Community of Metros

Community of Metros (also called CoMET) is a system of international railway benchmarking. CoMET is consisted of large metro systems from around the world. The 14 members of CoMET are the Beijing Subway, Berlin U-Bahn, Guangzhou Metro, Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway, London Underground, Mexico City Metro, Madrid Metro, Moscow Metro, New York City Subway, Paris Métro, Santiago Metro, Shanghai Metro , São Paulo Metro and Taipei Metro. Each metro has a volumn of at least 500 million passengers annually.^[1]

Objectives

The four main objectives of CoMET are:

1. To build measures to establish metro best practice.

2. To provide comparative information both for the metro board and the government.

3. To introduce a system of measures for management.

4. To prioritise areas for improvement.

History

Project between London Underground and Hamburger Hochbahn

In the UITP(International Association of Public Transport ) conference of 1982, London Underground and Hamburger Hochbahn (The company that operates Hamburg U-Bahn) decided to create a benchmarking exercise to compare their two railways with additional data for other 24 metro systems.

Use of KPIs

The project was successful despite the fact that metros were very different in sizes, structures and accounting practices. However, CoMET used the Key Performance Indicator(KPIs) innovatively to solve the problem.

Group of Five

In 1994, the Mass Transit Railway of Hong Kong proposed to London Underground, Berlin U-Bahn, New York City Subway and Paris Métro to form a benchmarking consortium. Thus, the metros can exchange performance data and investigate best practice amongst similar heavy metros. These five metros are later known as the Group of Five.

Community of Metros

As the group progresses, Mexico City Metro, São Paulo Metro and Tokyo Metro joined the group in 1996. With eight members in total, the group became known as the Community of Metros(CoMET).

Creation of Nova

Following the success of the CoMET, the Nova group was created in 1998. The Nova is currently consisted of 14 small to medium-sized metros.

1999 to Present

Later, Moscow Metro joined the CoMET in 1999. Madrid Metro transferred from Nova to CoMET in 2004. Shanghai Metro joined in 2005. Santiago Metro joined in 2008. Beijing Subway was the last member to join the CoMET which also joined in 2008.

Future Plan — Taipei Metro

According to the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC), Taipei Metro's ridership has reached 1.5 million daily after Luzhou Line started operating in September, 2010. Taipei Metro has met one of the major requirements to enter CoMET.

The company's spokesperson Ling Chi-yao said the Railway and Transport Strategy Center of Imperial College London, which oversees the consortium's membership, will review Taipei MRT's application at CoMET's annual meeting in March at New York.^[2]

See Also

• Beijing Subway
• Berlin U-Bahn
• Guangzhou Metro
• Mass Transit Railway
• London Underground
• Mexico City Metro
• Madrid Metro
• Moscow Metro
• New York City Subway
• Paris Métro
• Santiago Metro
• Shanghai Metro
• São Paulo Metro
• Taipei Metro

Reference

1. ^ "COMET". Railway and Transport Strategy Centre, Centre for Transport Studies, Imperial College London. http://www.comet-metros.org/GetAbout.do?category=Home&subcateg=Home. Retrieved 2011-02-27. 
2. ^ "Taipei MRT to join elite global transport network" (in English). The China Post. 2011-03-05. http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan-business/2011/03/05/293469/Taipei-MRT.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-31. 

External Links

• Official CoMET Website (English)
• Official Nova Website (English)