Transit Cooperative Research Program Publications

As air travel grows, public transportation serving airports will likely expand. Most large and mid-size airports rely on multiple transit modes, including buses, rail, vans, and shared-ride services, all of which must adapt to increasing demand. The airport environment is complex and requires diverse landside transportation options. The rise of transportation network companies has added challenges related to infrastructure, operational space, funding, and coordination with local agencies. Competition for space and ridership further complicates efforts by transit agencies to provide quality airport service while addressing ongoing jurisdictional, funding, and environmental policy issues. This report synthesizes the legal issues that arise when planning, funding, and operating transit services at and to airports

Many women’s travel experiences relate directly to their disproportionate share of caregiving responsibilities. Travelers supervising dependents are more likely to need access to multiple destinations and may have more belongings in tow. Because dependents are unlikely to be commuting adults, travel during off-peak hours is more common, and paying multiple fares can increase the financial burden. Additionally, safety is a greater concern for women, both when they are traveling alone and when they are traveling with dependents, especially children. This report presents a set of practical tools to help transit agencies better understand their riders, use existing data more effectively, assess how well they are serving women and families, build internal support for these efforts, and identify service planning, vehicle, and station design strategies that benefit women and families. The eight tools are organized into three stages: Understand Your Riders, Build Internal Capacity, and Deploy Your Tactics.

In recent years, the public transit industry has seen a significant trend toward establishing formal Customer Experience (CX) programs, with over 60 U.S. transit agencies creating programs to better understand rider needs, instill a customer-first approach to their services, and build ridership and community support. However, the rapid adoption of these programs has occurred without industry-wide standards, leading to a wide variety of organizational models and approaches.

This report identifies emerging practices within transit agency CX programs across key themes, including program design, organizational structure, and performance measurement. In addition to results from an industry scan and survey, the report includes five case examples and highlights how CX programs are evolving within the transit industry, becoming a distinct professional specialization that increasingly relies on integrated data, performance measurement, and multidisciplinary collaboration. The report addresses the importance of strategic planning, investment, and the use of an “Influence Model” to guide CX initiatives. It also finds that CX programs are delivering measurable improvements for riders, and it identifies gaps and opportunities for future research to strengthen program effectiveness and advance the field.

Throughout its more than 25-year history, the Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual (TCQSM) has compiled the state of the practice based on peer-reviewed research published by the Transportation Research Board and others. The TCQSM provides transportation practitioners of varying levels of experience and responsibility information, techniques, and resources to support the planning, design, and operation of transit services, facilities, and systems. While the TCQSM’s methods represent the best available knowledge at the time of publication, they do not establish policies regarding desirable or appropriate levels of quality of service or capacity for transit services, facilities, or systems. This report includes updated statistics, transit agency application examples, and photographs. The manual incorporates emerging mobility options such as microtransit and low-speed automated vehicles, with expanded coverage of widely adopted technologies such as bus and ferry electrification. This edition updates key concepts related to modes and services, operations, and quality of service. Additional updates address topics including quality of service measures and applications, bus transit, demand-responsive transit, rail transit, ferry transit, and transit stops and stations.

Many women’s travel experiences relate directly to their disproportionate share of caregiving responsibilities. Travelers supervising dependents are more likely to need access to multiple destinations and may have more belongings in tow. Because dependents are unlikely to be commuting adults, travel during off-peak hours is more common, and paying multiple fares can increase the financial burden. Additionally, safety is a greater concern for women, both when they are traveling alone and when they are traveling with dependents, especially children. This report presents a set of practical tools to help transit agencies better understand their riders, use existing data more effectively, assess how well they are serving women and families, build internal support for these efforts, and identify service planning, vehicle, and station design strategies that benefit women and families. The eight tools are organized into three stages: Understand Your Riders, Build Internal Capacity, and Deploy Your Tactics.

Red-tinted bus lanes are defined as lanes featuring red-colored pavement intended to enhance the visibility of locations, station stops, or travel lanes reserved exclusively for public transit vehicles or multimodal facilities where public transit is the primary mode. Although red-tinted bus lanes have been implemented in several cities, there is relatively limited documentation on their impacts, operational challenges, and other information valuable to agencies interested in implementing them. This report documents the current state of practice for the implementation and performance of red-tinted bus lanes in North America. The report addresses topics such as planning, design, and implementation; materials; operations and enforcement; and system impacts. It also provides guidance and lessons learned from agencies that have implemented and operate red-tinted bus lanes.

Public art is used in public spaces to add a sense of safety, belonging, and collective ownership and is commonly displayed at transit facilities and on vehicles across the United States and Canada. However, there is limited consolidated information on how art in transit programs are organized and funded. This report documents the use of art in public transit systems throughout the United States and Canada. The synthesis includes information on historical and current art in transit programs and describes how agencies develop, implement, and manage the programs. For the purposes of this report, an art in transit program is defined broadly as any initiative to integrate art into a transit system, whether established or ad hoc. Art is also defined broadly as anything created by an artist, including temporary works and performance art, but excluding advertising campaigns.

The COVID-19 pandemic-induced shift toward remote and hybrid work arrangements significantly impacted peak hour transit ridership across the United States; however, offpeak ridership exhibited greater resilience. As a result, many transit agencies began reevaluating their service strategies, placing greater emphasis on nighttime service enhancements to better serve emerging travel patterns and support those who rely on transit outside conventional work hours. This report documents current practices undertaken by transit agencies to support nighttime transit ridership and focuses on how transit agencies prioritize service improvements to support nighttime transit demand and address the needs of essential workers. It includes a survey of 25 transit agencies plus five case examples that examine strategies related to safety, operations, resource allocation, ridership trends, and partnerships.

For transit operators with zero-emission transit buses (ZEB) in their fleets, the primary concern is whether the vehicles can meet the agency’s service requirements for both regularly scheduled service and for unscheduled service to address local or regional events and emergencies. This concern applies both at the individual route and fleet levels. This report provides a framework for transit agencies to update their resilience plans to operate ZEB fleets. It also offers a roadmap for transit agencies to integrate their existing zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) transition strategies into broader resilience planning efforts.

The nation was reminded of the importance of security barriers for transit bus operators by the fatal attack on a Tampa, Florida bus operator in 2019. The need for security barriers was reinforced by a serious attack on another operator for that same system later that year. While these are two extreme examples, they are likely not unique, as many assaults against transit workers have been underreported in the past. Another important but more pernicious risk to bus operator health is viral and bacterial infection. This report provides information and guidance for North American public transportation agencies, standards committees, and government and non-government policymaking organizations on designing, procuring, and installing bus operator barriers to prioritize the health and safety of essential operators and the public they serve.