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Bus Profile

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FINANCIAL

  1960 1970 1980 1990 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Expenditures ($ thousands)                            
School bus1 486,000 1,219,000 3,833,000 8,031,000 7,847,000 9,889,000 9,082,000 10,353,000 10,326,000 10,340,000 12,104,000 12,624,000 U U
Operating revenues ($ thousands)                            
Intercity bus, Class I2,a 463,100 721,700 1,397,378 943,268 1,161,479 1,189,235 985,537 1,080,083 1,074,582 1,326,909 1,133,822 1,117,526 1,120,422 1,345,056
Operating expenses ($ thousands)                            
Intercity bus, Class I2,a 405,400 639,000 1,318,372 1,026,213 1,289,834 1,253,537 941,014 1,022,680 1,016,208 1,313,900 1,078,386 1,080,186 1,092,596 1,321,407
INVENTORY                            
Number of operating companies                            
Intercity bus, Class I2,a 143 71 61 31 26 24 20 22 20 18 15 15 16 36
Number of vehicles, all buses3 272,129 377,562 528,789 626,987 670,423 685,503 694,781 697,548 715,540 728,777 746,125 749,548 760,717 776,550
Number of employees4 (SIC based)                            
Intercity and rural bus transportation 40,500 43,400 37,900 26,100 23,600 23,800 23,800 22,200 24,400 23,800 24,700 25,100 (R) 23,000 N
School buses N N 79,900 111,200 125,900 131,100 132,200 136,500 141,000 146,100 146,700 147,700 (R) 148,700 N
Number of employees5 (NAICS based)                            
Interurban and rural bus transportation 38,200 40,900 35,800 24,600 22,300 22,500 22,500 21,000 23,000 22,500 23,400 23,600 22,800 21,700
School and employee bus transportation N N 81,400 114,200 130,000 135,500 136,900 141,500 146,200 151,400 152,000 153,000 161,100 165,700
Charter bus industry N N 14,800 26,100 28,300 29,200 31,000 32,000 33,900 36,100 38,200 36,800 35,500 32,500

PERFORMANCE

  1960 1970 1980 1990 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Vehicle-miles, all buses (millions)6 4,346 4,544 6,059 5,726 6,409 6,420 6,538 6,842 7,007 7,662 7,590 7,077 (R) 6,845 6,638
Rural highway, total 2,332 2,549 3,035 3,444 3,730 3,854 3,933 4,109 4,251 4,667 4,489 4,165 (R) 3,941 3,712
Interstate rural N 339 533 567 683 711 742 794 834 971 978 951 (R) 943 869
Other arterial rural N 944 991 995 1,154 1,171 1,186 1,243 1,282 1,375 1,270 1,133 1,104 1,031
Other rural N 1,266 1,511 1,882 1,893 1,972 2,005 2,072 2,135 2,321 2,241 2,081 (R) 1,894 1,812
Urban highwayb, total 2,014 1,995 3,024 2,283 2,679 2,566 2,605 2,733 2,756 2,995 3,101 2,912 (R) 2,904 2,926
Interstate urban N 277 560 455 627 580 598 647 663 752 791 775 (R) 803 847
Other urban N 1,718 2,464 1,828 2,052 1,986 2,007 2,086 2,093 2,243 2,310 2,137 2,101 2,079
Passenger-miles (millions), all buses6 N N N 121,398 135,871 136,104 138,613 145,060 148,558 162,445 160,919 150,042 (R) 145,124 140,735
Number of revenue passengers (thousands)                            
Intercity bus, total1 366,000 401,000 370,000 334,000 343,200 366,500 347,900 350,600 357,600 358,900 364,600 356,900 U U
Average miles traveled per vehicle, all buses6 15,970 12,035 11,458 9,133 9,560 9,365 9,386 9,809 9,793 10,515 10,173 9,442 (R) 8,998 8,548
Fuel consumed (million gallons), all buses6 827 820 1,018 895 964 968 985 1,027 1,040 1,148 1,112 1,026 (R) 1,000 957
Average fuel consumption per vehicle (gallons), all buses6 3,039 2,172 1,925 1,427 1,438 1,412 1,414 1,472 1,454 1,576 1,490 1,369 (R) 1,314 1,232
Average miles traveled per gallon of fuel consumed, all buses6 5.3 5.5 6.0 6.4 6.6 6.6 6.6 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.8 6.9 (R) 6.8 6.9
Average revenue per passenger-mile (cents) (intercity)1 2.71 3.60 7.26 11.55 11.61 12.19 12.30 12.56 12.75 12.76 12.79 12.91 U U

