Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

The 2003 Iowa General Assembly asked the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) to conduct a study of Iowa public policy on coordination of public transit services and school transportation. The legislature's request, contained in the transportation appropriation bill, required “a report pertaining to the efficiencies that may be gained by the coordination of transit management and maintenance systems in the areas of school transportation, public transit, and other forms of public transportation.” Such efficiencies are described. As requested by the Iowa DOT, the Center for Transportation Research and Education at Iowa State University studied these issues and prepared a report for the Office of Public Transit. A summary of the coordination activities that are taking place in Iowa between the school districts and transit agencies is presented. Furthermore, the levels of coordination and what benefits are derived from coordinating services are discussed. The objectives of the study include the following: to examine the legal basis for such coordination in Iowa; to inventory the types of coordination taking place around the state; and to highlight some of the coordination models, with a discussion of what each party believes are the benefits of the coordination as well as obstacles that have been encountered.

A parametric cost model was developed to provide both average and marginal cost estimates and to compare annual operating costs for light rail transit (LRT) and bus rapid transit (BRT) under an assumption of additional peak service on weekdays. The model uses readily available data from the U.S. National Transit Database. For illustrative purposes, it is applied to a hypothetical service network simulating universal coverage of a medium-sized metropolitan area with either LRT or BRT operating on trunk lines. The Dallas [Texas] Area Rapid Transit agency is selected for a computational example because it has representative, contemporary performance statistics for both LRT and bus. High and low operating cost estimates based on articulated buses were used for BRT because of a lack of an operational history. For an agency with a similar cost structure to the Dallas agency, both BRT and LRT have lower operating costs on a per space kilometer basis during base periods than do regular buses. Both LRT and the lower BRT cost estimates are comparable for adding service during peak periods. With the higher cost estimate, peak BRT costs 24% more than LRT. For trunk line capacities below about 1,600 spaces per hour, the headway-versus-cost trade-off favors BRT. Above 2,000 spaces per hour, BRT headways become so short that traffic signal priority may not be effective and revenue speed may decrease. The marginal cost of adding off-peak BRT service is substantially less than the average cost of regular buses, and the cost of LRT is even less. Peak fleet size seems to be an important driver of costs. Research methods to verify this are suggested.

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is growing rapidly in popularity because it is viewed widely as an efficient and effective means to improve both transit service and patronage. This paper argues that two distinct views of BRT are emerging: (a) BRT as a new form of high-speed, rubber-tired, rail-like rapid transit and (b) BRT as a cost-effective way to upgrade both the quality and image of traditional fixed-route bus service. These two views carry different price tags because the cost of planning, constructing, and operating BRT depends on the complexity of new service features and on rises for BRT that offer service characteristics approaching those of light rail. This study fills a gap in the literature on the costs of BRT by examining in detail component costs–-actual costs for recently implemented services and projected costs for planned new services–-for a sample of BRT systems in North American cities. The study examined BRT costs of 14 planned and recently opened BRT systems to determine how the wide range of BRT service and technology configurations affect costs. The study found that although some of the most successful and popular new BRT systems are high-quality services operating in mixed traffic and implemented at relatively low cost, most BRT projects on the drawing boards are more elaborate, more expensive systems than many currently in service. Most new BRT projects emphasize elaborate LRT-type improvements to lines and stations in one or a few corridors rather than less splashy improvements (such as next-bus monitors, signal preemption, queue-jump lanes, and so forth) affecting more lines and modes in local transit networks. Among the 14 systems examined here, most could be characterized as light rail lite.

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is an evolving and promising transit mode that has emerged as a low-cost competitor to light rail transit (LRT) in providing medium-capacity semirapid transit. In addition, recent advances in diesel and compressed natural gas technology have caused the truism “electric rail is cleaner than diesel bus” to be revisited. A partial fuel cycle comparison of the regional or urban emissions of carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, and volatile organic compounds from BRT and LRT is presented. The BRT analysis includes tailpipe exhaust emissions and fuel transportation, storage, and distribution emissions. The LRT analysis contains electric power plant emissions and line-loss-induced emissions. The analysis shows that whenever equal levels of technology are compared, LRT consistently performs better than BRT despite recent advances in the BRT mode. The analysis also shows that both modes are cleaner now than in the past.

