TRANSIT AGENCY CHARACTERISTICS: AN INDUSTRY PROFILE. FINAL REPORT

This study reports on a survey sent to 493 transit agencies in 1983. The survey instrument requested information concerning agency institutional type, operating characteristics, service area population, employment, management pool, finances and recruitment problems for the period 1979-83. Surveys were returned by 207 agencies, 171 of which were accompanied by organization charts. The purpose of the survey was to solicit institutional information concerning agency structure to serve as background information for a subsequent study of respondent agency managers. Demographically, the industry is typified by small to medium size agencies, with a few very large agencies which skew industry averages. They are most frequently subdivisions of other governmental units, i.e., city/county or multipurpose agency operating divisions. No strong association was found between institutional types and service characteristics. Transit agencies appear to be relatively hierarchical in structure. Vertical, departmental and administrative differentiation are related to agency size but not strongly. With the exception of vertical differentiation the organizational structure appears to be related to institutional setting. Only about twenty percent of the sample indicated severe manager recruiting difficulties. Operations and maintenance managers were most frequently identified as difficult to locate. No particular size or institutional type of agency appeared to have more difficulty in recruiting. The study results describe a managerial context that is extremely diverse across agency characteristics, change in attributes and organizational patterns. Only the thread of hierarchy seems to typify agencies. Size, location, population served, and possibly revenue do not seem to dictate functional requirements for management structure.

• Corporate Authors:

  Portland State University

  Center for Transit Research and Management Development, P.O. Box 751
  Portland, OR  United States  97207

  Urban Mass Transportation Administration

  Office of Technical Assistance & Safety, 400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • White, C
  • Edner, S M
  • Ketcheson, K
• Publication Date: 1986-6

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 109 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Data collection; Employment; Finance; Organization charts; Recruiting; Roadside rest areas; Surveys; Transit operating agencies
• Identifier Terms: U.S. Department of Transportation; Urban Mass Transportation Act
• Old TRIS Terms: Ost university research; Umta section 11
• Subject Areas: Finance; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00462802
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Urban Mass Transportation Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: UMTA-OR-11-0002-86-2
• Contract Numbers: UMTA-OR-11-0002
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 28 2004 4:20AM