Mass Transit

Transit Energy Performance

The primary energy requirements of mass transit systems vary widely, depending in large part on the occupancy rate of the system.

Energy intensities across transit agencies in the United States, with most data taken from the National Transit Database ¹, some regional rail data from Minn ², and some transit bus data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics ³. For most modes we report the range of values between the 10th and 90th percentiles most energy intensive systems in the United States, except for monorails and automated guidewdays, where due to the small number of systems, we report the full range of energy intensities observed.

Despite the high variance, we find that buses and vanpools tend to be the most energy efficient systems. Regardless of mode, mass transit is most efficient in a dense city that will support high rates of vehicle occupancy. Less efficient modes, such as demand response and ferries, are typically deployed in situations where other transit options are not feasible.