00454954

Component

http://onlinepubs.trb.org...trr/1985/1011/1011-006.pdf

https://scholar.google.co...kson&publication_year=1985

In response to rapidly deteriorating privately owned and operated express bus service, Prince William County, Virginia, developed a program designed to stabilize and improve services. The program, conceived by a citizens advisory committee and initiated with state and local funding, uses a public-private partnership whereby the local government purchases and remanufactures suburban coaches and then leases the coaches to a private operator. Lease fees are nominal, and the private operator is contractually obligated to the local government to provide all necessary coach maintenance. Thus the local government in effect provides a capital subsidy to a private operator and helps provide reliable public transportation without becoming the actual provider. The local government reviews routes and schedules and assists in marketing but does not defray operating costs. To date, the county has remanufactured and leased 10 suburban coaches to a local private operator. This has resulted in the availability of more reliable, more comfortable, and safer express bus servivce for county commuters. Express bus patronage is increasing, and the county hopes to remanufacture and lease an additional 10 coaches. The program appears to be successful and incorporates several strategies that msy be of interest to suburban jurisdictions considering initiatives in express bus operations.

This paper appeared in Transportation Research Record N1011, Advances in Bus Service Planning Practices.

01419894

pp 32-43

1985

Transportation Research Record

64th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board

0309038235

Print

Tables (1)

Buses; Commuting; County government; Express buses; Finance; Financing; Leasing; Local government; Marketing; Private enterprise; Profitability; Rehabilitation; Suburbs

Subscription buses

Virginia

Finance; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

TRIS, TRB

Jul 31 1986 12:00AM

• ANALYSIS OF MAXIMUM LOAD DATA FOR AN URBAN BUS SYSTEM
• COMPUTER APPLICATION FOR DETERMINING BUS HEADWAYS AND TIMETABLES
• DEVELOPMENT OF A BUS OPERATING COST MODEL BASED ON DISAGGREGATE DATA
• GOALS FOR BUS TRANSIT SCHEDULING
• Life-Cycle Costing in the Transit Industry
• MAINTENANCE AND OPERATING COSTS OF SMALL BUSES
• MICROCOMPUTER ASSISTANCE FOR A RURAL TRANSPORTATION OPERATION: THE TENNESSEE EXPERIENCE
• O-BAHN: DESCRIPTION AND EVALUATION OF A NEW CONCEPT
• SMALL TRANSIT INSURANCE PROGRAMS: CURRENT STATUS AND THE GROUP PURCHASE ALTERNATIVE
• TRANSIT ROUTING AND SCHEDULING STRATEGIES FOR HEAVY-DEMAND CORRIDORS (ABRIDGMENT)
• USE OF COOPERATIVES FOR ALTERNATIVE RURAL PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION: REPORT ON A NEW YORK STUDY