AMERICAN COACH

American Coach and Their Government Acquisition Process



American Coach and Their Government Acquisition Process

Introduction

The American Coach is heavily subsided by federal, state and local agencies, so industry revenue is not a strong statistic for determining market share concentration. Instead, it is more appropriate to look at ridership rates, as this properly highlights public transit usage. According to data, the top three public transit systems in the US based on unlinked passenger trips are MTA New York City Transit (NYCT), Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and Los Angeles Country Metropolitan Transit Authority (LACMTA). Together these three authorities account for approximately 39.8% of US unlinked passenger trips (Bertini, 2003).

At the same time, it is important to note that the majority of public transit systems are principally located in densely populated urban areas. Typically, these locations plagued by lack of parking lots, traffic congestion, costly parking rates, etc. At the same time, the use of public transit systems is also dependent on accessibility, convenience and hours of operation. Smaller cities such as Boston rival larger more populated cities with regard to public transit programs. In fact, Boston ranks five in ridership and eighth in passenger miles, despite being ranked 21 in population, according to the US Census Bureau (Harrington, 2007).

Due to the fixed nature of the public transit industry, industry concentration is expected to remain steady over the outlook period. Larger players, such as Los Angeles and New York are currently in the midst of aggressive expansion projects, but these systems expected gradually come online. At the same time, smaller lesser known systems are also expanding services. Other factors that determine demand evolve slowly, including demographic changes, population shifts and personalized sentiment towards automotive transportation.

Public transport around the world has seen a surge in popularity in response to high fuel prices and growing concerns about climate change. America is no exception. Metropolitan areas from New York City to Los Angeles have developed aggressive expansion plans to improve accessibility, convenience and ridership. While, federal, state and local governments have increased public transit funding in an attempt to boost services. However, industry growth still remains weak (Forkenbrock, 2008).

In the ten years to 2016, industry value-added is forecast to increase at an average annual rate of 1.9%, while the US economy is expected to grow by 2.0%. The public transit industry's recent resurgence is expected to support growth over the long-term, but the industry remains in a mature phase of its life cycle. Products offered by the industry are stable and clearly segmented. The expansion of services will increase ridership rates, but other factors such as gas prices and urban population growth will remain significant determinants of public transit demand. At the same time, there have been no dramatic, innovative technologies or developments that expected to transition the industry into a growth phase. Instead, the majority of Americans' are still expected to rely on the car as the dominate mode of transportation over the next five years.

Nonetheless, some notable innovations have ...