Report: Success Factors in Private Contracting for Public Transportation

Download the study by Eno Center for Transportation supported by the North American Transit Alliance.

Download the report – Success Factors in Private Contracting for Public Transportation

This excerpt is courtesy of Eno Center for Transportation based on a report published March 15, 2024. Download via Eno’s website. WeDriveU is a member of NATA (originating from our former National Express Transit brand).

Service contracting is a tool that governments can use to deliver transit services for riders. It is also widely employed in the United States; nearly two-thirds of transit agencies already contract all or part of their operations. When contracting is implemented effectively and strategically, it can yield service improvements that benefit the riding public and, in some cases, lower costs. It can enable governance overhauls whose impacts may go far beyond increased service reliability by creating more adaptable, sustainable public institutions.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for public transportation, including workforce management issues, fluctuating ridership, and revenue declines. In response, transit agencies are exploring innovative ways to engage with private partners to address these challenges.

It is within this context that transit agencies are considering ways to engage with private partners. Previous work on contracting consistently points to the need for positive, healthy relationships between the public agency and the private contractor to achieve the best outcomes for both parties, their workers, and the riding public. This is intuitive because when there is public and private alignment, the public interest is protected.

Findings

This report finds that the current state of public transit in many regions makes the need for positive relationships even more acute. Public agencies should be tightly aligned and collaborate with the contractor on workforce issues to ensure good transit service and outcomes. At the same time, the dynamic period for transit means that contracts should allow the private contractor the flexibility to innovate to solve new problems.

About the Eno Center for Transportation

Eno is an independent nonprofit that shapes public debate on critical multimodal transportation issues and builds a network of innovative and diverse transportation professionals. Eno has a long and proud history as an educator and thought leader on multimodal transportation issues. Founded in 1921 by traffic regulation pioneer William Phelps Eno, government and industry leaders rely on Eno for timely research and an independent voice on policy issues. Throughout Mr. Eno’s life, he emphasized the importance of education and training. Our professional development programs come from a legacy of building leadership skills within the transportation industry.