Between 1997 and 2002, the nation’s privately operated urban transportation systems and their revenue and jobs doubled, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. These are the first industry statistics from the 2002 Economic Census.

     The report, which covers transit and ground passenger transportation, [PDF] shows the nation had 1,234 urban transit systems in 2002, up from 618 in 1997. Revenues grew from $1.5 billion to $3.6 billion during the same time frame. In addition, urban transportation systems employed nearly 66,000 people in 2002, compared with 33,000 in 1997. (The report does not include information on public employees and excludes passenger rail, such as Amtrak.)

     The tabulations also show that between 1997 and 2002, revenues of the privately operated school and employee bus transportation industry grew from $4.4 billion to $5.9 billion. This industry showed an increase of more than 24,000 jobs during that time, for a total of nearly 176,000.

     Taxi and limousine services also experienced growth in revenues — from $3.2 billion to $4.2 billion. These services added more than 10,000 jobs, for a total of nearly 68,000.

     The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) defines urban transit systems as local and suburban rail and bus passenger operations with regular routes in metropolitan areas.

     The information on the transportation industries released today is the first in a series of more than 650 industry reports, all of which use NAICS. The reports include comparable statistics for 2002 and 1997.

     The report does not cover public sector business operations, such as buses operated by school districts. Also excluded are businesses without paid employees, as is the case with many taxi drivers.

     Economic census industry reports show the number of establishments and their paid employees, payroll, sales or receipts and information on product lines at the national level. Later reports will provide information on activity for most industries at the state and local levels.

     The data in the report are preliminary and subject to change. Economic census data are subject to sampling and nonsampling error as the result of nonresponse, coverage problems, misreporting and processing errors.

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