Driving down the cost of buses: Helping transit agencies get more for their money

Buses are the workhorses of American public transportation, safely making 3.8 billion trips each year. Taking the bus might be an affordable way to get around, but buses don’t come cheap. Over the years, America has developed a highly customized approach to how transit agencies and manufacturers design and build buses, which has led to higher costs for transit agencies, fewer orders for manufacturers, and worse service for riders.

On June 25, coinciding with the release of a new paper by the Eno Center for Transportation and CALSTART, “Customization, Competition, and Costs: Findings and Recommendations for the U.S. Transit Bus Industry,” Brookings will host an event to explore policy reforms that can reduce the costs of bus customization and deliver a bigger, more competitive transit industry. Following brief opening remarks by Paul Wiedefeld, the former Maryland secretary of transportation, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) will participate in a discussion about the role of Congress in the issue and beyond. A panel of industry experts will follow, breaking down how customization became the norm and what it will take to adopt reforms at scale.

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