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NCHRP 08-133(01) [Active]
Implementing the National Intercity Bus Atlas (Phases II and III)
| Project Data |
| Funds: |
$319,553 |
| Preaward costs of $80,415 are authorized through December 28, 2023 |
| Staff Responsibility: |
Jennifer L. Weeks |
| Research Agency: |
Resource Systems Group |
| Principal Investigator: |
Margaret Campbell |
| Effective Date: |
10/23/2023 |
| Completion Date: |
9/24/2024 |
| Comments: |
Changed Staff Officer - 9.14.23 |
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BACKGROUND
Following deregulation of the intercity bus industry in 1982 and significant restructuring of the industry in the mid-2000s, much of the population of the United States has lost access to the intercity bus network. A paucity of reliable information on existing services has emerged as a major obstacle as public agencies and private service providers look for opportunities to reestablish lost services and to create new services.
While more than $100 million in federal funding flows through state departments of transportation (DOTs) to support intercity bus operations, there is not a clear picture of where such subsidies are flowing or of how they relate to the much larger intercity bus network. It is difficult for public, for-profit, and non-profit actors to make informed decisions in the absence of such important data and information.
Prior to deregulation, information had been available through a publicly available, industry-wide schedule book, the National Motorcoach Guide, published by Russell’s (commonly known as Russell’s Guide or just Russell’s), disappeared. Attempts to provide information in this void have included the independent and unbiased map available from the American Intercity Bus Riders Association’s (AIBRA) website (https://www.kfhgroup.com/aibra/pdf/usmap.pdf). A presentation at the 2017 Rural and Intercity Bus Conference by Michael Buiting, the individual who voluntarily created and maintained the AIBRA map, led to the drafting of a research problem statement by members of the TRB Committee on Rural Public and Intercity Bus; that problem statement was included in the NCHRP Rural Transportation Issues Research Roadmap and submitted for funding consideration by the AASHTO Special Committee on Research and Innovation. The data entry burden is more than an individual volunteer can maintain.
In 2019 the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) began an Intercity Bus Atlas (ICBA) initiative, which “collects, compiles, publishes and archives scheduled intercity bus service information. The data reveal local, interregional, and international transportation patterns, and inform the nation about the location and connectivity of its transportation facilities and services.” In order for the ICBA to fulfill its potential in informing business, policy, and planning decisions, research is needed to (1) engage a significant portion of the intercity bus industry in providing route, stop, and schedule data, and (2) develop guidance for (a) ongoing maintenance and development of the ICBA as a national resource; (b) user guides to inform those responsible for state, local, tribal, and territorial intercity bus policy and plans; and (c) user guides for those in the private for-profit and non-profit sectors responsible for investment decisions regarding intercity bus operations.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this project is to complete the development and implementation of the Intercity Bus Atlas (ICBA) as an ongoing, comprehensive and publicly available inventory of intercity bus services.
Phase I tasks included:
- Compilation of a list of intercity bus carriers and the development and implementation of a dashboard for tracking submission of memoranda of understanding (MOU) and updating of their GTFS feeds in the ICBA.
- Development of a tiered industry engagement plan to (1) encourage intercity bus service providers to sign the BTS National Intercity Bus Atlas Memorandum of Understanding available at https://www.bts.gov/intercity-busing/registration) and (2) encourage intercity bus service providers to post to the internet and update stop, route, and schedule data in the designated format.
- Development of a technical assistance plan to assist entities that have signed MOUs to develop, post to the internet, and update GTFS-compliant files.
- Development of a step-by-step procedure to help/enable intercity bus providers to post to the internet information, and provide guidance on data quality, reliability, security, availability, and assurance.
- Development of data paths for those that do not follow the BTS protocol for the intercity bus census.
Phases II and III will include the following tasks:
- Develop a user guide for private sector scheduled, interlined intercity bus services; ticketing services; schedulers; and business development planners.
- Develop user guide(s) for state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) transit planners.
- Identify methods and requirements for successful maintenance and advancement of the ICBA.
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