BUS TRANSIT MONITORING STUDY: INTERIM REPORT 1: DATA REQUIREMENTS AND COLLECTION TECHNIQUES

In recent years, an interest in revitalizing public transportation has led to an increased awareness of the need to utilize existing resources more efficiently. This implies that transit properties must carefully evaluate, or re-evaluate, all services, both current and planned. As a result, the collection of passenger-related transit operations data has received much more attention. Research into the utilization of this data has received much more attention. Research into the utilization of this data has considerably advanced the state-of-the-art of transit evaluation and, simultaneously, generated considerable controversy regarding its proper role. Some transit operators, faced with an increasing need to provide the most effective service, have adopted sets of performance measures and standards and have developed plans for using them in a systematic service evaluation. In many cases, however, transit operators have not been able to implement the measures and standards because they have had difficulty in developing a cost-effective system to collect the needed information. To assist these operators, UMTA's Office of Planning Assistance, through its Special Studies Program, has initiated a study in data collection. The purpose of this study is to develop a comprehensive statistically-based data collection manual that will enable transit operators to collect passenger-related data in a cost-effective manner which maximizes the usefulness of the overall data base. This first interim report presents the results of the first two tasks of the study, which were to identify current data collection techniques and data requirements. These two closely related tasks were conducted in parallel through three major activities: 1) a literature review; 2) a review of material collected by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Commission in Norfolk, Virginia, in a study for UMTA, focusing on service evaluation techniques; and 3) discussions with forty-one transit properties in the United States and Canada. (UMTA)

• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/418
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sponsored by DOT, UMTA.
• Corporate Authors:

  Multisystems, Incorporated

  1050 Massachusetts Avenue
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02138

  ATE Management and Service Company, Incorporated

  617 Vine Street, Suite 800
  Cincinnati, OH  United States  45202
• Authors:
  • Flusberg, M
  • Kruger, J
  • Curry, J
• Publication Date: 1979-4

Media Info

• Pagination: 86 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus transit; Case studies; Data collection; Measures of effectiveness; Monitoring; Performance; Specifications; State of the art studies
• Uncontrolled Terms: Performance indicators; Requirement
• Old TRIS Terms: Bus transportation (Intracity)
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00314790
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Urban Mass Transportation Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: UMTA-IT-09-9008-79-1Intrm Rpt.
• Contract Numbers: DOT-UT-9005
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Dec 11 1981 12:00AM