Respondents to the fifth iteration of Mass Transit’s annual Mobility Outlook survey paint dueling scenarios of how 2024 could play out. While transit agency respondents see opportunities in technology advancements and service enhancements, challenges from residual pandemic impacts to ridership, supply chain issues and persistent concerns with recruitment and retention remain. As one transit agency respondent added to a comment section, “we’re just trying to get through 2024.”
Survey respondents report budgets for 2024 have increased, with more than 70 percent of transit agency respondents reporting slightly higher or significantly higher budgets. However, agency budget shortfalls are a worry, with 21 percent of agency respondents reporting a budget shortfall in 2024 and another 36 percent anticipating a budget shortfall within the next two years. More than half of respondents from business community companies and non-transit agency companies report increased budgets in 2024 and more than 60 percent of these respondents say they do not anticipate cutting costs this year.
Top challenges cited among transit agency respondents include recruitment, supply chain and inflation issues. The business community shared the same concerns regarding supply chain and inflation challenges with one respondent, calling 2024 a “rebuilding year.”
How was this information gathered?
Mass Transit queried subscribers who identify as working for a transit agency or for a business supporting transit agencies (suppliers, manufacturers, consultants, engineers) during a two-week period in January 2024. The survey received 123 responses, with 61 from transit professionals and 62 from non-transit agency professionals. The survey included intelligence with separate questions being asked of the two groups.
An ideal world would allow the survey to be answered by every transit provider in North America but this is not practical. We do believe the data found within this survey offers valuable insight, as the industry continues to emerge from under the umbrella of the pandemic.
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