Benchmarking and Sustainable Transport Policy: Learning from the BEST Network

Abstract Benchmarking is a widely used method of comparing performances and practices in order to learn from the best. In 2000, the so‐called ‘BEST network’ was set up to explore benchmarking as a tool to promote policies for ‘sustainable transport’. This paper reports the findings and recommendations from the BEST experience on how to address this challenge. The findings suggest that benchmarking is a valuable tool that may indeed help to move forward the transport policy agenda. However, there are major conditions and limitations. First, it is often not straightforward to measure and compare transport services in order to establish a clear benchmark. Second, ‘sustainable transport’ evokes a broad range of sometimes conflicting concerns that are hard to address fully at the level of specific organizational practices. Third, policies are not directly comparable across contexts. Attempting to benchmark ‘sustainable transport policies’ against one another would therefore be a highly complex task, which is not advised. Several other ways in which benchmarking and policy can support one another are identified in the analysis. This leads to a range of recommended initiatives to exploit the benefits of benchmarking for sustainable transport policy while avoiding some of the lurking pitfalls.