INTERCITY BUS TRANSPORT: THE TENNESSEE EXPERIENCE

Interstate carriers, using the familiar over-the-road vehicles, provide regular route passenger service and charters and constitute the primary supply line to small communities providing fast delivery of such items as automobile parts, drugs, newspapers and films, and cut flowers. Intrastate carrier provide small rural communities with acess to interstate terminals in larger urban areas (feeder lines) or to major employment centers (commuter lines). The future of interstate bus service will be determined largely by public transportation policy in the following areas: allocation of charter activity, abandonment of nonprofitable routes, assessment of taxes and fees, restriction on use of the 102-inch-wide bus, and highway system plans which would facilitate the interchange of passenger and vehicle in the design of limited access highways. Rural communities are now beginning to request funds to develop rural transportation systems to replace the intrastate services that current regulatory taxing and insurance policies are eliminating.