COST INCREASE, COST DIFFERENCES, AND PRODUCTIVITY OF TRANSIT OPERATIONS IN NEW YORK STATE

Public transit operations in New York State were analyzed to explore transit costs and operational productivity. Three transit systems were examined over time to determine what cost component are causing the rapid increases in operating costs that have occurred in the past 7 years. Twelve bus operations were analyzed to explore why some transit operations cost more to operate than others, and whether similar transit operations are equally productive. The results showed that employee costs (wages and salaries, pensions, and other employee-related costs) constitute 70 to 90 percent of all operating costs, and that increases in employee costs are almost entirely responsible for past increases in operation costs. Increases in fuel, power, and other non-employee-related costs were found to have little effect on operating cost increases. Differences in operating cost per vehicle-kilometer among operations are accounted for by differences in average vehicle speeds, employee average earning, and, in some cases, productivity. Cost savings of between 5 and 12 percent could be obtained by increasing the average vehicle speed of a bus operation by 1km/h (0.6 mph). The difficulties of obtaining an increase in average vehicle speed are also discussed. (Author)

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1977/625/625-005.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=COST+INCREASE%2C+COST+DIFFERENCES%2C+AND+PRODUCTIVITY+OF+TRANSIT+OPERATIONS+IN+NEW+YORK+STATE&author=W.+Holthoff&author=R.+Knighton&publication_year=1977
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This article appeared in Transportation Research Report No. 625, Transit Planning and Operations. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Holthoff, William C
  • Knighton, Robert G
• Conference:
  • 56th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1977-1-24 to 1977-1-28
• Publication Date: 1977

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: pp 15-21
• Monograph Title: Transit planning and operations
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 625
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus transportation; Economics; Employee compensation; Fuel consumption; Motor vehicles; Operating costs; Performance; Performance evaluations; Productivity; Speed; Traffic speed; Transportation; Vehicle miles of travel
• Uncontrolled Terms: Performance indicators
• Geographic Terms: New York (State)
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Economics; Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00168064
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309026504
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Aug 30 1983 12:00AM