Analyse comparative - benchmarking - dans les systèmes locaux de transport de voyageurs

Comparative analysis, that anglo-saxon people call Benchmarking, is a bit like Mr Jourdain's prose : everyone uses it, even without knowing it really.It is a management method for organisations using a comparison process. This method has been implemented explicitely and formaly for a long time in the industrial field, where comparison between products and their production processes can be easily put in relation with the market.In the policies and public services field, and in particular in the transport field, this method is sill very few widespread.This report aims therefore to make a point of the benchmarking concept and its application to the the passengers transport domain. It is built in three parts :- The first part defines the benchmarking concept. It gives firstly a definition, origin and possible applications. Then it defines the basic principles. And finally, it describes the steps of the method.- The second part gives examples of application of the method in Europe, as well as the level of transport public policies as the one of operation of networks itself.- The third part presents in a very practical way how to launch a benchmarking exercise. In this respect, it describes very concretely an ongoing exercise at the European level, on a Commission (DG TREN) initiative, involving nearly fifty urban