Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Sampling Bus Ridership At The Route Level: Initial Results From Efforts To Improve The Precision Of Sample Estimates, James G. Strathman

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

UMTA's Section 15 reporting requirements establish precision standards and corresponding sampling plans for estimating bus ridership at the system level. However, many transit providers are interested in recovering data with sufficient precision to permit ridership analysis at the route level. One outcome of extending a system sampling plan to route level data collection and analysis would be a large increase in the sample sizes required to achieve a reasonable standard of precision. Given the costs involved in expanding the data recovery process beyond what is required for Section 15 reporting, alternative means of improving the precision of route level data …