Introduction
General Information
Welcome to the National Transit Summaries and Trends (NTST), a portion of the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) annual report. The goal of the NTST is to summarize transit data in an easy to read format. The 2006 NTST discusses data covering the period 1997 to 2006. A new section covering Rural Transit is included.
On an average weekday, the nation’s transit systems carry over 30 million riders (unlinked passenger trips). There were 9.2 billion urban trips in 2006 and 127.1 million rural trips totaling 9.3 billion trips nationwide.
Transit Modes
The NTST presents aggregate transit operating statistics by mode. Seventeen transit modes are included in the National Transit Database; for this publication statistics are presented for the predominant modes: bus, heavy rail, light rail, commuter rail, demand response and vanpool.
Bus
The most common form of mass transit service provided throughout the United States. Buses operate on fixed routes and schedules over existing roadways. Buses must be in compliance with mass transit rules including Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provisions. |
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Commuter Rail
Local (short-distance) travel operating between a central city and adjacent suburbs. Service is provided on regular schedules, moving commuters within urbanized areas or between urbanized areas and outlying areas. Multi-trip tickets and specific station-to-station fares characterize commuter rail service, with one or two stations in the central business district. |
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Heavy Rail
Heavy rail service is characterized by high-speed and rapid acceleration passenger rail cars operating singly or in multi-car trains on fixed electric rails; separate rights-of-way from which all other traffic is excluded; sophisticated signaling, high platform loading and a heavy passenger volume. |
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Demand Response
Service (passenger cars, vans or small buses) provided upon request to pick up and transport passengers to and from their destinations. Typically, a vehicle may be dispatched to pick up several passengers at different pick-up points before taking them to their respective destinations and may be interrupted en route to these destinations to pick up other passengers. |
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Light Rail
Light rail is an electric railway with a lighter passenger volume compared to heavy rail. Passenger cars operating singly (or in short, two-car trains) on fixed rails in shared or exclusive right-of-way, low or high platform loading characterizes light rail service. The vehicle’s power is drawn from an overhead electric wire. |
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Vanpool
Service operating under a ride sharing arrangement providing transportation to individuals traveling directly between their homes and a regular destination. The vehicles (vans, small buses, and other vehicles) must have a minimum seating capacity of seven. Vanpool(s) must also be in compliance with mass transit rules including Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provisions, be open to the public, availability must be advertised and the service must be operated by a public entity or a public entity must own, purchase or lease the vehicle(s). |
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These modes provided the most transit service and change over the time frame considered, 1997 through 2006. The remaining modes (aerial tramway, automated guideway, cable car, ferryboat, inclined plane, jitney, monorail, publico, trolleybus, Alaska railroad and other) are combined in the single category “other modes”.
Rounding and Inflation
Rounding may lead to minor variations in total values from one table to another for similar data or may lead to instances where percentages may not add to 100. Due to rounding, percent changes may not match exactly the values calculated using the formatted figures shown in the exhibits.
All dollar amounts were adjusted to 2000 constant dollars. The correction factors were obtained from the White House Office of Management and Budget. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/sheets/hist0123.xls)
Web Information
For information about National Transit Database publications and training, see FTA’s website at
or visit the National Transit Database website at