The study aims to investigate factors that affect passengers’ choice of walking to rail transit and to develop a method of assessing walking conditions in the vicinity of mass rapid transit (MRT) stations in Singapore. The focus is on the analysis of surveys conducted around 11 MRT stations and the development of the concept of equivalent walking distance. Besides interview surveys with passengers at the stations, assessments of more than 200 walking routes were carried out in the field to investigate the actual walking distances and conditions, such as walkway quality, steps, slopes, presence of barriers, and delays at road crossings. About 60% of MRT passengers walked to the stations, and the average walking distance was 608 m. Men were more likely to walk than women. A submodal split model was estimated to investigate factors affecting passengers’ choice of walking or taking a feeder service to access an MRT station. Besides the actual distance, factors that significantly affected the access mode choice were number of road crossings, traffic conflicts, and number of ascending steps. The equivalent walking distance equation is proposed on the basis of the model coefficients; the equation reflects the relative effect of these factors on the generalized walking effort. Because equivalent walking distance represents the extra effort required to overcome obstacles, it can be used as an indicator of the quality of pedestrian facilities. Among the five walkway networks analyzed, the average equivalent walking distance was between 20% and 39% longer than the actual distance.

Park-and-ride lots are important support facilities for transit and ride-sharing in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. The authors designed and carried out the region's first large-scale, detailed study of park-and-ride facilities and users. Three Bay Area Rapid Transit (rail) station parking lots were also surveyed. The user survey results showed that almost all the parking users were commuters; at the freeway lots, half were transit users and the remainder were organized and casual car-poolers. Most drove alone to the park-and-ride lot and made long trips to work, many more than 30 mi one way. Users had concerns about lot security, the lack of lighting, and the quality of transit services offered. Analysis of focus group data determined that schedule adherence rather than frequency was the cause of most concerns. Participants expressed a willingness to pay for parking that was fenced, security patrolled, and lighted, with shelters for waiting. Together, the surveys and focus groups have provided insights into ways to improve the park-and-ride lots and the services offered there, as well as on how travelers view transit and carpooling options. The results provide a sound basis for planning improvements.

The Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) program of the FTA provides funding to improve the access to and from jobs for welfare recipients and low-income individuals. The objective of the study was to develop a comprehensive profile of JARC service riders on several economic, social, perceptual, and travel-related indicators on the basis of a data set that was collected by the authors from riders of fixed-route and demand-responsive services in 23 locations across the country that were funded by this program. The economic indicators considered include incomes of riders, full-and part-time work status, employment tenure, reported changes in employment status (transitioning from unemployment to employment), and changes in wages incurred after using the service. Social indicators include vehicle ownership, driver's license, and educational attainment. Where possible, JARC service riders were compared with a national sample of automobile and transit users; the data for these measures were obtained from the decennial census. Two measures of perceived service dependency that indicate the importance of the service to the riders are discussed. In addition, a profile of travel-related changes incurred by riders as a result of service use is developed, including changes in mode of travel and travel times. Many of these indicators are differentiated on the basis of type of area and type of service. This analysis brings a user perspective into the discussion about low-income employment transportation services and highlights the diversity of impacts that job access transportation is having on the work and nonwork activities of low-income riders.

A fundamental justification for transit subsidies in the United States is to provide a basic level of mobility to all persons, especially the transportation disadvantaged: those who are either unwilling or unable to drive or who do not have access to a car. Yet even among the disadvantaged, most travel is by private vehicle. This paper examines the role of transit in the daily travel patterns of low-income households. Public transit is used for only a small portion of travel, and those who use transit regularly have the lowest level of mobility among all population segments. Attitudinal data indicate dissatisfaction with public transit, suggesting that current trends are likely to continue. Retaining existing markets by improving service frequency and quality in high-demand markets, exploring more effective ways of providing transit in low-demand markets, and expanding transit to serve off-peak and off-direction commutes would make transit a more attractive option for everyone.

This paper presents a new funding model for urban transit systems. The model is performance driven in that it captures the performance of transit systems in attracting riders in a cost-effective manner and recognizes that transit system funding needs vary with transit systems’ scale of operations. The model also allocates funding on a weighted per capita basis and thereby addresses equity concerns. Recent data for Canadian transit systems are used to illustrate the application of this funding model to real-world operations.

