Rural and small urban transit providers across the United States face fiscal challenges caused by the growing gap between the cost of providing transit service and available federal, state , and local funding. In Texas, the fiscal challenges facing rural and small urban transit providers are compounded by an increasing population and growth in urbanization in some counties and declining population with increasing demand for transit service for an aging population in other counties. The research report examines the drivers of operating costs, approaches to containing costs, transit agency priorities for tools needed to better contain costs, and methodology used to develop the guidebook and workshop. There are five primary documents produced in this research project: research report, guidebook entitled Managing Operating Costs for Rural and Small Urban Transportation Systems, workshop participant workbook, workshop instructor’s guide, and a PowerPoint presentation to support the workshop. Researchers found that transit agency staff indicated a priority need for guidance and training in the following topics: managing staff, maintenance and state of good repair, buying and managing fuel, contracting for service, minimizing no-shows, and innovations in technology and service design. Also, researchers found a need to provide information on fundamentals of reporting, allocating, and tracking costs. The resulting guidebook and corresponding workshop incorporates the findings of the research.

This Guidebook is intended to support public transportation professionals in identifying and implementing appropriate technologies for their transit systems. It can be useful in the procurement of low-tech solutions, such as off-the-shelf computer software, as well as high-tech systems, such as automatic vehicle location systems. The intended audience for this Guidebook includes transit operators managing rural and small urban transit systems of varying size.