Public Transportation: Challenges and Opportunities

This resource paper was prepared for the Transportation Research Board (TRB) "Workshop on Public Transportation Management and Planning in a Rapidly Changing Environment: Stategies for Survival" held in Irvine, California, July 27 to July 29, 1995. The paper is intended to help facilitate the discussion of the challenges and opportunities facing public transit today, and to assist in the identification of approached to address these critical issues. To accomplish these objectives, the paper is divided into seven sections following this introduction. The major issues and opportunities associated with funding, changing demographics and travel markets, service applications, management, advanced technologies, and institutional arragements are described next. The paper concludes with a summary of the major challenges and opportunities facing public transportation and the identification of areas for further discussion in the breakout sessions.