General Readings
Transit Cooperative Research Program Syntheses, Reports, and Research Digests, 1994-present. (Key: R = Report, S = Synthesis, RRD = Research Report Digest, LRD = Legal Research Digest.)
All TCRP publications listed in the table below are available at their Web site after registering for free. Search by Project number.
Transportation Research Record (past 10 years) deals with transit management.
UITP Revue is a quarterly, international journal on transit topics.
Mass Transit is a monthly magazine with good topical coverage.
Passenger Transport is a weekly American Public Transit Association publication.
Fielding, G. J. (Pete). Managing Public Transit Strategically. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1987. ISBN: 1555420680.
Required Readings
| WEEK # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction: Transit Industry Status | |
| 2-3 | Organizational Models |
Rye, T., and N. Wilson. "The Urban Bus Situation in the UK: Recent Developments and a Case Study of Edinburgh." TRAIL Research School, Delft, March 2002. Wilson, N. H. M. "Public Transport in the U.S.A.: A Critical Appraisal and Prospects For Future Industry Restructuring." TRAIL Research School, Delft, March 2002. Gwilliam, K. "Ownership, Organization and Competition Policy: An International Review." Presented at The Fifth International Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport, Leeds, UK, May, 1997. |
| 4 |
Contracting Guest Lecturer: Fred Salvucci, MIT Guest Lecturer: John Attanucci, MIT |
Halvorsen, R., and N. H. M. Wilson. "The Role of Contract Structuring in Contracted Public Transport Performance: Theory and Practice." Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport, Rotorua, New Zealand, July 1995. Blakey, Tara. "Designing Transit Concession Contracts to Deal with Uncertainty." Master of Science in Transportation Thesis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Thesis, 2006. |
| 5 | Term Paper Presentations and Discussions | |
| 6 |
Performance Measurement Guest Lecturer: John Attanucci, MIT |
"Using Archived AVL-APC Data to Improve Transit Performance and Management." (Project H-28), R-113. Lee, Douglass. "Transit Cost and Performance Measurement." Transport Reviews 9, no. 2 (1989): 147-170. Fielding, G. J. Chapter 3. "The Role of Performance-Based Measures in Allocating Funding for Transit Operations." (Project SG-04), S-06, Summary and Chapters 1-4. A Summary of TCRP Report 88: "A Guidebook for Developing a Transit Performance-Measurement System." (Project G-6), R-88. |
| 7 |
Strategic Management and Planning Guest Lecturer: Fred Salvucci, MIT |
"Support for Fundamental Change in Public Transportation" (Project J-08B), RRD-55. "Customer-Focused Transit." (Project J-7, SB7), S-45, Summary and Chapters 1-3. |
| 8 |
Finance and Budget Guest Lecturer: Richard H. Doyle, Federal Transit Authority | "Innovative Financing Techniques for Transit Agencies." (Project 3-01), LRD13. |
| 9 |
Fare Policy and Technology Guest Lecturer: Dan Fleishman, TranSystems |
"Fare Policies, Structures, and Technologies." (Project A-01), R-10. Yi, Hong. "Transition to Smart Card Technology: How Transit Operators Can Encourage the Take-Up of Smart Card Technology." Master of Science in Transportation Thesis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Thesis, 2006. |
| 10 |
Marketing Guest Lecturer: Karla Karash, TranSystems |
"A Handbook of Proven Marketing Strategies for Public Transit." (Project B-13), R-50, Introductory Chapter. TCRP Web Document 8, "Marketing Transit Services to Business." Executive Summary. "A Handbook: Integrating Market Research into Transit Management." (Project B-02), R-37. |
| 11 |
Labor Relations Guest Lecturer: Fred Salvucci, MIT |
"A Challenged Employment System: Hiring, Training, Performance Evaluation, and Retention of Bus Operators." (Project J-7), S-40, Summary and Chapters 1, 4, 5, and 6. "Practices in Assuring Employee Availability." (Project SF-06), S-33, Summary and Chapters 1 - 2. "Total Quality Management in Public Transportation." (Project F-03), RRD-03. "The Quality Journey: A TQM Roadmap for Public Transportation." (Project F-03), R-8. Harsh, W., Jr. "Innovative Labor-Management Practices." TCRP Report, 1995. |
| 12 | Workforce Planning |
Koutsopoulos, H. N., and N. H. M. Wilson. "Operator Workforce Planning in the Transit Industry." Transportation Research 21A (1987): 127-138. Shiftan, Y., and N. H. M. Wilson. "Absence, Overtime, and Reliability Relationships in Transit Workforce Planning." Transportation Research Record 1402 (1993): 98-106. |
| 13 |
Safety / Security, Transit Maintenance, and Information Systems Guest Lecturer: Susan Altshuler, MBTA Guest Lecturer: John Attanucci, MIT |
"Light Rail Service: Vehicular and Pedestrian Safety." (Project A-13), RRD-34, Chapters 1-3. "Monitoring Bus Maintenance Performance." (Project SF-04), S-22, Chapters 1-5. "Leveraging Information for Better Transit Maintenance." (Project E-01), RRD-13. "Information Technology Update for Transit." (Project SG-08), S-35, Summary and Chapters 1-2. |
| 14 | Term Paper Presentations |