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BTS Home > Publications > National Transportation Statistics > 2001

Transit Profile

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Financial	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	^P1999
Passenger operating revenues ($ millions)
Passenger fares^m	1,335	1,639	2,556	5,891	6,756	6,801	7,416	7,546	^R7,970	8,282
Motor bus	N	N	N	2,967	3,250	3,287	3,515	3,558	^R3,991	4,175
Heavy rail	N	N	N	1,741	1,976	2,018	2,322	2,351	2,297	2,323
Light rail	N	N	N	83	135	127	144	139	150	164
Trolley bus	N	N	N	46	55	54	55	57	55	60
Demand responsive	N	N	N	41	171	146	157	170	^R142	159
Ferry boat^a	N	N	N	56	41	60	54	51	^R41	48
Commuter rail	N	N	N	952	1,083	1,078	1,146	1,178	1,255	1,309
Other^b	N	N	N	26	45	46	24	42	^R38	46
Other operating revenue^y	72	68	248	895	2,271	2,812	2,928	3,308	^R3,685	3,648
Total operating revenues	1,407	1,707	2,805	6,786	9,027	9,613	10,345	10,854	^R11,654	11,930
Operating assistance^d
State and local	N	N	2,611	8,297	8,026	7,811	8,210	8,014	^R8,656	9,418
Federal	N	N	1,093	970	916	817	596	647	^R751	872
Total operating assistance	N	N	3,705	9,267	8,941	8,628	8,807	8,661	^R9,408	10,290
Total revenues	1,407	1,707	6,510	16,053	17,968	18,241	19,151	19,515	^R21,062	22,220
Operating expenses ($ millions)
Motor bus^k	N	N	N	8,903	10,144	10,321	10,575	10,944	^R11,429	11,714
Heavy rail	N	N	N	3,825	3,786	3,523	3,402	3,474	3,530	3,693
Light rail	N	N	N	237	413	376	442	473	^R500	546
Trolley bus	N	N	N	109	133	139	135	140	147	167
Demand responsive	N	N	N	518	943	1,000	1,187	1,285	^R1,405	1,419
Ferry boat^a	N	N	N	171	200	210	183	221	^R214	238
Commuter rail	N	N	N	1,939	2,228	2,211	2,294	2,278	^R2,361	2,575
Other^b	N	N	N	41	73	67	124	122	^R154	160
Total operating expenses^e	N	N	6,247	15,742	17,920	17,849	18,341	18,936	^R19,739	20,512
Depreciation and amortization^l	N	N	278	1,593	2,769	2,601	2,885	3,106	^R3,435	3,692
Other reconciling items	N	N	186	644	964	1,091	1,034	1,117	^R1,145	1,333
Total expenses	1,377	1,996	6,711	17,979	21,653	21,540	22,260	23,159	^R24,318	25,538
Average passenger revenue per passenger-mile ($)
Motor bus^j	N	N	N	0.14	0.17	0.17	0.18	0.18	^R0.20	0.20
Heavy rail	N	N	N	0.15	0.19	0.19	0.20	0.20	0.19	0.18
Light rail	N	N	N	0.15	0.18	0.15	0.15	0.13	0.13	0.14
Trolley bus	N	N	N	0.24	0.29	0.29	0.30	0.30	0.30	0.32
Demand responsive	N	N	N	0.10	0.30	0.29	0.24	0.23	^R0.19	0.20
Ferry boat^a	N	N	N	0.20	0.14	0.23	0.21	0.17	^R0.14	0.16
Commuter rail	N	N	N	0.14	0.14	0.13	0.14	0.15	0.14	0.15
Other^b	N	N	N	0.21	0.23	0.17	0.07	0.11	0.09	0.10
All modes	N	N	N	0.14	0.17	0.17	0.18	0.18	0.18	0.18
Average passenger fare, per unlinked trip ($)
Motor busⁿ	N	N	N	0.52	0.62	0.66	0.70	0.70	^R0.74	0.74
Heavy rail	N	N	N	0.74	0.90	0.99	1.08	0.97	0.96	0.92
Light rail	N	N	N	0.47	0.66	0.50	0.55	0.53	^R0.54	0.56
Trolley bus	N	N	N	0.36	0.47	0.45	0.47	0.47	0.47	0.50
Demand responsive	N	N	N	0.60	2.04	2.26	2.21	1.83	^R1.49	1.59
Ferry boat^a	N	N	N	1.11	0.87	1.31	1.12	0.99	^R0.80	0.91
Commuter rail	N	N	N	2.90	3.19	3.13	3.24	3.30	^R3.29	3.31
Other^b	N	N	N	0.90	1.28	1.57	1.33	0.66	^R1.02	0.76
All modes	0.14	0.22	0.30	0.67	0.85	0.87	0.93	0.89	^R0.91	0.90

