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ON MEASURING THE EFFICIENCY OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES: BUS OPERATING COMPANIES IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

It is important to be able to say whether or not an enterprise in the public sector is efficient and to measure this aspect of its performance. Public enterprises sometimes have legitimate reason to treat efficiency as secondary, but they also may resist efficiency measurement for other reasons. Statistical cost functions containing experience from similar enterprises provide useful yardsticks for public administrators. A purported cost function can be inadequate, however, as is shown in one example. Statistical cost functions allow comparison of bus properties by giving a range within which costs of an efficient property should fall. While random influences cannot be excluded, if observed costs fall outside two standard errors of prediction, there is a good case to say the property is inefficient. The usefulness of the standard error of prediction as a measure of precision is explored. Nationally estimated cost functions were used to investigate the bus operations only of three San Francisco companies. Two were found within sampling error, one was significantly more costly on its motorbus operations than average experience in the nation. A closer look would then be in order by those funding this property. Several years' experience is explored showing changes over time as well as across companies.(a) /TRRL/

  • Availability:
  • Corporate Authors:

    Elsevier

    Radarweg 29
    Amsterdam,   Netherlands  1043 NX
  • Authors:
    • Merewitz, L
  • Publication Date: 1977-3

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Features: References; Tables;
  • Pagination: p. 45-55
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00156469
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
  • Report/Paper Numbers: Analytic
  • Files: ITRD, TRIS
  • Created Date: Oct 13 1981 12:00AM