Downsizing Revealed in Top 100 METRO s Transit Bus Fleet survey shows decreased fleet numbers for 46% of agencies listed. By Janna Starcic, Assistant Editor Decreasing fleet numbers appear to be a growing trend among METRO s annual Top 100 Transit Bus Fleets. Overall, fleet numbers show a decrease of 665 buses from last year for a total of 59,374 vehicles. The past two years have shown a steady rise in the number of agencies (46%) downsizing their fleets, a figure that should shrink once the economy bounces back. Fleet Mix Articulated 5.2% (3,074) Trolley 1% (651) Over 35 80% (47,442) Under 35 13.8% (8,207) No surprises in this year s fleet mix, with buses longer than 35 feet holding strong at 47,442 buses. Once again MTA New York City Transit claimed the No. 1 spot in the Top 100. With 4,600 buses, New York easily surpasses its closest competitor, No. 2 New Jersey Transit Corp., by 1,658 buses. After a consistently steady rise in the rankings over the past years, RTD Denver managed to break into the Top 10, garnering a spot at No. 9 by adding 66 vehicles to its fleet of 1,309 buses. Listings in the Top 10 stronghold remain virtually unchanged. Despite Denver s breakthrough, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and New York City Department of Transportation hung on by tying for the No. 10 spot with 1,300 buses apiece. A record number of ties revealed themselves in this year s listing six total, including a three-way tie for No. 70. Another standout in the rankings is RTC of Clark County/Citizens Area Transit of Las Vegas, which made the highest jump (20 places) for a position at No. 44. RTC was also one of the few agencies that sizably increased its fleets (by 91 buses) this year. Bus-buying projections are also down, with agencies shortening their shopping lists by 456 buses, a 7.5% decrease from 2001. In addition, transit agencies plan to rehab 1,522 buses, down 11% from the previous year. Forty-eight of the fleets listed are 100% compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, a 7% increase. Overall, 48,927 buses are wheelchair accessible, making up 82% of the combined North American bus fleet total. Low-floor buses account for 22% of the total, numbering 12,830 buses. Transit fleet composition remains stable, with buses longer than 35 feet (47,442) comprising the usual majority at 80%. Buses under 35 feet (8,207) dropped slightly to 13.8% of the fleet mix (see pie chart). The average fleet size for the Top 100 is 594 buses, landing closest to No. 32 ranked Detroit Department of Transportation which has 591 buses. Joining the list this year are C-Tran of Vancouver, Wash., (No. 94) and Lane Transit District of Eugene, Ore., with 160 and 123 buses respectively. Lane Transit s fleet count also marks the cutoff number for our survey, making it No. 100 on the list. More than half of the participants (54%) that responded to our survey have alternative-fuel vehicles within their fleets. Compressed natural gas (CNG) is the fuel of choice for 77% of alternative-fueled fleets. Hybrid electric technology is the second-highest fuel of choice, used by 14 fleets. At nine total, fleets using liquified natural gas, bio-diesel and propane as fuel alternatives comprised the smallest number of fleets. The fleet with the largest number of alternativefuel vehicles (1,862) is the Los Angeles County MTA, with 79% of its fleet dedicated to CNG. To get a glimpse of what some of the transit agencies in our Top 100 are doing, see the article on pg. 89.
