Public transportation in the United States: Performance and condition. Report to Congress

Technical Report · Fri Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5630673

The report examines the performance and condition of mass transportation in the United States in relationship to the changing market for urban and suburban transportation. The role urban mass transportation is able to play is determined in large part by the cost and convenience of auto use in congested urban areas. An uncertain energy future and increasing atmospheric pollution will continue to spur interest in transit and related forms of high occupancy mobility to support economic growth. Sharply increasing travel demand in urban and suburban areas and inadequate highway capacity are posing unprecedented challenges to the transportation industry. Simply building more new highways is meeting severe cost constraints, as well as public resistance in some rapidly growing urban and suburban areas. New approaches are needed. In order to finance and create new transportation capacity on terms acceptable to the public--as travelers and as urban area residents--a much larger role for user-fee based financing of transportation infrastructure is necessary, combined with a shift in transportation focus from the movement of vehicles to the movement of people and goods.

• Research Organization: Urban Mass Transportation Administration, Washington, DC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 5630673
• Report Number(s): PB-91-183012/XAB; UMTA-UBP--10-91-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
291000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Conservation
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320202* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Transportation-- Railway
320203 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Transportation-- Land & Roadway
AIR POLLUTION
AUTOMOBILES
BUSES
CONTROL
COST
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
FINANCING
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSIT SYSTEMS
NORTH AMERICA
PERFORMANCE
PLANNING
POLLUTION
RAILWAYS
RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEMS
TRAFFIC CONTROL
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
URBAN AREAS
USA
VEHICLES