Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

With the new agreement, the U.S., Canada and Mexico intend to increase collection and sharing of commonly understood and comparable transportation data and statistics for data-driven planning and performance measurement to improve cross-border integrated transportation planning and operations.

PA Pulse will combine monthly totals of rail and bus mass-transit users; aviation passengers; vehicle movements; and air, truck and sea cargo, providing a cross-section of transportation activity at the region’s key gateways and interstate crossings, which can be compared on a month-by-month basis.

While more passengers are using the commuter rail line between Providence and Rhode Island's main airport, ridership is not as high as anticipated when the line began operating in 2010.

The nonprofit cites FRA statistics, which indicate 2,004 vehicle-train collisions in the U.S. in 2010, up 4.2 percent from the 1,924 incidents in 2009. The collisions resulted in 260 deaths and 810 injuries, with crossing deaths up 5.3 percent and crossing injuries up 9.8 percent.

In a Sunday op-ed for the Orlando Sentinel, Secretary LaHood revealed the latest statistics, but cautioned that researchers believe the epidemic of distracted driving is likely far greater than currently known.