Contracting plays a significant role in U.S. public transit provision, but there is a gap between the majority of quantitative studies that report significant cost savings from contracting and the few qualitative studies that consider the political nature of an agency's decision about contracting. To fill this gap, the authors systematically examined agency decisions about contracting, by interviewing managers and directors at 13 California transit agencies. In interviews with agencies of various sizes and blends of contracted and in-house services, it was found that agencies have responded differently to fiscal pressures and to contracting as a provision strategy. Some have readily adopted contracting to provide all services, while others have used different strategies, such as part-time labor and varying wage scales, to enhance their cost-efficiency. Those responses are a result not just of economic analysis but also of the agency's institutional environment, relationship with its labor union, and the political and economic contexts in which it operates. This study broadens the current understanding of contracting as practiced by transit agencies today–-in particular, why agencies choose to contract or not and how agencies have used both contracting and other means to respond to financial pressure. The findings reemphasize that it is important for an individual transit agency to assess carefully its service lines and various measures of increasing cost-efficiency, and to maintain a cooperative relationship with its unions to determine an appropriate level of contracting for its own operating environment.

On September 11, 2001 (9/11), terrorists turned commercial aircraft into missiles and directed them toward high-rise and federal buildings, striking the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. After this tragic event, Congress's attention was naturally focused on airport security, and for good reason: the attacks happened via the aviation system. Yet an equivalent amount of attention was not given to the nation's public transportation system. To address this issue, the FTA, an organization within the U.S. Department of Transportation, began an ambitious five-part security initiative to improve the security of America's public transportation systems and assist their oversight agencies in addressing these new threats. The objectives of this paper are to reveal the vulnerability of America's transit system, identify typical pre–9/11 security planning, and show how the terrorist attacks that occurred on 9/11 have changed the way in which government and transit agencies address security concerns. An analysis of post–9/11 security measures adopted by the FTA; New York City Transit, New York; Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, D.C.; and the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit, California, is provided. A case study of the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon is included to reveal how this agency in particular has responded to the threats that public transportation agencies face.

This paper presents the findings of an investigation of transit service integration practices in the United States. A review of industry literature identified the various types of service integration practices that have been and are being implemented, including infrastructure, schedule, fare payment, information, and special events and emergency conditions integration. In addition, the review revealed how the introduction of such practices is part of overall changes in transit properties’ way of conducting business. The research made use of a two-stage survey of transit agencies that have implemented specific practices. An initial survey cast a wide net to identify innovative practices by 96 agencies across the country. A subsequent survey targeted specific examples of each type of practice and addressed the objectives of the practices, agency responsible for promoting integration, effectiveness of the practices, measures of effectiveness, barriers faced by implementers, and lessons learned. While there has been little formal evaluation of these practices by transit agencies, the predominant view is that transit integration supports the overall goals of the transit agency and provides substantial benefits to customers. Data to support impact evaluation are limited; however, several case studies were performed to probe integration practices in more depth. Transit agencies that have implemented integration practices have been able to overcome barriers to coordination and integration and have made a number of trailblazing efforts.

This paper presents a systematic method for determining repair time standards for transit vehicles. Most approaches typically used for time and motion study are designed mainly for manufacturing processes and thus find limited applications in transit environments. The methodology developed in this study is comprehensive and incorporates relevant factors such as maintenance procedures and work bay components and design, which are particular to the transit industry. This methodology has been employed on two systems: brake repair and preventive maintenance on buses. A major component of the methodology pertains to restructuring procedures, not only to improve work flow but also to normalize the operative assignments across transit shops. That focus facilitates productivity control and allows managers to assess training needs better. Outcomes reveal that the proposed methodology serves as a framework to develop valid standards that could have an impact on the efficiency of technicians while reducing total job completion time. Results are enhanced by the development of an information system that allows tracking of the time technicians take to complete the tasks and that represents, graphically, the performance rating based on the time standards developed. This tool assists supervisors during complex management decisions for resource allocation and scheduling. This project was initiated by the Florida Department of Transportation and the Center of Urban Transportation Research (CUTR). The research is part of the Florida Maintenance Training and Technical Assistance Program in CUTR and is guided by the committee of Transit Maintenance Consortium. The committee includes the managers and supervisors of the transit agencies throughout Florida.

