The Community of Metros Benchmarking Group (COMET), formerly CoMET and Nova groups, is a multinational collection of metro systems focusing on international

benchmarking Benchmarking is the practice of comparing business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies. Dimensions typically measured are Project management triangle, quality, time and cost. Benchmarking is ...

, facilitated by the Transport Strategy Centre (TSC) at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

. The Community of Metros consist of 42 metro systems in 39 cities around the world. The groups are jointly owned and steered by the various members.

History

In 1994,

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

and four other metro systems formed a small group to share performance data with each other. In 1996, the Community of Metros (CoMET) group was formed with 8 metro systems, to allow benchmarking between them.

COMET benchmarking

The four main objectives of the metro benchmarking groups are: # To share knowledge and identify best practices in a confidential environment # To support members in achieving their operational and strategic goals – focusing on improvements # To build systems of measures for use by management and to establish public transport best practices # To prioritise areas for improvement and support decision-making for management, boards, government, and other stakeholders The

key performance indicator A performance indicator or key performance indicator (KPI) is a type of performance measurement. KPIs evaluate the success of an organization or of a particular activity (such as projects, programs, products and other initiatives) in which it e ...

(KPI) system is used by the COMET during the benchmarking process in order to compare performance across the member metro systems. The purpose of benchmarking is to search for best practices that lead to superior performance. There are approximately 30 top-level indicators, which are designed to measure the overall performance of the organisation in six distinct areas: * Growth, learning, and innovation * Financial * Customer * Internal processes * Safety and security * Environment The indicators are reviewed by members on an annual basis. The group members operate under a full confidentiality agreement. This allows for full data and information exchange within the COMET but not externally. Statistical analyses are used to provide greater understanding of the results, while time series analyses allow for trends in performance to be identified. This helps to highlight which members are changing their practices and what improvements are relatively achievable. Where clear differences or improvements in performance are identified, detailed analysis is carried out through case studies. Multiple case studies are conducted in the COMET each year; these studies include detailed data analysis, questionnaires, and interviews with functional experts. Case studies are further supported by expert workshops where appropriate. In many cases, best practices may be found outside the metro industry, so other public transport operations and even other industries are reviewed for relevant practices.

Membership

the Community of Metros consisted of 44 metro systems located in 41 cities around the world.

Americas

* MARTA, since 21 April 2023 *

Buenos Aires Underground The Buenos Aires Underground (), locally known as Subte (), is a rapid transit system that serves the area of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first section of this network (Plaza de Mayo–Plaza Miserere) opened in 1913, making it the L ...

* Honolulu Skyline, since 28 May 2022 *

Mexico City Metro The Mexico City Metro () is a rapid transit system that serves Greater Mexico City, the metropolitan area of Mexico City, including some municipalities in the State of Mexico. Operated by the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo (STC), it is the Lis ...

Montreal Metro The Montreal Metro (, ) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, 1966, during the tenure ...

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desir ...

, since 7 April 2022 *

Santiago Metro The Santiago Metro () is a rapid transit system serving the city of Santiago, the capital of Chile. It currently consists of seven lines (numbered 1-6 and 4A), 143 stations, and of revenue route. The system is managed by the state-owned Metro S. ...

São Paulo Metro The São Paulo Metro (, ), commonly called the ''Metrô'', is one of the rapid transit companies serving the city of São Paulo, alongside the Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos, São Paulo Metropolitan Trains Company (CPTM), Via Quatro ...

OC Transpo OC Transpo is the primary Transit district, public transport agency for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, operating bus rapid transit, light rail, conventional transit bus, bus routes, and door-to-door paratransit in the nation's capital regi ...

, since 15 May 2019 * Metro Rio * San Francisco BART, since 18 January 2018 *

Toronto Subway The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The subway system is a rail network consisting of three heavy-capacity rai ...

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

, since 2 January 2018 * Vancouver Skytrain, since 30 September 2016

Asia and Oceania

* Bangalore Namma Metro, since 24 February 2020 * Bangkok MRT *

Beijing Subway The Beijing Subway is the rapid transit system of Beijing Direct-controlled municipality, Municipality that consists of 29 lines including 24 rapid transit lines, two airport rail links, one maglev line and two light rail, light rail tram line ...

* Chennai Metro, since 25 October 2024 *

Delhi Metro The Delhi Metro is a rapid transit system that serves Delhi and the adjoining satellite cities of Faridabad, Gurugram, Noida, Bahadurgarh, and Ballabhgarh in the National Capital Region (India), National Capital Region of India. The system cons ...

* Dubai Metro *

Guangzhou Metro The Guangzhou Metro ( zh, s=广州地铁, labels=no) is the rapid transit system of the city of Guangzhou in the Guangdong Province of China. It is operated by the state-owned Guangzhou Metro Corporation and was the fourth metro system to be b ...

