Assessment of Service Integration Practices for Public Transportation: Review of the Literature

This report documents a review of the literature of transit service integration policies. It is the initial task of a project whose objective is to understand service integration policies and practices that transit agencies have employed and the benefits such policies have brought. Studies have shown that ongoing coordination and integration of transit services can improve public transportation system connectivity and reliability, and help make transit a more attractive travel mode alternative to the car. Findings from the literature shed light on several topics, including how service integration policies are part of overall changes in transit properties' traditional way of conducting business; the types of categories of service integration policies including route, schedule, and fare payment integration; examples of criteria to use to select participants in a subsequent project survey; a description of locations around the U.S. where service integration policies have been implemented; a focus on the experience in the San Francisco Bay Area; use of advanced technologies in the implementation of service integration policies; topic areas for questions to include on the survey; and examples of measures of performance for evaluation of service integration policies' impacts. Results of the literature review in all these areas will provide valuable input to each of the remaining project tasks.