Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Taking measures to accommodate growing ridership, dealing with driver staffing shortages and introducing new bus routes and vehicle features are keeping university transit operators busy as the Fall semester gets under way.

Transit operators from California, Texas, Illinois and Colorado are making it easy for students and faculty to commute to and get around campus by bicycle, offering a wide variety of service, ranging from bike repair stations to folding bicycle promotions.

The idea to begin providing motorcoach ticketing on its website came to Zimride after creating a ticketing system for one of its partners, the University of Colorado - Boulder, who operated a ski shuttle and wanted to find a way to sell tickets to its students.

The proposal represents a unique opportunity for the city, which received $2.25 million from Stanford University last year to beef up pedestrian connections between the city and campus, as well as to encourage use of public transportation.

The university instead encourages faculty to take advantage of a number of other programs including free regional train and bus passes, a free shuttle to the university and free hours in an auto-sharing program such as Zipcar.

Stanford University’s Transportation and Parking Program is credited with helping to reduce the drive-alone rate from 72 percent to 52 percent in the past six years, using a combination of incentives and targeted marketing.