Description
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.
Publication Date
10-2016
Publication Type
Report
Topic
Transit and Passenger Rail
MTI Project
1234
Mineta Transportation Institute URL
https://transweb.sjsu.edu/research/US-Transit-Bus-Manufacturing-Industry
Keywords
Transit, bus, bus manufacturing, transit funding, transit policy
Disciplines
Public Policy | Transportation
Recommended Citation
David Czerwinski, Xu (Cissy) Hartling, and Jing Zhang. "The US Transit Bus Manufacturing Industry" Mineta Transportation Institute (2016).
Research Brief