An assessment of short-range transit planning in selected U.S. cities

This study of short-range planning procedures used for transit services in Cincinnati, Boston, San Diego, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Kansas City, Missouri, identified two major shortcomings in current transit planning procedures. First, institutional framework that standard planning processes provide is inadequate for short-range planning. Transit agencies themselves carry out most short- range transit planning, without considering options such as paratransit and traffic engineering improvements and with little independent review by other local and regional planners. Elected officials faced with short-range transit decisions have only transit agency recommendations to consider. The authors of this paper suggest that demonstration funding to selected metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) would encourage the needed upgrading of short-range planning capability at both metropolitan and local levels. The second shortcoming revealed by this study is that performance measures used to assess transit services are geared to transit management needs rather than to comprehensive transportation planning goals. In addition to such management concerns as labor productivity, schedule adherence, and the effect of maintenance programs on bus availability, transit evaluations should measure subsidy cost per vehicle mile of travel reduced and per passenger trip mile produced. The authors recommend that problem- specific techniques be developed to deal with the varying aspects of the planning process. (Urban Institute)