IO Ni W LtC-WPE RIER EEI&1LD~IEE LPLE iTjøGR& Nonstandardized Bus Fleets [NATIONAO RESEARCjOUNCIL WN TRANSPORTATIQN RESEARCH BOARD EXECUTIVE COM!TTEE 1990 OFFICERS Chairman: Wayne Mur,. Chief Engineer, Missouri Highway & Transportation Department Vice Chairman: C. Michael Walton, Bess Harris Jones Centennial Professor and Chairman, College of Engineering. The University of Texas at Austin Executive Director: Thomas B. Deen, Transportation Research Board MEMBERS JAMES B. BUSEY IV, Federal Aviation Administrator, US. Department of Transportation (ex officio) GILBERT E. CARMICHAEL, Federal Railroad Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex OffiCIO) BRIAN W. CLYMER, Urban Mass Transportation Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) JERRY R. CURRY, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) FRANCIS B. FR.ANcoIs, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (ex officio) JOHN GRAY, President, National Asphalt Pavement Association (ex officio) THOMAS H. HANNA, President and Chief Executive Officer, Motor Vehicle Manufacturers 'Association of the United States. Inc. (ex officio) HENRY 3. HATCH, Chief of Engineers and Commander. U.S. Army corps of Engineers (ex officio) THOMAS D. LARSON, Federal Highway Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) GEORGE H. WAY, JR., Vice President for Research and Test Department, Association of American Railroads (ex officio) ROBERT J. AARONSON, President, Air Transport Association of America JAMES M. BEGGS, Chairman, Spacehab, Inc. ROBERT N. BOTHMAN, Director, Oregon Department of Transportation J. RON BRINSON, President and chief Executive Officer, Board of Commissioners of The Port of New Orleans L. GARY BYRD, Consulting Engineer, Alexandria, Virginia L. STANLEY CRANE, Retired, Forner Chairman & chief Executive Officer, Consolidated Rail Corporation RANDY DOI, Director, IVHS Systems Motorola Incorporated EARL DOVE, President, Earl Dove Company LOUIS J. GAMBACCINI, General Manager, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Past Chairman 1989) KERMIT H. JUSTICE, Secretary of Transportation, State of Delaware DENMAN K. McNEAR, Vice Chairman, Rio Grande Industries WILLIAM W. MILLAR, Executive Director, Port Authority of Allegheny County CHARLES L. MILLER, Director, Arizona Department of Transportation ROBERT E. PAASWELL, Professor of Transportatiàn Engineering, Urban Transportation Center. University of Illinois at Chicago RAY D. PETHTEL, Commissioner, Virginia Department of Transportation JAMES P. PITZ, Director, Michigan Department of Transportation HERBERT H. RICHARDSON, Deputy Chancellor and Dean of Engineering. Texas A&M University System (Past Chairman 1988) JOE G. RIDEOUTFE, Executive Director. South carolina Department of'Highways and Public Transportation CARMEN B. TURNER, General Manager, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority FRANKLIN E. WHITE, Commissioner, New York State Department of Transportation JULIAN WOLPERT, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Geography. Public Affairs and Urban Planning, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University PAUL ZIA, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, North Carolina State University NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Transportation Research Board Executive Committee Subcommittee for NCTRP WAYNE MURI, Missouri Highway and Transportation Department (Chairman) C. MICHAEL WALTON, University of Texas WILLIAM W. MILLAR, Port Authority of Allegheny County L. GARY BYRD, Consulting Engineer, Alexandria, Va. BRIAN W. CLYMER, Urban Mass Transportation Administration THOMAS B. DEEN, Transportation Research Board LOUIS J. GAMBACCINI, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Field of Administration Area of Procurement Project Panel A35-1 DAVID A. LEE, Connecticut Transit (Chairman) ' PAUL C. GILLUM,' Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority GORDON AOYAGI, Division of Transit Services, Montgomery County WAYNE HALE, VIA Metropolitan Transit System, San Antonio GEORGE G. CARlA, Transit Management of Tucson, Inc. PAUL MULDOON, Regional Transportation Authority, Chicago JOHN W. CLARKE, Port Authority of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh JOHN SCHIAVONE, APTA Liaison Representative SANDRA DRAG000, Capital Area Transportation Authority, Lansing ALBERT NEUMANN, UMTA Liaison Representative W. CAMPBELL GRAEUB, TRB Liaison Representative Program Staff ROBERT J. REILLY, Director, Cooperative Research Programs CRAWFORD F. JENCKS, Senior Program Officer LOUIS M. MACGREGOR, Program Officer KENNETH S. OPIELA, Senior Program Officer DANIEL W. DEAR.ASAUGH, JR., Senior Program Officer