Top Fleets Taking Steps to Attract Growing Market Segments

2014 Transit Bus Fleet Survey: Top Fleets Taking Steps to Attract Growing Market Segments Capital Metro - No. 46 Photo courtesy Capital Metro With usage amongst millennials and Baby Boomers gaining popularity, many agencies are reporting measures to pull more of these segments onboard, including targeted marketing programs and increased technologies. Meanwhile, the amount of alternative-fueled vehicles has nearly doubled over the last 10 years. By Alex Roman, Managing Editor To mark METRO s 110th year, we added 10 more transit agencies to our Top 100 Bus Fleets survey, which is topped by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority s (MTA) New York City Transit/MTA Bus Co. with 6,782 total vehicles. This is the first year the MTA has combined the two fleets into one number, with the total fleet count coming in at 10% of the 68,835 vehicles reported by 110 transit agencies, covering three countries and 33 states. The amount of total vehicles climbed 16% compared to 2004 s 59,337 total reported and 5% compared to 2013. Meanwhile, New Jersey Transit (2,508), the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (2,360), Chicago s Pace Suburban Bus (1,960) and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (1,860) round out the top five, with Woodbridge, Va. s Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission closing out the Top 110 with 154 vehicles. Trends and initiatives As studies continue to find so-called millennials those born between 1982 and 2004 driving less and being more open to alternative forms of transportation, many agencies are making efforts to become more attractive to that market, as well as on the opposite end of the spectrum, to Baby Boomers. Of these initiatives, adding real-time bus information, offering free Wi-Fi, creating apps and improving fare payment, such as adding smart cards and smartphone payment technology, are the most popular for attracting millennials, as well as marketing and branding efforts. In Montreal, for example, the Societe de Transport de Montreal (No. 10) reports it has repositioned the agency as a younger and more dynamic organization with a brand identity that is much more engaging. Meanwhile, other agencies, including West Covina, Calif. s Foothill Transit (No. 63) and Syracuse, N.Y. s Central New York Regional Transportation Authority (No. 77) report expanding their social media outreach to reach millennials where they are, with other popular initiatives including outreach to schools 26 < metro magazine September/October 2014 metro-magazine.com

and universities, the expansion or revision of bus routes, and adding more bike racks. Popular initiatives for attracting Baby Boomers, include outreach to senior living communities, travel training, targeted marketing, increasing space for mobility aid devices, and either free or discounted fares. When asked what technology or equipment they are adding to increase efficiencies or improve safety, many transportation agencies are reporting the implementation of computer aided dispatch/automatic vehicle location systems, security cameras, enhanced trip planning and automated stop announcement systems. Additional improvements being made include expanded use of alternatively-propelled vehicles and adding automatic passenger counting systems, as well as LED lighting and bus displays. At New York MTA, new initiatives taken by the agency in the last year, include adding a bus operator security door, improved fire detection, security cameras onboard buses; proactively addressing pedestrian safety in alignment with the city s Vision Zero action plan; increased observational rides and onstreet observations and direct engagement with bus operators; enhanced bus operator training with emphasis on distracted pedestrians and cyclists; researching new technologies to help mitigate collisions; collaborating with the Department of Transportation on traffic engineering and streetscaping. Meanwhile, other agencies report they are working on either expanding their existing fleet or purchasing new buses to replace outdated vehicles, improving bus stop and transit center accessibility, expanding late night service, improving security both on-board buses and at pickup points, and creating rapid or targeted bus routes. The numbers A closer look at the numbers reveals 48,770 buses are 35 feet or longer, making up 71% of the total vehicles reported, with 14,210, or 21%, of vehicles 35 feet and. Fifty-eight percent, or 39,879, 50000 25000 0 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Fleet Mix (48,770) (14,210) (5,855) 71% 21% 8% 35 ft. and over Under 35 ft. Artic Alternative Fuels Buses 35 feet and over remain the most popular choice, with 48,770 total buses, followed by buses 35 feet and and articulated vehicles, with 14,210 and 5,855, respectively. Compared to 2004, the totals are very similar with buses over 35 feet totaling 46,437 buses, however, that total constituted 77% of the total, with buses 35 feet making up 15% of the sum. Natural Gas: 50% Hybrid-Electric: 43% Electric: 4% Other: 3% With 8,539 vehicles, natural gas is the environmentally-friendly fuel of choice, followed closely by hybrid-electric vehicles with 7,277 vehicles. This year, electric vehicles get their own category and make up 4% of the total 16,964 alternative-fueled vehicles reported, which was 530 vehicles more compared with 2013. Overall, alternatively-fueled vehicles make up 25% of the total 68,835 vehicles reported. In 2004, alternatively-fueled vehicles made up only 13.6% of the total vehicles reported. Top 5 bus fleets in 2004 1. MTA New York City Transit 4,667 2. New Jersey Transit Corp. 3,053 3. L.A. Metro 2,721 4. Chicago Transit Authority 2,024 5. Toronto Transit Commission 1,638 September/October 2014 metro magazine > 27