Inventory	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	^P1999
Number of systems
Motor bus^o	1,236	1,075	1,022	2,685	2,250	2,250	2,250	2,250	2,262	2,262
Heavy rail	31	15	11	12	14	14	14	14	14	14
Light rail	~	~	9	17	22	22	22	22	23	24
Trolley bus	19	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Demand responsive	N	N	N	3,193	5,214	5,214	5,214	5,214	5,254	5,252
Ferry boat^a	N	N	16	27	25	25	25	25	28	30
Commuter rail	N	N	18	14	16	16	16	18	18	20
Other^b	N	N	5	35	69	69	69	70	72	81
Total^f	1,286	1,096	1,055	5,078	5,973	5,973	5,973	5,975	6,000	6,000
Number of vehicles
Motor bus^p	49,600	49,700	59,411	58,714	68,123	67,107	71,678	72,770	^R72,142	74,228
Heavy rail	9,010	9,286	9,641	10,419	10,138	10,157	10,201	10,242	10,301	10,306
Light rail	2,856	1,262	1,013	913	1,054	999	1,140	1,229	^R1,220	1,297
Trolley bus	3,826	1,050	823	832	877	885	871	859	880	859
Demand responsive	N	N	N	16,471	28,729	29,352	30,804	32,509	^R29,646	31,884
Ferry boat^a	N	N	N	108	110	110	109	134	^R113	112
Commuter rail	N	N	4,500	4,415	4,517	4,565	4,665	4,943	^R4,963	4,883
Other^b	N	N	N	1,089	2,395	2,699	2,894	3,674	^R4,590	4,947
Total	65,292	61,298	75,388	92,961	115,943	115,874	122,362	126,360	^R123,855	128,516
Number of employees^g
Motor bus^q	121,300	101,598	N	162,189	174,373	181,973	190,152	196,861	^R198,644	204,179
Heavy rail	35,100	36,442	N	46,102	51,062	45,644	45,793	45,935	^R45,163	46,311
Light rail	+	+	N	4,066	5,140	4,935	5,728	5,940	^R6,024	6,058
Trolley bus	+	+	N	1,925	1,848	1,871	2,084	2,037	^R2,053	2,140
Demand responsive	N	N	N	22,740	35,450	39,882	44,667	44,029	^R48,406	51,186
Ferry boat^a	N	N	N	2,813	2,764	2,697	2,830	3,166	^R3,894	4,024
Commuter rail	N	N	N	21,443	22,596	22,320	22,604	21,651	^R22,488	22,896
Other^b	N	N	N	898	854	1,169	1,086	1,140	^R1,080	1,091
Total	156,400	138,040	189,300	262,176	294,087	300,491	314,944	320,759	^R327,752	337,885

