Bus Route Evaluation Standards

This report of the Transportation Research Board provides transit agency staff with a compilation of current activity, and data to identify some new standards that have come into play in recent years with regard to route design, schedule design, economics and productivity, service delivery, and passenger comfort and safety. The status of service standards TODay and changes since 1984, as well as the organization and effectiveness of bus service evaluation activities are presented.

This synthesis will be of interest to transit agency general managers, as well as operations, scheduling, maintenance, and planning personnel. Information on bus route evaluation standards and criteria used by transit agencies in the United States and Canada is summarized. The synthesis provides updated information to the 1984 United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) report entitLED Bus Service Evaluation Methods: A Review, however, the results are not directly comparable as the respondents, questions asked, and analytical procedures differ in the 1994 synthesis. It does report what agencies do in the area of bus route, not system, evaluation standards, and how they undertake these efforts.