Top 110 of the total vehicles are low-floor applications and 13% of are used for demand response. This year s Top 10 makes up 36% of the Top 110 Bus Fleet totals, which is approximately 2% higher than 2013. Overall, this year s respondents report that they intend to order 6,701 vehicles in the next year, up 13% from last year s number. Meanwhile, the amount of alternatively-propelled vehicles reported total 16,964 and make-up 25% of the fleet totals reported for 2014, with natural gas continuing to lead the way with 8,539 vehicles. Hybrid-electric propulsion continues to follow closely behind with 7,277 vehicles, or 43%, of the total alt-fuel vehicles reported, with electric vehicles a new category for 2014 making up 4% of the sum. Overall, 64% of respondents reported electric vehicles as the type of vehicle propulsion they are most interested in adding to their fleets, followed by natural gas and hybrid, with 36% and 19%, respectively. Digging a bit deeper, 17 transit agencies in this year s Top 110 are from Canada, thanks to the addition of Brampton Transit, which reported 359 total vehicles and debuts at No. 57. Overall, seven of those Canadian agencies cracked the top 20, led by the Toronto Transit Commission at No. 6, with 1,851 reported vehicles. Meanwhile, with 16 transit agencies, California remains the state with TOp Fleets comparison: 2004 vs 2014 2004 2014 Total vehicles: 59,337 68,835 35 ft. and over: 46,437 48,770 Under 35 ft.: 9,231 14,210 Articulated: 3,669 5,855 Buses on order: 4,839 6,701 Alt-fuel vehicles: 8,190 16,964 the most representation in this year s Top 110. With all the budget and staff cuts going on around the nation, METRO would especially like to thank all of the transit agencies for participating this year. If you know a fleet that belongs on this list or have suggestions on how to improve our future lists, please let us know at info@metro-magazine.com. 28 < metro magazine September/October 2014 metro-magazine.com

L.A. Metro - No. 3 1 1 MTA New York City Transit/MTA Bus Co. NYC 2 2 New Jersey Transit Corp. Newark, N.J. 3 3 Metro LA 4 10 Pace Suburban Bus Chicago 5 6 Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Philadelphia 6 4 Toronto Transit Commission Toronto 7 7 Coast Mountain Bus Co. Vancouver, B.C. 8 8 King County DOT/Metro Transit Seattle 9 5 Chicago Transit Authority Chicago 10 9 Société de Transport de Montréal Montreal 11 11 Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority D.C. 12 14 Regional Transportation District Denver 13 13 Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Houston 14 12 Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Boston 15 17 BC Transit Victoria, B.C. 16 16 Valley Metro Phoenix 17 18 OC Transpo Ottawa, Ontario 1090 4,895 797 6,782 39 2,384 85 2,508 92 50 1,952 358 2,360-10 1510 450 0 1,960 189 470 1,237 153 1,860-3 0 1,848 3 1,851-31 499 1,092 252 1,843-13 500 692 643 1,835-17 0 1,523 306 1,829-41 98 1,470 257 1,825-1 87 1,393 65 1,545 38 492 778 131 1,401 52 186 1,212 0 1,398 31 0 989 101 1,090-344 407 645 0 1,052 22 274 676 101 1,051-48 88 577 359 1,024-1 30 < metro magazine September/October 2014 metro-magazine.com

