US transit bus report highlights aging fleets and lower production

A newly released Oxford Economics report adds 2025 economic estimates and fleet data for US transit bus manufacturing. It documents substantial replacement needs alongside production that remains below 2017–2019 levels.

Transit agencies operate more than 65,000 heavy-duty buses, with about 13,700 beyond their expected useful life. The combination of aging vehicles and lower annual output makes fleet replacement planning a central issue for agencies and their suppliers.

The Oxford Economics report quantifies the transit bus industry’s economic footprint alongside its fleet replacement needs. It estimates that the industry contributed $5.1 billion to US GDP and generated $1.1 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue in 2025. Manufacturers employed about 4,700 workers, with suppliers supporting another 15,900 jobs. Meanwhile, about 13,700 buses—21% of the national transit fleet—are more than 12 years old, the Federal Transit Administration’s expected useful life for these vehicles. Annual production ranged from about 4,000 to 4,800 buses during 2020–2025, below the more than 6,000 produced annually in 2017–2019. The article attributes reduced output to pandemic-era supply chain challenges, worker shortages and financial issues. For transit agencies, the figures frame a replacement challenge against a lower production baseline. Battery-electric buses represented about 20% of deliveries in 2023–2024, while diesel vehicles accounted for 55%.

Evidence supplied by Smart Cities Dive.