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Fares, costs and subsidies per transit trip have risen much faster than inflation during the past 25 years throughout the United States. At the same time, transit ridership per capita has continued to fall and automobile ownership per capita has continued to rise. As a result, U.S. metropolitan areas are losing their battle against traffic congestion. It is becoming increasingly clear that major changes are needed in the way public transportation services are delivered, financed and managed, particularly in fast-growing suburban areas. The State of Hawaii, with financial support from both the U.S. Departments of Energy and Transportation, pioneered in studies of ways that IVHS-technologies can be used to develop low-cost, door-to-door transportation services.

Germany, France and other foreign countries have used new computer and communications technologies in innovative ways to increase the quality and reduce the costs of public transportation services in urban, suburban and rural areas. This paper provides an introduction to the German Flexible Operations Command and Control System (FOCCS) and its predecessor the Ruf-Bus (i.e. “Call-A-Bus) System. It also outlines how these Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems (IVHS)-approaches could be adapted to improve the cost-effectiveness of transit, paratransit and ridesharing services in U.S. cities and counties.

California's Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) is developing a plan to team with public and private organizations, domestic and foreign, to develop a Transportation Resources Information Processing System (TRIPS) which will permit urban, suburban and rural communities to use the public telephone network to better manage their local transportation resources. TRIPS will use computers and telecommunications to provide drivers, riders, and other local transportation decision-makers with better information about local travel alternatives, including new types of low-cost, door-to-door public transportation services. Preliminary research indicates that TRIPS could greatly increase the productivity of local transportation systems at a low cost to taxpayers.