Advanced asset management systems have emerged as important tools in the management, maintenance, and procurement of vehicles for transit fleet operators. Effective design and use of an asset management system can increase productivity, enhance public perception, and provide a consistent basis for decision making and planning. This paper documents the design and application of a vehicle procurement model in an asset management system created for the Alabama Department of Transportation to manage vehicles purchased and operated through the Section 5311 federal grant program. The vehicle procurement model predicts future vehicle serviceability, or condition rating, by using a combination of factors, including service area socioeconomic data and vehicle usage data. Application of the system helps transportation professionals estimate the overall fleet quality, identify vehicles that will need to be replaced each year, aid in the management of vehicles, and provide a basis for predicting future funding and budgetary needs.

Many U.S. transit agencies have been using planning support software to assist in daily planning, operation, and customer services. However, the literature is not clear about the extent to which transit agencies are using planning support software programs for daily activities. To determine the state of the practice in the use of planning support software in the U.S. transit agencies, a survey was conducted. The survey found that the use of planning support software confirms the general trend in the use of information technology: that is, its use is directly related to the size of the transit agencies. Larger transit agencies tend to use more planning support software, while small agencies do not use that much. Probably one of the most important findings is that many smaller transit agencies consider the purchase and use of planning support software in transit planning, operation, and marketing as unnecessary, especially given the difficulties in obtaining funding, training staff, and hiring and retaining technical support personnel. However, those difficulties are mainly caused by constraints in budgeting and technical staffing issues rather than the undesirability of or the unproved or unrealized benefits related to the use of planning support.

New Mexico is among the first states in the United States to develop, implement, and deploy contactless, smart card technology in a rural area. The Alliance for Transportation Research Institute, working with the New Mexico Department of Transportation's Public Transportation Programs Bureau, developed the Intelligent, Coordinated Transit (ICTransit) smart card technology and the Client, Referral, Ridership, and Financial Tracking (CRRAFT) software. The U.S. Department of Transportation's FTA–FHWA Joint Program Office provided federal funding for the project. The ICTransit smart card functions as a universal use electronic fare card, enabling passengers to transfer between transit providers to access jobs, education, and health care beyond their local rural communities. ICTransit's Global Positioning System receiver and Pocket PC capture the time and location that passengers board and exit the vehicle and the passenger miles traveled on the vehicle. The CRRAFT software system for express scheduling, automatic generation of monthly financial reports, and onboard tracking of ridership provides increased efficiency in rural areas. The ICTransit system with CRRAFT can overcome barriers to coordinated interagency transportation and provide increased access and mobility to all, but especially to those underserved by public transportation. ICTransit with CRRAFT can empower states to build coordinated transportation networks that provide safe and seamless movement of people and enhance the quality of life.

Transit accounts for just 2% of total travel in the United States. One reason for low ridership is limited access; many individuals either live or work too far from a transit station to make its use practical. In developing transit connectivity solutions, researchers often employ a range of study instruments, such as stated-preference surveys, focus groups, and pilot programs. To gain better understanding of response to one innovative transit solution, several research tools were applied, including a longitudinal survey, a field test, and a pilot program. The innovation examined was a commuter carsharing model, called CarLink, which linked short-term rental vehicles to transit and employment centers. Over several years, researchers explored user response to the CarLink concept, a field operational test (CarLink I), a pilot program (CarLink II), and a commercial operation (the pilot was turned over to Flexcar in summer 2002). This multistage approach provided an opportunity for researchers to learn and adapt as each phase progressed. In this paper, the authors outline the CarLink model, technology, and early lessons learned; describe CarLink II operational understanding; provide a synopsis of the pilot program transition; and offer recommendations for future model development.

