A review of general practice in contracting public transport services and transfer to BRT systems

Abstract

Public transport is defined and structured in a wide variety of contractual practices, particularly the way authorities divide regulatory powers upon public transport, the way funding is organised, the ownership and transport operators' structure, the nature of the relationship between authorities and operators and the type of regulatory regime.Through a large set of public transport service contracts covering the most practices on Public Service Obligations across world, this paper provides a review of general practice in contracting for public transport services, bus rapid transit systems as well. This database covers around 50 contracts, including contracts set up under various institutional regimes, with various forms of risk allocation and many kinds of awarding procedures. There are also a wide set of different institutional arrangements models for BRT implementation and operation and a growing interest in developing these agreements with the private sector. Thus, it is important understand how the planning, procurement, contracts, quality payments, management and other dimensions of BRT are different from how it is done for conventional bus services.More case studies collection will improve the research and the findings achieved; namely contractual arrangements for BRT systems.