The occurrence of rail defects, broken rails, and broken rail derailments is consistent with the rate of development found in other studies that look at larger populations of rail defects. Likewise, the larger and more heavily used transit systems develop increased levels of defects, which is again consistent with what is seen in the railroad industry at large. The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's TCRP Synthesis 151: Maintenance Planning for Rail Asset Management—Current Practices presents the ...

Third rail systems provide traction power to electrified rail systems in many parts of the world, including the United States, and encounter problems such as failures that need to be investigated and remediated. The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's TCRP Synthesis 150: Third Rail Insulator Failures: Current State of the Practice  documents the present practices and lessons learned, challenges, and gaps in information related to the use of third rail insulator systems in the United States. T...

Public transit buses face many operational challenges—especially when operating on the same streets and roads as other vehicles. Buses can be slowed by traffic congestion and get repeatedly caught at traffic lights, slowing buses down and delaying both passengers on board and passengers waiting at stops farther along the route. The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's TCRP Synthesis 149: Transit Signal Priority: Current State of the Practice documents the current practice of TSP, which is an import...

Five different business models for mobile fare payment apps are examined, as the world of apps used by transit agencies in the United States and Canada continues to steadily grow. The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's TCRP Synthesis 148: Business Models for Mobile Fare Apps documents current practices and experiences of transit agencies that offer mobile fare payment applications to transit riders. The report includes case examples from six cities: Santa Monica, Denver, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, ...

Sixty percent of the transit-industry practitioners surveyed rate their transit agency’s efforts to address their major security challenges as somewhat or very successful. However, only 25 percent say they have implemented any security-risk-reduction program that they consider to be exceptional or exemplary. The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's TCRP Synthesis 146: Transit Security Preparedness identifies current practices transit systems can use to enhance their security measures and to identif...

Women have traditionally been underrepresented within the transit workforce. However, the percentage of women within transit agencies appears to be increasing, and many transit agencies report that the percentage of women advancing into management and leadership positions has also been increasing over the past 5 years. The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's TCRP Synthesis 147: Attracting, Retaining, and Advancing Women in Transit explores the strategies that have been deployed in transit and othe...

Nearly all transit agencies are seeing potential benefits to multimodal payment convergence. However, many agencies find that implementing necessary upgrades is cost-prohibitive, which is the biggest barrier to full adoption. The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's TCRP Synthesis 144: Multimodal Fare Payment Integration documents current practices and experiences of transit agencies dealing with the complexities of multimodal fare payment convergence.

Transit agencies around the country are facing the challenges of reducing transit bus collisions and the injuries, fatalities, and liability expenses associated with these collisions. The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's TCRP Synthesis 145: Current Practices in the Use of Onboard Technologies to Avoid Transit Bus Incidents and Accidents documents the current practices in the use of the various onboard technologies on transit buses to prevent incidents and accidents, with a primary objective of ...

TCRP Synthesis 140: Comprehensive Bus Network Redesigns provides an overview of the current state of practice regarding comprehensive bus network redesign. The study examines practices among agencies of different sizes, geographic locations, and modes. The report captures the many components that are needed to successfully plan and implement a redesign and carefully considers the goals and objectives that agencies set forth when they began that process, helping them determine whether a redesign even made...

TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 143: Managing the Transit Scheduling Workforce examines how transit agencies are recruiting, training, developing, and retaining schedulers. In the case where transit agencies use third parties to create schedules, the report also shows how transit systems manage those third parties. The report is designed to assist transit agencies in managing their transit scheduling human capital. The report presents an overview of the practices and procedure...