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BTS Home > Publications > National Transportation Statistics > 2001

Bus Profile

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Financial	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Expenditures ($ thousands)
School bus	^c486,000	^c1,219,000	^c3,833,000	^c8,031,000	^c7,847,000	^c9,889,000	^R,c9,082,000	^c10,353,000	^c10,326,000	^c10,340,000
Operating revenues ($ thousands)
Intercity bus, class I	^d463,100	^d721,700	^d1,397,378	^d943,268	^R,e1,161,479	^R,e1,189,235	^R,e1,191,273	^R,e1,080,083	^R,e1,074,582	^e1,326,909
Operating expenses ($ thousands)
Intercity bus, class I	405,400	639,000	1,318,372	1,026,213	^R1,289,834	^R1,253,537	^R1,228,092	^R1,022,680	^R1,016,208	1,313,900

Inventory	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Number of operating companies
Intercity bus, class I	143	71	61	31	^R26	^R,e24	^R,e20	^R22	^R,e20	^e18
Number of vehicles
All buses	^f272,129	^f377,562	^f528,789	^f626,987	^f670,423	^f685,503	^f694,781	^f697,548	^f715,540	^f728,777
Number of employees
Intercity and rural bus	^g40,500	^g43,400	^g37900	^g26,100	^h23,600	^h23,800	^h23,800	^h22,200	^h24,400	^h23,800
School bus	N	N	79,900	111,200	125,900	131,100	132,200	136,500	141,000	146,100

Performance	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Vehicle-miles (millions)
All buses
Rural highway
Interstate rural	N	^j339	^j533	^j567	^j683	ⁱ711	ⁱ742	ⁱ794	ⁱ834	ⁱ971
Other arterial rural	N	944	991	995	1,154	^R1,171	^R1,186	1,243	1,282	1,375
Other rural	N	1,266	1,511	1,882	1,893	1,972	^R2,005	2,072	2,135	2,322
All rural	^j2,332	2,549	3,035	3,444	3,730	^R3,854	^R3,933	4,109	4,251	4,668
Urban highway^a
Interstate urban	N	277	560	455	627	580	598	647	663	751
Other urban	N	1,718	2,464	1,828	2,052	1,986	2,007	2,086	2,093	2,244
All urban	2,014	1,995	3,024	2,283	2,679	2,566	2,605	2,733	2,756	2,995
Total rural and urban highway	4,346	4,544	6,059	5,726	6,409	^R6,420	^R6,538	6,842	7,007	7,663
Passenger-miles (millions)
All buses	N	N	N	^R121,398	135,871	136,104	138,613	145,060	148,558	162,466
Number of revenue passengers (thousands)
Intercity bus, total	^c366,000	^c401,000	^c370,000	^c334,000	^c343,200	^c366,500	^c347,900	^c350,600	^c357,600	^c358,900
Average miles traveled per vehicle
All buses	ⁱ15,970	ⁱ12,035	ⁱ11,458	ⁱ9,133	ⁱ9,560	ⁱ9365	^R,i9,386	ⁱ9,809	ⁱ9,793	ⁱ10,515
Fuel consumed (million gallons)
All buses	827	820	1,018	895	964	968	^R985	1,027	1,040	1,146
Average fuel consumption per vehicle (gallons)
All buses	3,039	2,172	1,925	1,427	1,438	1,412	^R1,414	1,472	1,454	1,573
Average miles traveled per gallon of fuel consumed
All buses	5.3	5.5	6.0	6.4	6.6	6.6	6.6	6.7	6.7	6.7
Average revenue per passenger-mile (cents) (intercity)	^c2.71	^c3.60	^c7.26	^c11.55	^c11.61	^c12.19	^c12.30	^R,c12.56	^R,c12.75	^c12.76

Safety	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Number of fatalities
School bus-related	N	N	^k150	^k115	^k105	^k123	^k136	^k131	^k128	^l167
School bus
Occupants	N	N	9	11	3	13	10	8	6	10
Other vehicle
Occupants	N	N	88	64	64	72	101	99	91	127
Nonoccupants	N	N	53	40	38	38	25	24	31	30
Occupant fatalities
All buses	N	N	46	32	18	33	21	18	38	^m59
School buses	N	N	14	13	2	12	10	8	6	8
Cross country buses	N	N	23	2	7	6	3	5	13	32
Transit buses	N	N	6	3	6	1	5	3	2	6
Other and unknown	N	N	3	14	6	14	3	2	17	13
Fatalities in vehicular accidents^b
All buses	N	N	ⁿ390	ⁿ340	ⁿ286	^R,n311	^R,n367	^R,n339	^R,n328	ⁿ373
Occupant fatality rate
Per 100 million vehicle-miles
All buses	N	N	0.8	0.6	0.3	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.8
Per 10,000 registered vehicles
All buses	N	N	0.9	0.5	0.3	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.8
Vehicle involvement rate
Per 100 million vehicle-miles
All buses	N	N	6.4	5.9	^R4.5	^R4.8	^R5.6	^R5.0	^R4.7	4.1
Per 10,000 registered vehicles
All buses	N	N	7.4	5.4	^R4.3	^R4.5	^R5.3	^R4.9	^R4.6	4.4

KEY: N = data do not exist; R = revised; U = data are not available.

^a Urban consists of travel on all roads and streets in urban places of 5,000 or greater population.

^b Includes all fatalities that occurred in an accident in which a bus was involved.

NOTE: See transit profile for transit bus data.

SOURCES: Unless otherwise noted, refer to chapter tables for sources.

^c Eno Transportation Foundation, Inc., Transportation In America, 2000 (Washington, DC: 2001), p. 11, 16, 18.

^d Interstate Commerce Commission, Annual Report of the ICC (Washington, DC: Annual issues), Appendix F, tables 1, 6.

^e U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Selected Earnings Data, Class I Motor Carriers of Passengers (Washington, DC: Annual issues).

^f U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual issues), table MV-10.

^g U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment, Hours and Earnings, United States, 1909-1994 (Washington, DC: September 1994), SIC codes 413, 415.

^h Ibid., Internet site www.bls.gov as of Aug. 20, 2001.

ⁱ Ibid., Highway Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual issues), table VM-1.

^j Ibid., Highway Statistics, Summary to 1995, FHWA-PL-97-009 (Washington, DC: July 1997), table VM-201A.

^k Ibid., National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Traffic Safety Facts 1998, DOT HS 808 983 (Washington, DC: October 1999), Tables 74, 93.

^l Ibid., National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2000 Traffic Safety Fact Sheets, DOT HS 809 332 (Washington, DC: December 2001)

^m Ibid., National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, personal communication, May 2002.

ⁿ Ibid., Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Query, Internet site, http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov as of Sept. 6, 2001