SAFETY

  1960 1970 1980 1990 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Number of fatalities7                            
School bus-related N N 150 115 107 123 136 131 128 167 147 141 (R) 129 138
School bus occupants N N 9 11 4 13 10 10 6 10 21 18 3 11
Other vehicle                            
Occupants N N 88 64 64 72 101 97 91 127 99 95 (R) 100 99
Nonoccupants N N 53 40 39 38 25 24 31 30 27 28 26 28
Occupant fatalities, all buses7 N N 46 32 21 33 21 18 38 59 22 34 45 40
School buses N N 14 13 2 12 10 8 6 8 16 16 2 7
Cross country buses N N 23 2 7 6 3 5 13 32 3 3 20 3
Transit buses N N 6 3 6 1 5 3 2 6 1 4 6 11
Other and unknown N N 3 14 6 14 3 2 17 13 2 11 17 19
Fatalities in vehicular accidentsc, all buses8 N N 390 340 286 311 367 339 329 (R) 376 (R) 290 (R) 329 (R) 344 161
Occupant fatality rate                            
Per 100 million vehicle-miles, all buses6, 7 N N 0.8 0.6 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.8 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.6
Per 10,000 registered vehicles, all buses3, 7 N N 0.9 0.5 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.8 0.3 0.5 0.6 0.5
Vehicle involvement rate (fatal crashes)                            
Per 100 million vehicle-miles, all buses6, 8 N N 6.4 5.9 4.5 4.8 5.6 5.0 4.7 4.9 (R) 3.8 (R) 3.1 5.0 2.4
Per 10,000 registered vehicles, all buses3, 8 N N 7.4 5.4 4.3 4.5 5.3 4.9 4.6 (R) 5.2 (R) 3.9 (R) 2.9 4.5 2.1

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

a In 2003, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration implemented a program to improve reporting by Class I intercity bus carriers. This accounts for the large increase in the number of operating companies between 2002 and 2003, and as a result the large increase in operating revenues and expenses.

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

c 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.

1 Eno Transportation Foundation, Inc., Transportation In America, 19th edition (Washington, DC: 2002), p. 40, 46, and 48.

2 1960-95: Interstate Commerce Commission, Annual Report of the ICC (Washington, DC: Annual issues), Appendix F, tables 1 and 6. 1996-2002: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Selected Earnings Data, Class I Motor Carriers of Passengers (Washington, DC: Annual issues). 2003: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, personal communication as of Feb. 16, 2005.

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

4 1960-2002: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics Survey, Internet site http://www.bls.gov/data/archived.htm as of January 2005; SIC codes: "413 Intercity and rural bus transportation" and "415 School buses."

5 1960-2003: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics Survey, Internet site http://www.bls.gov/data/sa.htm as of January 2005; NAICS codes: "4852 Interurban and rural bus transportation," "4854 School and employee bus transportation," and "4855 Charter bus industry."

6 1960-95: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics, Summary to 1995, FHWA-PL-97-009 (Washington, DC: July 1997), table VM-201A. 1996-2003: Ibid., Highway Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual issues), table VM-1.

7 1980-98: Ibid., National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Traffic Safety Facts 1998, DOT HS 808 983 (Washington, DC: October 1999), tables 74 and 93. 1999-2003: Ibid., Traffic Safety Facts 2003, DOT HS 809 775 (Washington, DC: January 2005).

8 Ibid., Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Query, Internet site, http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov as of January 2005.
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