DAN A. ROSEN, Senior Program Officer IAN M. FRIEDLAND, Senior Program Officer HELEN MACK, Editor NATIONAL COOPERATIVE TRANSIT RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM le Report 17 Impacts of Standardized vs. Nonstandardized Bus Fleets RICHARD W. DRAKE Fleet Maintenance Consultants, Inc. Houston, Texas DOUGLAS W. CARTER Booz Allen & Hamilton, Inc. Los Angeles, California AREAS OF INTEREST Finance (Public Transit) RESEARCH SPONSORED BY THE URBAN MASS TRANSPORTATION ADMINISTRATION OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL WASHINGTON, D.C. JUNE 1990 NATIONAL COOPERATIVE TRANSIT RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Administrators, engineers, and many others in the transit indus- NCTRP REPORT 17 try are faced with a multitude of complex problems that range between local, regional, and national in their prevalence. How Project 35-1 FY '85 they might be solved is open to a variety of approaches; however, ISSN 0732-4839 it is an established fact that a highly effective approach to prob- ISBN 0-309-04851-6 lems of widespread commonality is one in which operating agen- Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 90-70724 cies join cooperatively to support, both in fmancial and other participatory respects, systematic research that is well designed, Price $9.00 practically oriented, and carried out by highly competent re- searchers. As problems grow rapidly in number and escalate in complexity, the value of an orderly, high-quality cooperative endeavor likewise escalates. Recognizing this in light of the many needs of the transit NOTICE industry at large, the Urban Mass Transportation Administra- The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative tion, U.S. Department of Transportation, got under way in 1980 Transit Research & Development Program conducted by the Transportation Re- the National Cooperative Transit Research & Development Pro- search Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Such approval reflects the Governing Board's judgment that the program gram (NCTRP). This is an objective national program that pro- concerned is of national importance and appropriate with respect to both the vides a mechanism by which UMTA's principal client groups purposes and resources of the National Research Council. The members of the technical committee selected to monitor this project and to across the nation can join cooperatively in an attempt to solve review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with due near-term public transportation problems through applied re- consideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions search, development, test, and evaluation. The client groups and conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency that per- formed the research, and, while they have been accepted as appropriate by the thereby have a channel through which they can directly influence technical committee, they are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research a portion of UMTA's annual activities in transit technology Board, the National Research Council, or the Urban Mass Transportation Admin- development and deployment. Although present funding of the istration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical committee NCTRP is entirely from UMTA's Section 6 funds, the planning according to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation Research leading to inception of the Program envisioned that UMTA's Board Executive Committee and the Governing Board of the National Research client groups would join ultimately in providing additional sup- Council. port, thereby enabling the Program to address a large number of problems each year. SpecIal NotIce The NCTRP operates by means of agreements between UMTA as the sponsor and (1) the National Research Council The Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, as the Primary Technical Contractor (PTC) responsible for ad- and the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (sponsor of the ministrative and technical services, (2) the American Public National Cooperative Transit Research & Development Program) do Transit Association, responsible for operation of a Technical not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers' names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the clarity Steering Group (TSG) comprised of representatives of transit and completeness of project reporting. operators, local government officials, State DOT officials, and officials from UMTA's Office of Technical Assistance. Research Programs for the NCTRP are developed annually by the Technical Steering Group, which identifies key problems, ranks them