General Readings
Transit Cooperative Research Program Syntheses, Reports, and Research Digests, 1994-present.
Key: R = Report, S = Synthesis, RRD = Research Report Digest, LRD = Legal Research Digest.
Transportation Research Record (past 10 years) deals with transit management.
UITP Revue is a quarterly, international journal on transit topics.
Mass Transit is a monthly magazine with good topical coverage.
Passenger Transport is a weekly American Public Transit Association publication.
Fielding, G. J. (Pete). Managing Public Transit Strategically. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1987. ISBN: 1555420680.
Required Readings
Course readings.
| Lec # |
Topics |
READINGS |
| 1 |
Introduction: Transit Industry Status |
|
| 2-6 |
Organizational Models in the US
Organizational Models in the UK
Experience with Contracting Models
Contracting with Private Providers
Measures of System Performance |
Rye, T., and N. Wilson. "The Urban Bus Situation in the UK: Recent Developments and a Case Study of Edinburgh." TRAIL Research School, Delft, March 2002.
Wilson, N. H. M. "Public Transport in the USA: A Critical Appraisal And Prospects For Future Industry Restructuring." TRAIL Research School, Delft, March 2002.
Gwilliam, K., "Ownership, Organization and Competition Policy: An International Review." Presented at The Fifth International Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport, Leeds, UK, May, 1997.
Halvorsen, R., and N. H. M. Wilson. "The Role of Contract Structuring in Contracted Public Transport Performance: Theory and Practice." Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport, Rotorua, New Zealand, July 1995. |
| 7-8 |
Measures of System Performance (cont.) |
Lee, Douglass. "Transit Cost and Performance Measurement." Transport Reviews 9, no. 2 (1989): 147-170.
Fielding, G. J. Chapter 3.
"The Role of Performance-Based Measures in Allocating Funding for Transit Operations." (Project SG-04), S-06, Summary and Chapters 1-4. (PDF)
A Summary of TCRP Report 88: A Guidebook for Developing a Transit Performance-Measurement System, RRD-56. |
| 9 |
National Transit Database |
|
| 10 |
Strategic Management and Planning |
"Support for Fundamental Change in Public Transportation" (Project J-08B), RRD-55 (PDF)
"Customer-Focused Transit." (Project J-7, SB7), S-45, Summary and Chapters 1-3. (PDF - 3.6 MB) |
| 11-12 |
Financing
Guest Lecturer: Richard H. Doyle, Federal Transit Authority |
"Innovative Financing Techniques for Transit Agencies." (Project 3-01), LRD13. (PDF) |
| 13 |
Budgeting |
|
| 14 |
Fare Policy and Technology
Guest Lecturer: Dan Fleishman, TranSystems |
"Fare Policies, Structures, and Technologies." (Project A-01), R-10. (PDF) |
| 15 |
Marketing
Guest Lecturer: Karla Karash, TranSystems |
"A Handbook of Proven Marketing Strategies for Public Transit." (Project B-13), R-50, Introductory Chapter. (PDF)
TCRP Web Document 8, "Marketing Transit Services to Business." Executive Summary.
"A Handbook: Integrating Market Research into Transit Management." (Project B-02), R-37. (PDF) |
| 16-18 |
Labor: Critical Issues
Guest Lecturer: Fred Salvucci, MIT
Strategies to Improve Labor Relations |
"A Challenged Employment System: Hiring, Training, Performance Evaluation, and Retention of Bus Operators." (Project J-7), S-40, Summary and Chapters 1, 4, 5, and 6. (PDF - 1.6 MB)
"Practices in Assuring Employee Availability." (Project SF-06), S-33, Summary and Chapters 1 - 2. (PDF)
"Total Quality Management in Public Transportation." (Project F-03), RRD-03. (PDF)
"The Quality Journey: A TQM Roadmap for Public Transportation." (Project F-03), R-8. (PDF)
Harsh, W., Jr. "Innovative Labor-Management Practices." TCRP Report, 1995. |
| 19-20 |
Workforce Planning and Management |
Koutsopoulos, H. N., and N. H. M. Wilson. "Operator Workforce Planning in the Transit Industry." Transportation Research 21A (1987): 127-138.
Shiftan, Y., and N. H. M. Wilson, "Absence, Overtime, and Reliability Relationships in Transit Workforce Planning." Transportation Research Record 1402 (1993): 98-106. |
| 21 |
Safety and Security |
"Light Rail Service: Vehicular and Pedestrian Safety." (Project A-13), RRD-34, Chapters 1-3. (PDF - 6.6 MB) |
| 22-24 |
Supervision and Control
Transit Maintenance
Guest Lecturer: Susan Altshuler, MBTA
Maintenance Planning and Management
Guest Lecturer: John Attanucci |
Robbins, M. "Innovative Maintenance Procedures for Transit Buses." TCRP Report, 1996.
"Monitoring Bus Maintenance Performance." (Project SF-04), S-22, Chapters 1-5. (PDF)
"Leveraging Information for Better Transit Maintenance." (Project E-01), RRD-13. (PDF)
"Information Technology Update for Transit." (Project SG-08), S-35, Summary and Chapters 1-2. (PDF - 1.7 MB) |
| 25 |
Management Information Systems: Decision Support Systems |
|
| 26 |
Term Paper Presentations |
|