The US Transit Bus Manufacturing Industry

Abstract:

Manufacturing buses for the US transit market has been a challenging business over the last several decades. It is a small market with volatile demand. Many manufacturers have gone bankrupt, left the market, or been acquired by competitors. Manufacturers of transit buses in the US must comply with a wide range of operational and design regulations. The most salient policy areas include regulating emissions, disabled access, procurement, alternative fuels, the Altoona Test, pooled purchases and piggybacking, spare ratios, workforce training, minimum useful life, Buy America, and research & development (R&D). The purpose of this report is to provide policy makers with an update on the state of the industry, an analysis of how government policies are impacting the industry, and suggestions for policies that can help the industry move forward and thrive to best serve the transit-riding public.

Publications:

The US Transit Bus Manufacturing Industry (1MB)

Research Brief (190K)

Authors:

DAVID CZERWINSKI, PhD

David Czerwinski is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing and Decision Sciences at San José State University and a Mineta Transportation Institute Research Associate. His research involves the application of techniques from operations research and statistics to problems in the private and public sectors. He previously worked in the Planning Department of the Chicago Transit Authority and as a Senior Associate at Transportation Management & Design. He holds a BS in Mathematical and Computational Science from Stanford University and a PhD in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

XU (CISSY) HARTLING, PhD

Dr. Xu (Cissy) Hartling is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marketing and Decision Sciences at Salem State University. Prior to joining Salem State University in 2015, she worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marketing and Decision Sciences at San Jose State University for three years and worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Center for Transportation and Logistics at MIT for two years. Dr. Hartling received her PhD from the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Louisville. Her research interests include sustainable supply chains, corporate social responsibilities, carbon labeling, climate change and environmental policies, transportation and distribution network design.

JING ZHANG, PhD

Jing Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing and Decision Sciences at San José State University and a Mineta Transportation Institute Research Associate. Her research focuses on consumer behavior and its relations with marketing communications, high-tech media, globalization and policy issues. She has published articles in academic journals, including the Journal of Consumer Psychology, The Journal of Advertising, Psychology & Marketing, International Journal of E-Business Research, and Journal of International Consumer Marketing. She served on the Editorial Board of Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, and International Editorial Review Board of the International Journal of E-Business Research. She holds a BS in Psychology from Peking University, China and a PhD in Communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Published:

October 2016

Keywords:

Transit

Bus

Bus manufacturing

Transit funding

Transit policy