MOVING PEOPLE: AN INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION UPDATE

This handbook is the second edition of Moving People: An Introduction to Public Transportation. It provides the general public with a brief history of the origins, functions, and objectives of public transportation and explains how public transportation is planned, operated and financed. Why more people don't use public transportation is examined along with user and community benefits. The organizational changes and current role of public transportation are examined along with the issues of costs, sources of funding, private sector involvement, new service strategies and new transit technologies. Future challenges for public transportation, namely--demographic changes, suburban mobility, and job accessibility--are reviewed. Case studies illustrate how transit systems are meeting the emerging challenges. This handbook focuses on transportation services which provide mass transportation within urban areas--bus/electric bus, commuter rail, rapid rail/subway, light rail/streetcar and the newer forms of public transit, paratransit services.