Performance	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	^P1999
Vehicle-miles (millions)
Motor bus^r	1,576	1,409	1,677	2,130	2,162	2,184	2,221	2,245	^R2,175	2,276
Heavy rail	391	407	385	537	532	537	543	558	566	578
Light rail	75	34	18	24	34	35	38	41	^R44	49
Trolley bus	101	33	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14
Demand responsive	N	N	N	306	464	507	548	585	^R671	718
Ferry boat^a	N	N	2	2	2	3	3	3	^R3	3
Commuter rail	N	N	179	213	231	238	242	251	^R260	266
Other^b	N	N	13	16	30	33	43	50	^R63	69
Total	2,143	1,883	2,287	3,242	3,468	3,550	3,650	3,746	^R3,794	3,972
Unlinked passenger trips (millions)
Motor bus^s	N	5,034	5,837	5,677	4,871	4,848	4,887	5,013	^R5,399	5,648
Heavy rail	N	1,881	2,108	2,346	2,169	2,033	2,157	2,430	2,393	2,521
Light rail	N	124	133	175	284	251	261	262	^R276	292
Trolley bus	N	182	142	126	118	119	117	121	117	120
Demand responsive	N	N	N	68	^R88	88	93	99	95	100
Ferry boat^a	N	N	63	50	47	47	48	51	^R52	53
Commuter rail	N	N	280	328	339	344	352	357	^R381	396
Other^b	N	N	4	29	33	33	33	41	^R37	38
Total	N	7,332	8,567	8,799	7,949	7,763	7,948	8,374	^R8,750	9,168
Passenger-miles (millions)
Motor bus^z	N	N	21,790	20,981	18,832	18,818	19,096	19,604	^R20,360	21,205
Heavy rail	N	N	10,558	11,475	10,668	10,559	11,530	12,056	12,284	12,902
Light rail	N	N	381	571	833	860	957	1,035	^R1,128	1,206
Trolley bus	N	N	219	193	187	187	184	189	182	186
Demand responsive	N	N	N	431	577	607	656	754	^R735	813
Ferry boat^a	N	N	N	286	260	260	256	294	^R294	310
Commuter rail	N	N	6,516	7,082	7,996	8,244	8,351	8,038	^R8,704	8,766
Other^b	N	N	390	124	232	273	348	369	^R441	469
Total	N	N	39,854	41,143	39,585	39,808	41,378	42,339	^R44,128	45,857
Average trip length (miles)
Motor bus^t	N	N	N	N	4	4	4	4	4	4
Heavy rail	N	N	N	N	5	5	5	5	5	5
Light rail	N	N	N	N	4	3	4	4	4	4
Trolley bus	N	N	N	N	2	2	2	2	2	2
Demand responsive	N	N	N	N	7	8	9	10	^R8	8
Ferry boat^a	N	N	N	N	6	6	5	6	6	6
Commuter rail	N	N	N	N	24	24	24	23	23	22
Vanpool	N	N	N	N	32	35	34	33	36	34
Other^c	N	N	N	N	1	1	1	1	1	1
All modes	N	N	N	N	5	5	5	5	5	5
Average vehicle speed (miles per hour)
Motor bus^u	N	N	N	N	13	13	13	13	13	13
Heavy rail	N	N	N	N	21	21	21	21	21	21
Light rail	N	N	N	N	14	14	14	16	16	15
Trolley bus	N	N	N	N	8	8	8	8	8	7
Demand responsive	N	N	N	N	14	15	15	15	17	15
Ferry boat^a	N	N	N	N	8	6	7	7	8	8
Commuter rail	N	N	N	N	34	34	33	34	32	33
Vanpool	N	N	N	N	33	35	37	36	37	38
Other^c	N	N	N	N	6	6	7	7	7	7
All modes	N	N	N	N	15	15	15	15	15	15
Energy consumption, diesel (million gallons)
Motor bus^v	N	N	N	563	565	564	578	598	^R607	618
Heavy rail	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Light rail	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Trolley bus	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Demand responsive	N	N	N	15	30	29	31	32	^R38	43
Ferry boat^a	N	N	N	20	21	22	22	24	^R25	29
Commuter rail	N	N	N	53	62	63	62	63	^R69	73
Other^b	N	N	N	<1	< 1	< 1	< 1	< 1	<1	<1
Total	^v208	^v271	^v431	651	678	678	693	717	^R740	763
Energy Consumption, other (million gallons)
Gasoline and other nondiesel fuels^h,w	192	68	11	33	60	61	61	59	^R53	49
Compressed natural gas	U	U	U	U	5	11	15	24	^R37	44
Total	192	69	11	34	65	71	76	83	^R90	93
Energy consumption (million kWh)
Motor bus	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Heavy rail^x	N	N	N	3,284	3,431	3,401	3,332	3,253	3,280	3,385
Light rail	N	N	N	239	282	288	321	361	^R381	416
Trolley bus	N	N	N	69	103	100	69	78	74	75
Demand responsive	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Ferry boat^a	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Commuter rail	N	N	N	1,226	1,244	1,253	1,255	1,270	^R1,299	1,322
Other^b	N	N	N	19	21	26	30	26	^R39	39
Total	^x2,908	^x2,561	^x2,446	4,837	5,081	5,068	5,007	4,988	^R5,073	5,237