UTA - No. 31 18 20 Calgary Transit Calgary, Alberta 19 26 San Francisco Municipal Railway San Francisco 20 19 Edmonton Transit System Edmonton, Alberta 21 21 Metro Transit Minneapolis 22 25 Miami-Dade Transit Authority Miami 23 22 Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District Portland, Ore. 24 24 Orange County Transportation Authority Orange, Calif. 25 27 Maryland Transit Administration Baltimore 26 28 MTS Bus Operations San Diego 27 31 Dallas Area Rapid Transit Dallas 28 30 Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada Las Vegas 29 29 Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Atlanta 30 23 Port Authority of Allegheny County Pittsburgh 31 34 Utah Transit Authority Salt Lake City, Utah 32 33 AC Transit Oakland, Calif. 33 35 Winnipeg Transit System Winnipeg, Manitoba 34 32 Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation Detroit 157 773 73 1,003 59 112 648 183 943 164 49 855 33 937-10 0 750 169 919 31 77 713 25 815-2 253 559 0 812-66 267 501 36 804-15 0 750 42 792 52 208 488 86 782 57 212 543 0 755 112 327 284 125 736 27 250 469 0 719 1 60 515 126 701-128 214 395 0 609-18 90 400 86 576-46 35 535 0 570 3 420 123 2 545-82 32 < metro magazine September/October 2014 metro-magazine.com

Sun Tran - No. 56 35 37 Delaware Transit Corp. Wilmington, Del. 36 38 Department of Transportation Services Honolulu 37 39 CTTRANSIT Hartford, Conn. 38 40 VIA Metropolitan Transit San Antonio 39 41 Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority Cleveland 40 42 GO Transit Toronto 41 44 MiWay Mississauga, Ontario 42 49 Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority Rochester, NY 43 45 Detroit Department of Transportation Detroit 44 46 Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority San Jose, Calif. 45 48 Reseau de transport de Longueuil Longueuil, Quebec 46 43 Capital Metro Austin, Texas 47 47 Broward County Transit Pompano, Fla. 48 74 Sound Transit Seattle 49 53 Milwaukee County Transit System Milwaukee 50 50 Charlotte Area Transit System Charlotte, NC 51 52 South West Ohio Regional Transit Authority Cincinnati 301 221 0 522 2 36 372 111 519 6 0 447 33 480 64 0 460 16 476 39 88 345 41 474-11 0 466 0 466 8 36 358 69 463 14 190 236 30 456 42 0 445 0 445 67 331 40 438-5 0 402 29 431 0 390 40 430-22 112 286 31 429-7 0 277 139 416 148 8 407 0 415 28 129 278 0 407-1 50 346 5 401 11 34 < metro magazine September/October 2014 metro-magazine.com

Brampton Transit - No. 57 51 54 Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority Buffalo, N.Y. 53 63 Nassau Inter-County Express Garden City, N.Y. 54 51 COTA Central Ohio Transit Agency Columbus, Ohio 55 36 Metro St. Louis 56 55 Sun Tran Tucson, Ariz. 57 Brampton Transit Brampton, Ontario 58 56 Los Angeles Department of Transportation Los Angeles 59 61 Halifax Metro Transit Halifax, Nova Scotia 60 57 Montgomery County Transit Rockville, Md. 61 58 Societe de Transport de l Outaouais City Gatineau, Quebec 61 58 Community Transit Everett, Wash. 63 60 Foothill Transit West Covina, Calif. 64 62 Westchester County Department of Transportation Mt. Vernon, NY 65 64 Transit Authority of River City Louisville, Ky. 66 65 LYNX Orlando, Fla. 66 67 Suffolk County Transit Yaphank, N.Y. 68 65 San Mateo County Transit District San Mateo, Calif. 91 310 0 401 18 95 300 0 395 70 150 230 0 380-17 106 262 11 379-154 127 240 0 367-10 0 329 30 359 250 102 0 352 7 54 245 47 346 13 179 162 0 341-1 31 308 0 339 67 108 164 339 15 286 30 331-7 21 231 78 330 89 230 0 319 10 68 221 10 299 3 284 15 0 299 6 4 237 55 296 36 < metro magazine September/October 2014 metro-magazine.com

