An indicator to measure inequality in the provision of local public transport in Italy

An indicator measuring inequality in the provision of local public transport was constructed in order to compare service levels in 20 Italian regional capital cities and analyze emerging criticalities. The indicator aims at identifying the level of measurable rather than perceived public transport effectiveness. Consequently, measurable features such as network coverage (capillarity), frequency, extent of transit lanes, passenger information systems, are considered, whereas features closely tied to personal expectations and tastes (e.g. customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction) are excluded. The relevance of this method derives from the possibility of using this approach for the analysis of the sector of the LPT in other countries, allowing as a consequence, to compare the local transport sector between cities in different countries.