Safety	1960	1970	1980	1990	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	^P1999
Fatalities, all modes	N	N	N	339	320	274	264	275	286	299
Injured persons, all modes	N	N	N	54,556	58,193	57,196	55,288	56,132	55,990	55,325
Incidents, all modes	N	N	N	90,163	70,693	62,471	59,392	61,561	60,094	58,703

KEY: ~ = included in heavy rail figure; + = included in motor bus figure; N = data do not exist; NA = not applicable; P = preliminary; R = revised.

^a Excludes international, rural, rural interstate, island and urban park ferries.

^b Includes cable car, inclined plane, aerial tramway, monorail, vanpool, and automated guideway.

^c Includes cable car, inclined plane, aerial tramway, monorail, and automated guideway.

^d Beginning in 1992, local operating assistance and other revenue declined by about $500 million due to change in accounting procedures at the New York City Transit Authority. Beginning in 1992, total operating expense declined by about $400 million due to a change in accounting procedures at the New York City Transit Authority.

^e Included in other.

^f The total figure represents the number of transit agencies. It is not the sum of all modes since many agencies operate more than one mode.

^g Based on employee equivalents of 2,080 hours equals one employee; beginning in 1993, based on number of actual employees.

^h Liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, methanol, propane, and other nondiesel fuels, except compressed natural gas.

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

ⁱ U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration.Safety Management Information Statistics (SAMIS), (Washington, DC: Annual reports).

^j American Public Transit Association, 2001 Transportation Fact Book (Washington, DC: 2001), tables 18, 30, and 84, and similar tables for prior years.

^k Ibid., 2001 edition tables 25 and 84, and similar tables in earlier years.

^l Ibid., 2001 edition table 23, and similar tables in earlier years.

^m Ibid., 2001 edition tables 18 and 84, and similar tables in earlier years.

ⁿ Ibid., 2001 edition table 20, and similar tables in earlier years.

^o Ibid., 2001 edition table 1, and similar tables in earlier years.

^p Ibid., 2001 edition tables 46 and 84, and similar tables in earlier years.

^q Ibid., 2001 edition tables 62 and 84, and similar tables in earlier years.

^r Ibid., 2001 edition tables 42 and 84, and similar tables in earlier years.

^s Ibid., 2001 edition tables 26 and 84, and similar tables in earlier years.

^t Ibid., 2001 edition table 39, and similar tables in earlier years.

^u Ibid., 2001 edition table 44, and similar tables in earlier years.

^v Ibid., 2001 edition table 65, and similar tables in earlier years.

^w Ibid., 2001 edition table 66, and similar tables in earlier years.

^x Ibid., 2001 edition table 67, and similar tables in earlier years.

^y Ibid., 2001 edition table 17, and similar tables in earlier years.

^z Ibid., 2001 edition tables 30 and 84, and similar tables in earlier years.