Omnitrans - No. 72 69 68 Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority Dayton, Ohio 70 69 Metropolitan Bus Authority San Juan, PR 71 71 Fairfax Connector, FCDOT Fairfax, Va. 72 72 Omnitrans San Bernardino, Calif. 73 73 Capital District Transportation Authority Albany, N.Y. 74 69 Jacksonville Transportation Authority Jacksonville, Fla. 74 74 Hampton Roads Transit Hampton, Va. 76 74 Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority Nashville 77 80 Central New York Regional Transportation Authority Syracuse, NY 78 77 Kansas City Area Transportation Authority Kansas City, Mo. 79 Sun Metro El Paso, Texas 80 77 Spokane Transit Authority Spokane, Wash. 81 79 Rhode Island Public Transit Authority Providence, RI 81 84 GRTC Transit System Richmond, Va. 83 80 Durham Region Transit Whitby, Ontario 83 88 Long Beach Transit Long Beach, Calif. 85 85 Madison Metro Transit Madison, Wis. 149 140 0 289 8 43 237 0 280 74 204 0 278 110 147 14 271-6 55 214 0 269 156 112 0 268-12 150 118 0 268 107 116 42 265-3 83 179 0 262 23 101 155 0 256 5 110 144 0 254 100 139 99 13 251 30 210 0 240 104 136 0 240 10 39 198 0 237-2 13 211 13 237 13 17 214 0 231 3 38 < metro magazine September/October 2014 metro-magazine.com

Indy Go - No. 86 86 83 Indianapolis Public Transportation Corp. (IndyGo) Indianapolis 86 90 Metro Regional Transit Authority Akron, Ohio 88 86 ABQ Ride Albuquerque 89 87 Sacramento Regional Transit District Sacramento, Calif. 90 89 Hamilton Street Railway Hamilton, Ontario 91 92 Regional Transit Authority New Orleans 92 97 Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority Clearwater, Fla. 93 93 Golden Gate Transit San Rafael, Calif. 94 94 Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority Tampa, Fla. 94 94 Big Blue Bus Santa Monica, Calif. 96 96 London Transit London, Ontario 97 Kitsap Transit Bremerton, Wash. 98 98 Mass Transportation Authority Flint, Mich. 99 69 Pioneer Valley Transit Authority Springfield, Mass. 100 99 Fort Worth Transportation Authority Fort Worth, Texas 101 Central Contra Costa Transit Authority Concord, Calif. 102 90 Memphis Area Transit Authority Memphis, Tenn. 93 118 17 228-4 106 118 4 228 19 74 129 24 227 26 199 0 225 0 196 25 221 97 93 16 206 58 145 0 203 12 11 177 10 198 29 166 0 195 9 186 0 195 4 178 10 192 84 104 0 188 53 131 0 184-3 73 106 4 183 70 100 8 178 1 89 86 0 175 68 95 5 168-41 40 < metro magazine September/October 2014 metro-magazine.com

103 82 Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority Toledo, Ohio 104 Ben Franklin Transit Richland, Wash. 105 North County Transit District Oceanside, Calif. 106 Capital Area Transportation Authority Lansing, Mich. 107 100 Lane Transit District Eugene, Ore. 107 Prince George s County TheBus Forestville, Md. 109 Palm Tran West Palm Beach, Fla. 110 Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Comm. Woodbridge, Va. 154 10 0 164 112 50 0 162 47 114 0 161 52 96 12 160 61 71 26 158-8 158 0 0 158 4 146 6 156 29 125 0 154 September/October 2014 metro magazine > 41