Urban planners have a guide for transit usage in a new publication, "Public Transit in America: Findings from the 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey." The National Urban Transit Institute at the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR), located at the University of South Florida in Tampa, completed the analysis last year.

The report focuses on transit use in the mid-1990s and includes information for decision-makers in public transit. For example, according to the report: * The transit market is strongly shaped by captive riders who have limited choices in transportation. They include persons without driver's licenses and without vehicles. They comprise about 70 percent of riders on all transit trips. * People who use public transit do so because they believe transit is the most convenient means of transportation, and it costs less than driving. Passengers also use it because they do not have access to a car or they want to avoid the stress of driving on congested roads. * Respondents who do not use public transit noted that it is unavailable at their work sites; the schedules are inconvenient; and they need their own vehicles. * Nationwide, about 12 percent of the population uses public transit one or more times within a 60-day period. The percentage increases to more than 20 percent in metropolitan areas with at least 3 million people.

The full report is available at www.cutr.eng. usf.edu/new/reports.htm. For more information, contact CUTR at (813) 974-3120.