1 1 MTA New York City Transit 0 4,230 370 0 4,600 +40 New York, NY 2 2 New Jersey Transit Corp. 79 2,758 105 0 2,942-297 Newark, NJ 3 3 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority 17 2,349 0 0 2,366-71 Los Angeles, CA 4 4 Chicago Transit Authority 0 1,846 122 0 1,968 +78 Chicago, IL 5 6 Toronto Transit Commission 147 1,455 19 0 1,621-16 Toronto, ON 6 5 Montreal Transit Corp. 7 1,570 0 0 1,577-109 Montreal, PQ 7 7 Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority 165 1,310 58 0 1,533-17 Washington, DC 8 8 Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County 128 1,081 211 37 1,457-38 Houston,TX 9 12 Regional Transportation District 196 991 119 3 1,309 +66 Denver, CO 10 (tie) 9 Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority 96 1,049 155 0 1,300-84 Philadelphia, PA 10 (tie) 10 New York City Dept. of Transportation 0 1,300 0 0 1,300 +9 New York, NY 12 11 King County Metro 129 576 536 0 1,241-14 Seattle,WA 13 16 Pace Suburban Bus 613 462 0 7 1,082 +126 Arlington Heights, IL 14 13 Coast Mountain Bus Co. 5 713 100 232 1,050-112 Vancouver, BC 15 15 Port Authority of Allegheny County 135 845 49 0 1,029 +3 Pittsburgh, PA 16 14 Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 30 966 0 0 996-32 Boston, MA 17 17 Metro Transit 25 795 115 0 935-10 Minneapolis, MN
18 18 Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission 0 762 155 0 917 +39 Ottawa, ON 19 19 Dallas Area Rapid Transit 91 787 0 20 898 +31 Dallas,TX 20 27 Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District 274 594 0 0 868 +167 Portland, OR 21 20 Maryland Transit Administration 63 766 30 0 859 +32 Baltimore, MD 22 25 Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority 199 656 0 0 855 +98 Cleveland, OH 23 23 Orange County Transportation Authority 279 479 50 0 808 +29 Orange, CA 24 26 Calgary Transit 83 690 0 0 773 +43 Calgary, AB 25 21 Edmonton Transit System 26 679 6 59 770-42 Edmonton, AB 26 24 AC Transit 90 600 60 0 750-18 Oakland, CA 27 29 Miami-Dade Transit Authority 118 522 66 0 706 +24 Miami, FL 28 33 Valley Metro 114 563 21 0 698-98 Phoenix, AZ 29 28 Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority 125 565 0 0 690 +7 Atlanta, GA 30 30 Victoria and Municipal Systems Division/BC Transit 337 334 0 1 672 +13 Victoria, BC 31 22 San Francisco Municipal Railway 45 476 124 1 646-160 San Francisco, CA 32 32 Detroit Dept. of Transportation 43 523 0 25 591-18 Detroit, MI 33 34 Utah Transit Authority 160 409 12 0 581 +3 Salt Lake City, UT 34 31 DOT Services Public Transit Division 32 493 30 0 555-84 Honolulu, HI
35 38 Winnipeg Transit 35 499 0 0 534-1 Winnipeg, MB 36 39 Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 51 465 0 0 516 +14 San Jose, CA 37 40 VIA Metropolitan Transit System 232 247 0 22 501-1 San Antonio,TX 38 37 Milwaukee County Transit 29 438 0 13 480-61 Milwaukee,WI 39 35 Bi-State Development Agency 212 255 0 0 467-102 St.Louis, MO 40 36 Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation 145 302 0 0 447-103 Detroit, MI 41 41 Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority 0 430 0 0 430 +4 Cincinnati, OH 42 44 MTA Long Island Bus 85 331 0 0 416 +21 Garden City, NY 43 47 Connecticut Transit 13 379 0 0 392 +5 Hartford, CT 44 64 RTC of Clark County/Citizens Area Transit 91 225 70 0 386 +91 Las Vegas, NV 45 43 Regional Transit Authority 30 328 0 6 364-38 New Orleans, LA 46 57 Community Transit/Snohomish County Public Transportation 103 175 85 0 363 +36 Everett,WA 47 49 Reseau de Transport Longueuil (formerly STRSM) 10 327 23 0 360-15 Longueuil, PQ 48 45 Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority 166 172 0 21 359-34 Austin,TX 49 (tie) 56 Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority 35 317 0 5 357 +26 Buffalo, NY 49 (tie) 42 Westchester County Dept. of Transportation 100 189 68 0 357-47 Mt.Vernon, NY 51 53 Rochester-Genessee Regional Transportation Authority 127 219 10 0 356 +7 Rochester, NY
