Article Abstracts
Volume 3, No. 2, 2000
Influence of the Rail Program on Bus Transit in Los Angeles
Richard Stanger
Transit ConsultantAbstract
In November 1980, voters in Los Angeles County, California, approved Proposition A, which stipulated a one-time, three-year rollback of bus fares to 50¢. Afterwards, at least 35 percent of the revenues had to be used for rail construction and operation (with a stated emphasis on construction). The program moved forward as called for, and by the early 1990s the Blue Line to Long Beach was in operation. The subway and an additional light rail line would both open by 1995. In the early 1990s, however, opponents of rail began a campaign to discredit the program using premature, distorted, and sometimes simply false information about rail's effectiveness. Embarrassed by construction problems and confused by internal issues, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) found it difficult to defend the new rail system. In 1994, a suit was filed by the Bus Riders Union, a small group of bus riders. In 1996, even though most of the basic assertions of the suit were proven to have been either premature or false, the MTA agreed to a settlement it is now trying to live up to. In truth, the MTA fully supported the bus system well after falling ridership would have called for service cutbacks. The number of buses in service stayed high, the bus-miles of service dropped far less than ridership, and the number of empty bus seats actually rose. The bus system lacked for neither operating funds nor subsidies. Even the average fare paid by the transit user (in constant 1999 dollars) changed very little since the early 1980s. Whatever the reasons for the slide in bus ridership, the rail system cannot be blamed. The new rail system continues to grow in importance. Less than 10 years after the Blue Line was inaugurated, the two light rail lines, the still incomplete subway, and the Los Angeles portion of the regional Metrolink commuter rail system together carry 11 percent of all MTA transit riders and 22 percent of its passenger-miles. Rail is also proving to be faster than the bus option even including a bus-to-rail transfer. And rail's operating cost effectiveness, already better than that of the bus, keeps improving.
An Australian Case Study of Mandatory Education for the Bus and Coach Industry
Samantha Y. Taylor, Institute of Transport Studies, Monash University
Kenneth J. Button, School of Public Policy, George Mason UniversityAbstract
The changing regulatory environment in which public transportation is provided has generated a need for different forms of bus operations and management. This article discusses the introduction and development of a compulsory education program for bus and coach operators in Victoria, Australia. The Victorian government introduced a new system of operator (manager or owner in U.S. terminology) accreditation through the Public Transport Competition Regulations (1999). The accreditation process requires individual managers and owners to successfully complete the transport management course in bus and coach operations. The development and introduction of the course is a significant change for the industry and exists in a challenging sociopolitical environment. The course is designed to help people make the best use of new opportunities, such as open entry and competition promoted by the legislation. The majority of operators who have already completed the course found it extremely helpful, useful, and enjoyable. On the other hand, a "fear of the unknown" for some operators has resulted in resentment and aggression in a few cases. The article describes the challenges of working with operators as they move away from a protected environment toward accreditation.
Using Geographic Information Systems and the World Wide Web for Interactive Transit-Trip Itinerary Planning
Brian L. Smith
University of VirginiaAbstract
Providing high-quality service information is important in attracting and retaining public transportation passengers. Currently, information provided to support transit-trip itinerary planning is either difficult to use or to access. Furthermore, after obtaining the information, passengers are required to perform a fairly complex search process to extract an itinerary. Two technologies that are becoming commonly used in public transportation, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and the World Wide Web (WWW), offer capabilities to provide an easily accessible, highly functional tool for trip itinerary planning. This research effort investigated the feasibility of integrating these emerging technologies to produce a transit-trip itinerary planning tool.
Measuring Service Quality in Scheduled Bus Services
Paola Prioni and David A. Hensher
University of Sydney
Abstract
Transit operators are increasingly being asked to provide services more cost efficiently. To do this, operators must find ways to reduce the costs of delivering a given level of service (in contrast to simply reducing cost at the expense of lower service levels). There is growing concern in many countries that operators are not focusing enough attention on identifying whether passengers are satisfied with existing service levels and what might be done to increase or at least preserve current service quality. This article develops a stated preference model of service quality choice that provides the set of indicators required to represent a user-based measure of service quality. The service quality index (SQI) provides an operationally appealing measure of service effectiveness to assist regulators in administering and monitoring a performance assessment regime and operators in improving customer service. SQI has been readily accepted by many bus operators in New South Wales (Australia) as the preferred way of establishing and monitoring the effectiveness of service levels, in contrast to traditional stand-alone satisfaction scores based on independent assessment of each attribute in isolation from the entire service package that passengers actually experience.
Transit-Oriented Development in the Inner City: A Delphi Survey
Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris
University of California, Los AngelesAbstract
This study presents the results of a three-round Delphi survey that focused on issues and opportunities related to transit-oriented development (TOD) in U.S. inner cities. The survey queried a panel of 25 experts about the various goals and objectives of the practice of TOD, as well as the preconditions and constraints surrounding such development in economically disadvantaged areas of the inner city. Starting from a wide range of responses, the panel was eventually able, through the Delphi process, to focus on specific issues and propose a concrete set of strategies for the implementation of TODs.
Parking Management and Commuter Rail: The Case of Northeastern Illinois
Erik Ferguson, ETF AssociatesAbstract
This article examines the relationship between parking management and commuter rail transit using the Chicago metropolitan area in northeastern Illinois as a case example. Commuter rail transit and parking management are discussed within the broader context of transportation planning in the Chicago metropolitan region. Commuter rail ridership, mode of station access, and parking utilization rates are compared. Related air quality, social equity, and land-use concerns are reviewed. There are no simple solutions to the problem of spillover parking around commuter rail stations. The construction of new parking can be expensive. Raising parking prices may induce spillover parking. Doing nothing to address observed parking shortages may inhibit ridership. Shared parking is an excellent compromise in many situations, but even this is far from a universal solution.