One year into a carsharing program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, compelling evidence of reduced vehicle ownership, reduced vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and social change was uncovered through member surveys and detailed usage data. Each PhillyCarShare vehicle replaced an average of 23 private vehicles. Members giving up cars overwhelmingly reported driving less and replacing automobile trips with a variety of modes (transit, walking, taxi, and to a lesser extent biking). However, members who simply gained access to cars used PhillyCarShare primarily to substitute for modes that most resemble driving (taxis, borrowing or renting, and to a lesser extent transit). The average monthly VMT increase of members gaining access to a car was limited to 29.9 mi, whereas the monthly VMT decrease of members who gave up a car appeared to be several hundred miles but not greater than 522 mi. After joining, PhillyCarShare members made travel decisions more judiciously, expressed greater awareness of transportation costs, and valued environmental friendliness far more than previously. Members also preferred residential locations near PhillyCarShare locations. Motivation for joining varied greatly by income, eventual change in car ownership, and age. Convenience was valued highly by all groups, especially former car owners. Affordability was usually second most important. Comparison with other U.S. carsharing organizations revealed advanced education to be the strongest demographic of membership, followed by nonauto commuting and living in small or nontraditional households. In contrast to Europe's early members, American first adopters appeared more concerned with personal utility than social or environmental benefits; they were motivated more by convenience and less by affordability, possibly because of much lower costs of driving in the United States.

This paper presents early findings from an application of advanced parking technologies to increase effective parking capacity at a transit station during the first half of 2004 in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. It begins with an extensive review of the literature related to transit-based smart parking management systems to illustrate the range of system configurations and their potential travel, economic, and environmental effects. Two important conclusions from this review are that the lack of parking spaces at transit stations may be a significant constraint to transit use and that pretrip information and perhaps en route information on parking availability at transit stations may increase transit use. A survey of commuters at the Rockridge Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station was implemented to gain insight into parking information needs, the travel effects of a new monthly paid parking program, and the potential travel effects of a smart parking service. First, it was found that a potential market existed for a daily paid parking information service among current and new riders with relatively high incomes, high automobile availability, and variable work locations and schedules. Second, the current monthly reserved paid parking service might have increased the frequency of BART use among subscribers, but it might not have reduced net auto travel for two reasons: subscribers appear to have switched to BART for their main commute mode from carpool, bus, and bike modes; and subscribers might have increased their use of the drive-alone mode to access the BART station.

Members of carsharing organizations reduce both the number of vehicles owned and vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Given these benefits at the individual level, carsharing may interest policy makers as another tool to address the negative environmental, economic, and social consequences of automobile dependence. However, the aggregate effects of carsharing must be estimated before sound policy decisions can be made. This paper describes a Monte Carlo simulation of the economic decision to own or share a vehicle on the basis of major cost components and past vehicle use. The simulation estimates the percentage of vehicles that would be cheaper to share than own. In Baltimore, Maryland, this result ranged from 4.2% under a traditional neighborhood carsharing model to 14.8% in a commuter-based carsharing model. Sensitivity analyses identified travel time and VMT as the most important economic factors, which likely incorporate other factors such as transit access and environmental attitudes. Because travel behavior, not ownership cost, drives the economic carsharing decision, the model hypothesizes that there will be increasing marginal societal benefits from policies that promote carsharing. The model can be applied to any geographic area and can be used to assess carsharing impacts of various policies that change the economics of owning or driving an auto. These results indicate that carsharing can become prevalent enough to be considered an important policy tool.

Since 1998, carsharing organizations in the United States have experienced exponential membership growth, but to date there have been only a few evaluations of their effects on travel. Using the results of focus groups, interviews, and surveys, this paper examines the change in travel among members of CarLink–-a carsharing model in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, with explicit links to transit and suburban employment–-after approximately 1 year of participation. The demographic and attitudinal analyses of CarLink members indicated that the typical member (a) was more likely than an average Bay Area resident to be highly educated, in an upper income bracket, and professionally employed and (b) displayed sensitivity to congestion, willingness to try new experiences, and environmental concern. Some of the more important commuter travel effects of the CarLink programs included an increase in rail transit use by 23 percentage points in CarLink I and II; a reduction in driving without passengers by 44 and 23 percentage points in CarLink I and II, respectively; a reduction in average vehicle miles traveled by 23 mi in CarLink II and by 18 mi in CarLink I; an increase in travel time and a reduction in travel stress; a reduction in vehicle ownership by almost 6% in CarLink II; and reduced parking demand at participating train stations and among member businesses. The CarLink travel results are compared with those of neighborhood carsharing models in the United States and Europe.

