COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF MAJOR US BUS TRANSIT SYSTEMS. SECOND ANNUAL REPORT. VOLUME 1: SUMMARY

In this second annual report on bus system performance, comparative statistics for 108 of the nation's largest bus transit operators are developed from nationally reported data for 1988-93. Five measures of resources (vehicles, population base, fare revenue, non-fare revenue, and coverage area) are normalized and compared with 7 measures of results (operating expenses per mile and per hour, operating costs per passenger and per passenger mile, vehicle miles and hours of service provided, and ridership rates). Systems are then ranked according to overall performance against US averages, weighting each statistic equally. Systems are also ranked within six peer groups based on population served and modes of service. Findings show that nationally, the performance of large bus transit systems is declining in spite of increasing resources. The study concludes that cost effective performance of bus transit systems depends on low costs, low fares, and low subsidies along with concentrated service that maximizes ridership.