NS does measure traveller punctuality
A response to the column ‘Think twice before measuring’
Gerrit Stemerdink thinks that NS does not measure passenger punctuality, which is a completely unsubstantiated claim. Fortunately, we have been given the opportunity by STAtOR to reply to this. At NS, we not only publish our punctuality records with pride, but we have also made a large effort to improve the method to measure punctuality over the last few years. The columnist suggests that the core mission of NS is to move travellers in a punctual manner. He is, of course, completely right here. That is why the ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management requires that NS (and also ProRail) reaches a minimal level on its passenger punctuality. This requirement has been in act since January 1st 2015. So we support the columnist’s plea wholeheartedly. However, we wish to show both to you, as a reader of the wonderful STAtOR magazine, and the columnist that his plea has been in practice for several years already.Passenger punctuality gives an indication of the percentage of journeys that have had less than X minutes of delay. This means that, on checking out, a traveller has less than X minutes of delay in comparison to the journey they could have made as planned by NS Reisplanner two days in advance. Thus, if a passenger has to make a transfer in its journey or if the train is cancelled then this is also accounted for, as the time of arrival of the passenger is used.
The current agreement with the Dutch government decrees that delays of more than 5 minutes and of more than 15 minutes are to be reported. These figures can be found on the NS website. You can see that for the year 2019, 92.6% of the passengers had less than 5 minutes of delay and 97.7% had less than 15 minutes of delay. These numbers are calculated based on anonymized check-in and -out times, realised operational data, and of course the promised journey by NS Reisplanner.
Is now everything perfect with respect to the punctuality measures of NS? Of course not.
We will continue our efforts to improve our measurements of passenger punctuality, and of course also to improve the number itself, with the end goal of providing our passengers with a better service. For this purpose, NS is working together with academics to stimulate the use of statistics and Operations Research, for example through our initiative in the program “Kickstart Al”. In this program, we work together with 4 other large Dutch companies to strengthen scientific research in the Netherlands and the application of this research. We hope to write more about this at another moment, because if we have learned one thing from this column is that not everyone is up to date on the most recent developments at NS.
Merith Pelger is senior business consultant in the department “performance management and innovation” at NS, and responsible for the KPI passenger punctuality at NS.
Dennis Huisman is expertise manager of logistic processes in the department “performance management and innovation” at NS. Furthermore, he is affiliated as professor with the Econometrisch Institute of Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Reaction Gerrit Stemerdink:
I am overjoyed with the above response sponse to my recent column. Mainly because of two reasons. First, obviously our magazine is being read very carefully, which is always wonderful to hear for an editor. Second, it turns out that my heart’s desire, which I’ve held for decades, has already been fulfilled some years ago. Held for decades? Yes, 25 years ago the then VVSOR magazine Kwantitatieve Methoden had a rubric named ‘what I saw in the media’. At the time, I wrote a similar response about the percentage of trains that arrived on time. Merith and Dennis, as both editor and a fervent train traveller, I wish to thank you for your wonderful reaction.
Next week: On Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight show, a very wacky game used to be played, which involves players cracking eggs on their heads which were either raw or boiled. Sounds simple enough right? Read all about it in the column “Russian Egg Roulette” where Henk Tijms analyses this game from an Operations Research perspective.