To evaluate the potential for low-speed modes to improve transit access, the EasyConnect field test will offer shared-use Segway Human Transporters (HT), electric bicycles, and bicycles linked to a Bay Area Rapid Transit District station and surrounding employment centers in California. Because of safety concerns, research was conducted to understand the risks associated with these modes and potential risk factors. A review of the safety literature indicates that user error is the major cause of low-speed mode crashes, and significant risk factors are poor surface conditions and obstructions to drivers’ vision. As a result, an extensive training program and carefully selected routes have been included in the field test. The regulatory and legislative history of the HT is chronicled to understand how concerns about its interaction with pedestrians have produced legislation that includes specific safety requirements. The low-speed modes used in this project will be equipped with safety devices, and participants will be required to wear helmets. The survey results of 13 HT implementation projects provide insight into potential advantages and challenges to the field test. Results of interviews and meetings with field test stakeholders are presented with a discussion of their influence on the field test design. Finally, conclusions and future project steps are discussed.

Advanced traveler information systems (ATIS) are one component of intelligent transportation systems (ITS), and a major component of ATIS is travel time information. Automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems, which are a part of ITS, have been adopted by many transit agencies to track their vehicles and to predict travel time in real time. Because of the complexity involved, there is no universally adopted approach for this latter application, and research is needed in this area. The objectives of the research in this paper are to develop a model to predict bus arrival time using AVL data and apply the model for real-time applications. The test bed was a bus route located in Houston, Texas, and the travel time prediction model considered schedule adherence, traffic congestion, and dwell times. A historical data-based model, regression models, and artificial neural network (ANN) models were used to predict bus arrival time. It was found that ANN models outperformed both the historical data-based model and the regression model in terms of prediction accuracy. It was also found that the ANN models can be used for real-time applications.

Although automatic passenger counters (APCs) have been used for many years, significant obstacles have hindered their becoming a mainstream source of data for monitoring ridership and peak load, estimating passenger miles, and other measures of passenger use important for transit management. The key to APC usefulness is the automatic, routine conversion of the APC data stream into a database of accurate counts. On the basis of case studies of transit agencies, five issues important to achieving this goal are analyzed: data structures, data accuracy, accuracy need and sampling requirements, controlling drift, and balancing algorithms. Balancing algorithms deal with routes with loop ends, negative loads, and rounding. Sampling and accuracy requirements related to passenger miles estimates for National Transit Database (NTD) reporting are also analyzed. The analysis shows that, for most agencies, NTD precision requirements can be met with a small level of fleet penetration, provided that measurement, screening, parsing, and balancing methods keep bias in load measurement below 8%.

This paper presents findings from an evaluation of the accuracy of automatic passenger counters (APCs) on the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon's (TriMet's) light rail vehicles. APC boarding and alighting counts were compared with manually recorded counts. Overall, the APCs tended to undercount boardings and overcount alightings. Thus, correction factors will be needed for use of APC-recovered data for National Transit Database (NTD) and internal reporting. The paper also describes the sampling procedures employed by TriMet for NTD and internal reporting, in which sampled trips are linked to archived APC data records.

To provide improved alternatives to suburban solo commuting, a technologically intensive door-to-door mobility service was designed for suburban commutes, with special emphasis on addressing attitudinal and psychological barriers. A literature review, expert opinion, and a geographic information system journey-to-work analysis influenced the initial conceptualization. Concepts were then iteratively refined through interview research. The final system concept was validated with stated preference surveys employing gap analysis to measure the importance of barriers and the effectiveness of proposed solutions. An elaborate eight-step, assembly-line survey protocol was employed and featured immersive, virtual reality–based respondent stimuli (information acceleration), full disclosure of psychological barriers, and customized door-to-door commute comparisons. Original contributions include two aspects: a unique combination of varied product research techniques for the design and demand forecasting of futuristic transportation systems and rich anecdotal descriptions of technology worker commute psychology.