* Hong Kong MTR * Kuala Lumpur RapidKL Rail, since 4 November 2013 * MRT Jakarta, since 30 September 2021 *

Nanjing Metro The Nanjing Metro is a rapid transit system serving the List of administrative divisions of Nanjing, urban and suburban districts of Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu Province in the People's Republic of China. Proposals for a metro system ...

, since 4 October 2013 * Seoul Metro, since 1 September 2013 *

Shanghai Metro The Shanghai Metro (; Shanghainese: ''Zaon6he5 Di6thiq7'') is a rapid transit system in Shanghai, operating urban and suburban transit services to 14 of its 16 List of township-level divisions of Shanghai, municipal districts and to the neighb ...

* Shenzhen Metro, since 10 July 2015 * Singapore MRT * Sydney Metro, since 29 December 2019 *

Tokyo Metro The Tokyo Metro () is a major rapid transit system in Tokyo, Japan, operated by the #Organization, Tokyo Metro Co. With an average daily ridership of 6.52 million passengers (as of 2023), the Tokyo Metro is the larger of the Tokyo subway, two s ...

, since 20 January 2020 *

Taipei Metro Taipei Metro (also known as Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and branded as Metro Taipei) is a rapid transit system operated by the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation serving the capital Taipei and New Taipei City in Taiwan. It was the first rapi ...

Europe

Barcelona Metro The Barcelona Metro (Catalan language, Catalan and Spanish language, Spanish: ) is a rapid transit network that runs mostly underground in central Barcelona and into the city's suburbs. It is part of the larger public transport system ...

Berlin U-Bahn The Berlin U-Bahn (; short for , "underground railway") is a rapid transit system in Berlin, the capital and largest city of Germany, and a major part of the city's public transport system. Together with the Berlin S-Bahn, S-Bahn, a network of ...

Brussels Metro The Brussels Metro ( ; ) is a rapid transit system serving a large part of the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It consists of four conventional metro lines and three '' premetro'' lines. The metro-grade lines are M1, M2, M5, and M6 wi ...

Istanbul Metro The Istanbul Metro () is a rapid transit railway network that serves the city of Istanbul, Turkey. Apart from the M11 line, which is operated by TCDD Taşımacılık, the system is operated by Metro Istanbul, a public enterprise controlled by th ...

, since 20 February 2014 *

Lisbon Metro The Lisbon Metro () is a rapid transit system in Lisbon, Portugal. Opened in December 1959, it was the first rapid transit system in Portugal. , the system's four lines total of route and serve 56 stations. History Initial plans The idea ...

* London DLR, since 4 December 2013 *

Madrid Metro The Madrid Metro (Spanish: ''Metro de Madrid'') is a rapid transit system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the 14th longest rapid transit system in the world, with a total length of . Its growth between 1995 and 200 ...

* Newcastle Tyne & Wear Metro * Oslo Metro, since 23 September 2014 *

Paris Métro The Paris Métro (, , or , ), short for Métropolitain (), is a rapid transit system serving the Paris metropolitan area in France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architectur ...

and Paris RER

Former members

Moscow Metro The Moscow Metro) is a rapid transit system in the Moscow Oblast of Russia. It serves the capital city of Moscow and the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast, Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy, and Kotelniki. Opened in 1935 with one l ...

(membership ceased in March 2022 due to military invasion ) *

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the brand name and operator of Railways in Sydney, suburban and intercity train services in and around Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The metropolitan part of the network is a hybrid urban rail, urban-suburban r ...

(joined International Suburban Rail Benchmarking Group (ISBeRG) in 2011, and terminated its parallel CoMET membership in 2024)

Major publications

Some of the major publication journals by COMET include: * Canavan S, Barron A, Cohen J, Graham DJ, Anderson RJ et al. (2019). Best Practices in Operating High Frequency Metro Services, Transportation Research Record. *Anupriya A, Graham D, Anderson R, Carbo JM et al. (2018). Cost Function for Urban Rail Transport Systems, Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting. *Canavan, S., Graham, D.J., Anderson, R.J., Barron, A. (2017). Urban Metro Rail Demand: Evidence from Dynamic Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) Estimates using Panel Data. * Hörcher, D., Graham, D. J., and Anderson, R. J. (2017). Crowding cost estimation with large scale smart card and vehicle location data. TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH PART B: METHODOLOGICAL, 95, 105–125. * Singh, R., Graham, D.J., Anderson, R. (2017) Characterising journey time performance on urban metro systems. TransitData conference, Santiago, Chile, 22 May 2017. * Hörcher,D., Graham,D.J., Anderson,R., (2017) Crowding cost estimation with large scale smart card and vehicle location data, Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, pp. 105–125. * Brage-Ardao, R., Graham, D.J., Anderson, R.J., Barron, A. (2017). Metro Operating Costs: Main Patterns and Determinants. Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting.

References

External links

Community of Metros WebsiteTransport Strategy Centre at Imperial College London
{{Internationally Metro Organizations Rapid transit Transport organizations