Driving Bus System Success

KWADWO ATTA
Southeast Transit Leader
HDR

Public transit agencies continue to be challenged post-COVID. Ridership patterns, public expectations, and even the emphasis on farebox revenue generation have changed. At the same time, communities and public transportation users want immediate service improvements.

The bus mode—whether traditional fixed route, enhanced, flexible routing, or BRT—is a valuable tool to address these challenges head on. The mode’s flexibility in service delivery, its scalability, and its cost effectiveness are major benefits for communities and those setting local budgets. This appeal can be seen in the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Capital Investment Grants Program, where more than 60 percent of projects are now Bus Rapid Transit.

As our industry seeks to capitalize on this flexibility, five best practices and strategies come to the fore:

Improve Business Intelligence as Ridership Shifts

New hybrid work patterns have redefined transit demand in recent years. Traditional peak-hour commuting, though it has rebounded in many areas, remains below desired levels while midday, evening, and weekend ridership continues to grow. And the changes continue. We are likely to experience another shift in travel patterns if return-to-office mandates by public agencies and private companies are accelerated. Public transit agencies should proactively and continuously seek business intelligence to understand their communities’ mobility needs and the attitudes/preferences that drive mobility decisions. There is a lot of business intelligence that can be garnered using farebox, automatic passenger counter systems, cell phone, surveys, and focus groups.

Speed Capital Improvements with Program Management

The transit industry often experiences boom and bust cycles of funding that make it challenging to rapidly implement improvements. This challenge has been further exacerbated by a shortage of procurement and project delivery staff. Program management contracts represent a great opportunity for agencies to leverage consulting expertise to advance capital program delivery.

Moreover, many agencies are now facing budget shortfalls and are being conscious about hiring. Program management contracts offer a solution as they can be scaled to match funding availability and can address capital program requirements such as procurement support, project definition, and environmental and preliminary engineering without adding to agency headcount.

Seek Dedicated Local and State Funding

A dedicated source of local or state funding is foundational for today’s public transportation programs. The best practice combines a dedicated source to enhance operations with matching funding that can help access FTA programs for expansion and state of good repair projects. The good news is that transit programs with a focus on bus improvements continued to fare well at the ballot box in 2024, with voters nationwide approving 46 out of 53 transit ballot measures, securing more than $25 billion in local and regional funding for system expansions, service improvements, and operational sustainability.

Going forward, transit agencies should consider options for more regional and local funding, and, where applicable, explore public-private partnerships. Based on recent successful initiatives in Nashville and Columbus, referendums that align rider, community, business, and political stakeholder sentiment fare better at the ballot box.

Prioritize Effective Community Engagement

Listening to our communities and sharing the importance of public transportation are foundational to improving bus services. Given our challenges related to safety, security, and ridership, it is critical that agencies have a robust community centric engagement plan. Transit projects and operations are extremely public efforts that require the support of allies who see the value of public transportation.

Targeted outreach to influential leaders, positive media attention, and data such as economic impact reports are all helpful in creating a diverse group of backers to support long-term implementation of community-wide programs. But the effort begins with gathering and respecting the feedback from the riders and communities we serve. A best practice for agencies is encouraging staff to become routine riders of the transit system.

Re-Examine Revenue Needs

Beginning with the Great Recession, transit agencies have experienced significant shifts that now must be reconsidered. For example, some agencies implemented fare free systems or significantly reduced fares and now may need increased revenues to offset the impact of inflation that has occurred in recent years. Transit agencies should proactively conduct financial analyses to capture ridership forecasts, projected revenues, and to understand current and future cost trends compared with operating and capital needs. Timely advancing the re-examination of revenues and expenses allows the agency to analyze options and collaborate with key stakeholders.

It is impossible to know exactly what the future will hold. But implementing these strategies can set the right foundation for success and help bus systems continue serving riders well for decades into the future.