Cities and transit agencies across North America are improving transit service with tools like dedicated bus lanes, transit signal priority, queue jumps, optimized bus stop spacing, and automated camera enforcement. But it’s hard to grasp the full scale of these activities, because no one is tracking transit priority programs across state and regional lines. Until now. NACTO is creating an inventory of transit priority programs within transit agencies, departments of transportation, and road agencies across the U.S. and Canada—but we need help. We’re asking agencies throughout the U.S. and Canada—not just NACTO members—to fill out a survey by April 15, 2026.

The Inventory

NACTO’s transit priority program inventory will track which agencies have transit priority programs, what types of projects they’re working on, and how they work: their size, scope, funding, staffing, and governance. NACTO will collect information through a regular survey. Over time, we’ll be able to observe how programs grow and priorities shift. 

True to NACTO’s “for cities, by cities” ethos, survey questions were developed in collaboration with transit agencies in the U.S. and Canada. As a result, the inventory will include metrics like staffing models and governance structures that will help agencies understand where their programs fit in the overall landscape and which peers they can learn from. 

Taking the Survey

Who should take this survey? Transit agencies in the U.S. and Canada (even if you’re not working on transit priority!), as well as cities, states, and provinces working on transit priority. You don’t need to have an official transit priority program—we want to understand the full landscape of what agencies are doing for transit! Ideally, you’ll coordinate one response per agency.

The survey should only take 10 to 15 minutes to complete. 

What’s Next?

We’ll share initial survey results at Designing Cities: Minneapolis in May, and on our website after the conference. 

NACTO will continue tracking transit priority programs over time to gain an understanding of the state of transit priority in the U.S. and Canada.