.
On-time performance figures are the most reported and least acted-on metric in public transport management. Every authority tracks OTP. Very few have a structured process for diagnosing why it is low and systematically improving it.
OTP is a downstream output. It is determined by schedule design, driver behaviour, vehicle availability, traffic conditions, and dispatch discipline — none of which are directly visible in the OTP number itself. Targeting OTP without understanding its drivers is management by coincidence.
The transit authorities that consistently improve reliability are those that maintain a live causal map: which routes are underperforming, which schedule blocks are structurally late, which depots have dispatch gaps, and which corridors face external congestion that requires timetable adjustment rather than driver pressure.
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