Large transit authorities encounter many difficulties collectingthe operating statistics required for umta section 9 funding. Transit agencies that operate rail and bus systems 24 hours per day, 365 days per year must gather statistics from a universe of riders that is sometimes difficult to capture through umta-suggested random sampling. This paper examines how the chicago transit authority (cta) ismeeting the challenge of collecting section 15 service-consumed data from a large, dynamic transit system. The cta method of determining annual unlinked trips and passenger-miles for the bus and rail systems is presented here. This includes the resources required to assign and monitor data collection efforts as well as problems regularlyencountered in-the-field by data collection personnel. Cta's stratified rail sampling plan and the needs of large transit systems are discussed along with suggestions for more efficient data gathering techniques. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1209, Transit administration and planning research.
Abstract