From Diagnosis to Improvement: Development of a Maturity Model for Urban Public Transport Systems (MM-UPTS)

Abstract

Urban public transport systems are complex socio-technical ecosystems whose maturity depends not only on fleet and infrastructure quality, but also on operational coordination, data use, disruption response, and service continuity. The model integrates three assessment areas—fleet, infrastructure, and operational management—and adopts a five-level maturity scale with a profile-based interpretation of results. The proposed model supports the diagnosis of maturity gaps and provides a basis for identifying potential areas for improvement. The model was verified in a real tram system in Poland. The results show relatively strong maturity in fleet modernisation, linear infrastructure, and passenger information, while weaker areas concern operational procedures, incident management, safety-data integration, continuity planning, and the strategic use of operational data. The study demonstrates that maturity assessment can complement conventional public transport evaluation by linking technical resources with organisational and operational capabilities.