AN OBJECTIVE APPROACH TO THE TRANSIT SERVICE CONTRACTING DECISION

Maintenance and administrative functions are commonly contracted by transit systems throughout the United States; however, the contracting of transit operations is less common and somewhat controversial. A continuous debate has emerged, with both advocates and opponents working to develop supporting arguments for and against the contracting of service delivery. More often than not, decisions regarding transit service contracting are made for political reasons. With this in mind, an objective decision making process for assessing the feasibility of contracting transit system functions and activities is presented in this paper. This process should prove useful to transit systems that have made the decision to seriously consider contracting alternatives.