52 55 Transit Authority of River City 120 209 0 14 343 +6 Louisville, KY 53 51 Hampton Roads Transit 89 215 0 37 341-13 Hampton,VA 54 54 Montgomery County Transit Services 287 46 0 3 336-4 Rockville, MD 55 (tie) 52 San Diego Transit Corp. 0 274 60 0 334-16 San Diego, CA 55 (tie) 46 Delaware Transit Corp. 198 136 0 0 334-56 Dover, DE 57 (tie) 61 Mississauga Transit 27 234 66 0 327 +24 Mississauga, ON 57 (tie) 62 Broward County Division of Mass Transit 72 255 0 0 327 +25 Pompano, FL 59 48 San Mateo County Transit District 64 188 69 0 321-60 San Carlos, CA 60 50 Central Ohio Transit Authority 38 259 0 3 300-71 Columbus, OH 61 63 Capital District Transit Authority 90 198 0 5 293-1 Albany, NY 62 59 Pierce Transit 36 245 10 0 291-18 Tacoma,WA 63 67 Miami Valley Regional Transit Authority 124 162 0 4 290 +17 Dayton, OH 64 65 Foothill Transit 15 272 0 0 287 0 West Covina, CA 65 60 Kansas City Area Transportation Authority 119 166 0 0 285-21 Kansas City, MO 66 73 Charlotte Area Transit System 33 232 0 12 277 +48 Charlotte, NC 67 66 Golden Gate Transit 4 264 0 0 268-9 San Rafael, CA 68 58 Metropolitan Bus Authority 10 247 0 0 257-61 San Juan, PR
69 68 Rhode Island Public Transit Authority 10 219 0 19 248 +13 Providence, RI 70 (tie) 79 Sun Metro 82 134 0 25 241 +27 El Paso,TX 70 (tie) 77 Sacramento Regional Transit District 22 215 0 4 241 +23 Sacramento, CA 70 (tie) 71 LYNX 62 179 0 0 241 +10 Orlando, FL 73 69 Memphis Area Transit Authority 61 175 2 2 240 +7 Memphis,TN 74 76 GO Transit 0 234 0 0 234 +14 Toronto, ON 75 75 Long Beach Transit 30 190 0 0 220-2 Long Beach, CA 76 85 Madison Metro Transit 20 197 0 0 217 +20 Madison,WI 77 87 Societe de Transport de L Outaouais 6 206 0 0 212 +21 Gatineau, PQ 78 80 Metro Regional Transit Authority 168 38 0 3 209-4 Akron, OH 79 81 Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority 139 60 0 9 208 +1 Tampa, FL 80 83 Central New York Regional Transportation Authority 30 174 0 0 204 0 Syracuse, NY 81 92 Halifax Regional Municipality Transit Services 27 160 14 0 201 +26 Dartmouth, NS 82 84 Sun Tran 0 199 0 0 199 0 Tucson, AZ 83 86 Pioneer Valley Transit Authority 94 102 0 2 198 +4 Springfield, MA 84 (tie) 88 Hamilton Street Railway Co. 7 185 5 0 197 +7 Hamilton, ON 84 (tie) 89 Big Blue Bus 15 182 0 0 197 +15 Santa Monica, CA
86 72 Sound Transit 0 137 57 0 194-37 Seattle,WA 87 74 Omnitrans 0 188 0 0 188-36 San Bernardino, CA 88 95 Pinellas SunCoast Transit Authority 107 46 0 29 182 +18 Clearwater, FL 89 82 Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority 122 53 0 6 181-24 Toledo, OH 90 94 Jacksonville Transportation Authority 17 158 0 5 180 +10 Jacksonville, FL 91 91 London Transit 13 162 0 0 175 0 London, ON 92 99 Greater Hartford Transit District 142 31 0 0 173 +33 Hartford, CT 93 90 Greater Richmond Transit Co. 3 164 0 4 171-9 Richmond,VA 94 C-Tran 98 62 0 0 160 Vancouver,WA 95 96 North County Transit District 23 126 0 0 149 0 Oceanside, CA 96 100 Metropolitan Transit Authority 12 101 17 13 143 +15 Nashville,TN 97 97 Indianapolis Public Transportation Corp. 50 91 0 0 141-8 Indianapolis, IN 98 93 Kitsap Transit 104 36 0 0 140-34 Bremerton,WA 99 98 Palm Tran 85 43 0 0 128-17 West Palm Beach, FL 100 Lane Transit District 17 101 5 0 123 Eugene, OR