ATTACHMENT B — GOVERNING BY OUTCOMES IN PRACTICE: A WORKED
EXAMPLE
When the City moved to renew its on-demand transit contract with LAZ, our volunteer advisor Jeff Roedersheimer proposed exactly the kind of evaluation this message urges citywide — the clearest illustration of the difference between counting activity and managing for outcomes. Today the contract largely measures rides provided, which tells us how busy the service is, not whether it works, for whom, or at what cost per result.
A defensible minimum
Even a bare-minimum modern service contract should require: customer-satisfaction measurement (post-trip ratings and feedback); core rider analytics (unique riders, repeat riders, volume, time-ofday use); operational performance (wait times, completion rates, vehicle utilization and idle time); quarterly vendor optimization recommendations (route, fleet-sizing, service-hour, and costreduction); application performance and usability (app ratings, failed bookings, abandonment); and City ownership of all operational and rider data — “competent operational governance,” not anything radical.
Measuring outcomes, not activity
Who it serves. Unique versus repeat riders, residents versus visitors, and optional ride-purpose data (beach access, errands, commuting, ADA/senior, nightlife).
How well it serves. Rider-satisfaction scoring, app usability and accessibility, average and peak wait times, cancellations, and complaint-response times.
How efficiently. Vehicle utilization, cost per ride and by time and zone, demand patterns, and — over time — cost per avoided vehicle trip and parking demand reduced.
How it improves. Quarterly improvement and fleet-optimization recommendations, benchmarking against comparable cities, and pilot authority.
The two ideas that make it work
First, the vendor should help improve the service, not merely operate it — gain-sharing can align its incentive to our outcomes. Second, targets should be set after a baseline, so the measures are grounded in reality.
This is one contract, but it is the template. Most of what the City delivers, it delivers through contracts and programs; requiring this discipline across our major contracts is governing by outcomes in the most concrete form. The on-demand evaluation is where we start. 14