On May 4, 2003, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's New York City Transit subsidiary (NYCT) raised its subway and bus fares for the first time since discounted and unlimited-ride MetroCards (electronic fare cards) were introduced between July 1997 and January 1999. Before the 2003 fare increase, the agency did not have any experience with either the direct ridership effects of price changes for unlimited-ride passes or the shift of customers when prices of different fare media increased at different rates and customers could shift from one fare medium to another. Partly on the basis of work done by other transit agencies, NYCT developed a spreadsheet model that used direct fare elasticities to estimate absolute ridership loss and used trip diversion rates (similar to cross-elasticities) to estimate the likelihood that passengers would shift from a fare instrument with a larger percentage increase to one with a smaller increase. The actual shift of customers between fare instruments after the fare increase was greater than projected, with the result of a lower than expected systemwide average fare. The negative revenue impact from the lower average fare was mostly offset by a lower than expected ridership decline. The estimated fare elasticities were below the average of historical NYCT fare elasticities and suggest that customers using unlimited-ride passes were less sensitive to fare changes.

This paper investigates passenger loyalty to intercity bus services and identifies important factors influencing loyalty. The relationships between passenger loyalty and other latent factors, including satisfaction, service value, service quality, sacrifice, switching costs, attractiveness of competitors, and trust are hypothesized and tested. Factor analysis is used to extract the latent service quality factors from a large number of service quality indicators. Structural equation models are then developed to elucidate the causal relationships of passenger loyalty and the latent factors. The empirical results have confirmed the proposed hypotheses. Satisfaction has the most significant influence on passenger loyalty. Service value, switching costs, and trust have direct and positive effects on loyalty, whereas attractiveness of competitors has a direct negative effect. The indirect effect of service quality, via service value and satisfaction, on passenger loyalty is also significant. From the empirical results, managerial implications for the bus carriers are addressed.

This paper describes a case study of applying the recent edition of the Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual (TCQSM) to evaluate the quality of transit service on several travel corridors in an urbanized area. The study focuses mainly on four level-of-service (LOS) measures: service frequency, hours of service, service coverage, and transit–auto travel time. Assumptions are introduced to extend these measures, which are intended for a particular element of a transit system–-such as stops and route segments–-so that they become applicable for measuring the quality of transit service of travel corridors. An extensive case analysis indicates that all LOS measures are sensitive to various transit planning variables and can be easily calculated with readily available data. The research has also identified a range of issues with the current TCQSM methodology.

As many U.S. metropolitan areas expect unprecedented growth in population and travel in the next 20 to 30 years, rail transit agencies are faced with the challenges of replacing their aging fleets and procuring new vehicles to keep up with ridership increases. As funds become increasingly scarce, many operators are exploring ways of increasing car capacity by considering interior configurations (to maximize loading efficiency) and door configurations (to minimize the effect of increased loads on station dwell times). Few studies address the design and evaluation of interior and door configurations as a system. Typically, seating configurations are designed separately from door configurations. Furthermore, interior configuration evaluations or maximum vehicle loading quoted by car manufacturers assume a uniform loading density applied throughout the car. Loading on transit vehicles, however, varies greatly within a car. This affects practical vehicle capacity and its impact controlling dwell time at the busiest door. The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, a heavy rail rapid transit system in California, recently conducted an evaluation of interior and door configurations based on a methodology that used variable loading densities and resulting impact on door loads for dwell time estimation. Variable loading density is more realistic in simulating actual passenger loading experience. This research shows that depending on the interior and door configuration, applying uniform loading density may misrepresent actual car capacity and door loads and thus waste valuable resources or underestimate actual needs.

This paper concerns transit quality of service and focuses on reliability. Starting from automated vehicle location (AVL) data collected in a case study, the advantages and limitations of the Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual (TCQSM) method for level-of-service (LOS) estimation are discussed. In particular, this method is clear, simple, and easy to use, but sometimes it may lead to inconsistent LOS estimations for three reasons. First, it does not consider the amount of delay but considers only the number of trips that are late. Second, it does not adequately address the effect of early departures on users. Finally, it introduces a fixed tolerance (3 min in advance and 5 min late) around the schedule to consider the trip on time. A new service measure called weighted delay index is proposed; it allows these limitations to be overcome. In this paper, a methodology for its estimation is presented, and new LOS ranges and thresholds for reliability are proposed. Both the TCQSM method and the proposed one have been applied to four routes of the Trieste transit network in Italy. The basic data have been collected through the AVL system during the peak hours of a month. The results have been compared with reference to real data, and it appears that the proposed approach could lead to more graduated LOS estimation because of the higher number of parameters introduced in the new transit service measure.