TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 53: Operational Experiences with Flexible Transit Services examines transit agency experiences with "flexible transit services," including all types of hybrid services that are not pure demand-responsive (including dial-a-ride and Americans with Disabilities Act paratransit) or fixed-route services, but that fall somewhere in between those traditional service models.
The scope of this synthesis is to (1) search out useful information on the use of computer-aided scheduling and dispatch (CASD) in demand-responsive transit (DRT) services, (2) develop an amalgamation or compendium of the current knowledge and successful practices used in computerizing the functions necessary to efficiently and effectively operate such DRT services, and (3) report on measures used to resolve specific problems in planning and implementing CASD. The ultimate objective in compiling a considerable storehouse of information is to make this information available to the public transit community. Private and nonprofit organizations that are providing DRT services will similarly benefit from a review of these results.
The purpose of this synthesis was to document the past and current experiences of public transit agencies that have planned, implemented, and operated fare-free transit systems. The report concentrates on public transit agencies that are either direct recipients or sub-recipients of federal transit grants and provide fare-free service to everyone in their service area on every mode they provide. The report will be of interest to transit managers and staffs, small urban and rural areas, university, and resort communities, as well as stakeholders and policy makers at all levels who would be interested in knowing the social benefits and macro impacts of providing affordable mobility through fare-free public transit. A review of the relevant literature was conducted for this effort. Reports provide statistics on changes in levels of ridership associated with fare-free service. White papers or agency reports identified by the topic panel or discovered through interviews with fare-free transit managers were also reviewed. Through topic panel input, Internet searches, listserv communications, and APTA and TRB sources, the first comprehensive listing of public transit agencies that provide fare-free service in the United States was identified. A selected survey of these identified public transit agencies yielded an 82% response rate (32/39). The report offers a look at policy and administrative issues through survey responses. Five case studies, achieved through interviews, represent the three types of communities that were found to be most likely to adopt a fare-free policy: rural and small urban, university dominated, and resort communities.
This synthesis will be of interest to transit agency staff and those who work with them in dealing with common wheelchair securement on transit buses. It offers information on existing programs in many countries and documents transit agency experiences for the benefit of others considering similar deployments, in particular with respect to the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and to its use in U.S. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems. The report describes the state of the practice with respect to the use of rearfacing position for accommodating common wheelchairs (as defined by the ADA) on large transit buses (more than 30,000 lb) and identifies pertinent issues related to its transferability to the U.S. context.
This report should be of interest to transit bus maintenance managers and others interested in the development of written transit bus maintenance procedures, or "practices," and the sharing of these practices with others in the transit industry. The report provides guidance on how to develop effective transit bus maintenance practices tailored to one's local operating environment. It provides seven sample practices developed using the guidance. Complementing this report is an on-line Web Board sponsored by the Transportation Research Board's Committee on Transit Fleet Maintenance. This Web Board allows transit agencies to post their maintenance practices for others to review, revise as necessary for their own operating conditions, and use. The report provides instructions on how to access the Web Board, use it to develop maintenance practices, and share these practices among transit agencies.
"TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 83: Bus and Rail Transit Preferential Treatments in Mixed Traffic explores the application of different transit preferential treatments in mixed traffic. The report also examines the decision-making process that may be applied in deciding which preferential treatment might be the most applicable in a particular location."--Publisher's description.
Provides a useful summary of the state of the practice in the area of improved transit traveler information. The result identifies transit traveler information needs, assesses the state of the art in providing transit traveler information, provides examples of customer information systems from both inside the transit industry and related industries, discusses transit traveler information as part of larger community information systems, and offers new directions for the transit industry in providing traveler information.
