This guide outlines five practical strategies to help cities and transit agencies approach their next procurement - from evaluating a potential provider change to strengthening their competitive position at renewal.
For transit leaders and those supporting procurement, planning, or contract management, these strategies are designed to help you ask better questions and set a higher bar for performance.
Is it time to go to RFP?
Public transit contracts shape far more than service delivery. They influence whether your network improves over time, your technology keeps pace with rider expectations, and your community gets more value from every operating dollar. Yet many cities and transit agencies still rely on contract structures and procurement norms that create little incentive for innovation or continuous improvement.
If your transit contract renewal is approaching, the easiest path forward is to stay the course: same terms, same operator, minimal disruption. But in a world where technology, rider expectations, and travel patterns are evolving quickly, maintaining the status quo can come at a real cost.
Think about how much has changed in just the past five years. The way people work, how we travel and book services, and access information has been fundamentally reshaped by digital tools and on-demand expectations. For most residents, seamless, real-time service and information is no longer a novelty – it is the baseline.
Understandably, public transit has been slower to evolve. Many systems still operate within contract structures and service models designed for a different era. As communities grow and travel patterns shift, those assumptions can become harder to defend.
That is why a contract renewal should not be treated as a routine administrative exercise. It is a rare opportunity to reassess performance, strengthen accountability, invite new thinking, and ensure your transit system is positioned to evolve with your community over the long term.
This guide outlines five strategies to help you approach that process more strategically — whether you are preparing to go to market or simply want a stronger negotiating position.
Strategy 1: Align incentives with a turnkey contract model
Why this matters
Not all transit contracts are structured the same way — and the structure matters more than many cities or agencies realize until they are stuck in the wrong one. The most common model, a fee-based management contract, pays the operator a management fee on top of reimbursed costs. It is familiar, but it creates misaligned incentives: the operator has little financial reason to run leaner, grow ridership, or improve efficiency because they get paid regardless.
A turnkey model, in which the contractor receives an all-inclusive hourly rate covering operations, management, maintenance, software, and technology, changes that dynamic. The contractor assumes more risk, and efficiency becomes essential to protecting margins and delivering on your goals.
What to look for in a new RFP
- Define the full scope of work with clarity so that the all-inclusive rate is truly inclusive — no surprises, no scope creep, no invoices for things you assumed were covered.
- Build in performance incentives and penalties tied to measurable service outcomes: on-time performance, rider satisfaction, complaint volume, fleet cleanliness. These are not aspirational targets – they are contractual obligations.
- Require vendors to explain exactly how they will track, report on, and demonstrate performance. Transparency isn't a nice-to-have; it's how you maintain oversight and accountability throughout the contract term.
- Evaluate proposals on the full picture: cost, yes, but also demonstrated capability to integrate technology, innovate on service, and continuously improve operations over time.
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One fast-growing city faced rising operating costs while buses ran empty along major corridors. Its pass-through contract structure gave the operating partner little incentive to innovate.
After decades of partnership, the city issued a new RFP requesting measurable performance standards, integrated transit modes, technology-enabled rider experience, and a focus on growing ridership. Two years in, fixed-route ridership has increased 37%, residents have access to more than 50,000 additional jobs, and the city has not increased its operating budget. |
Strategy 2: Describe problems, seek solutions
Why this matters
The instinct when writing an RFP is to be specific: define the routes, specify the vehicles, describe the schedule. But highly prescriptive RFPs tend to produce generic responses — operators tell you what you asked for, not what you might actually need.
The strongest procurements come from those that resist the urge to over-specify and instead clearly define the problems they are trying to solve. Declining ridership in key corridors. A customer base concentrated in one demographic. Fleets aging faster than budgets can support. When vendors understand your real challenges, they can bring forward solutions informed by experience in other communities.
What to include in your RFP
- Share comprehensive data on current service performance — ridership by route, cost per trip, complaint categories, on-time rates, demographics. Vendors who have full context produce proposals that are grounded in your data.
- Require vendors to directly address your stated goals and explain how they would get there — not in vague terms, but with a specific, credible path.
- Avoid over-prescribing the solution. Leave room for vendors to propose approaches your team hasn't considered.
- Ask vendors to explain what they would do differently from your current provider — and why. Their answer tells you a lot about how seriously they engaged with your situation.
- Weight innovation at least 10% in your scoring criteria to encourage creative solutions.
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The traditional transit network in one midsize U.S. city was only connecting residents to 50% of local jobs. |
Strategy 3: Create clear accountability by integrating technology and operations
Why this matters
Transit agencies and cities that manage operations through one vendor and technology through another are often managing two sets of priorities that do not fully align. When something goes wrong, each party can point to the other, leaving the agency in the middle and riders waiting.
Modern transit is inseparable from its technology. Real-time dispatch, scheduling, rider apps, performance dashboards, and maintenance tracking are not add-ons – they are core to how the network functions. When technology and operations are managed by a single entity, accountability is clearer and the system works as an integrated whole rather than a set of disconnected parts.
Technology also increasingly defines the rider experience. Tools like real-time vehicle tracking and mobile ticketing are no longer luxuries; they are essential to retaining current riders and attracting new ones.
What to look for in your RFP
- Audit your current technology stack before drafting the RFP. Know what's working, what isn't, and what you need the new system to interoperate with or replace.
- Require vendors to describe their technology platform in full — not just what it does today, but how it evolves over time and how updates are managed without service disruption.
- Ask for specifics on rider-facing tools: trip planning, real-time tracking, mobile payment, accessibility features. Evaluate these as critically as you would operational capabilities.
- Evaluate vendors based on their experience integrating technology across multi-modal systems — not just whether they have a platform or use a sub-contractor, but whether they've deployed it successfully at comparable scale.
- Make sure you understand whether ongoing software enhancements are included, or require addenda and extra fees.
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A transit agency replaced legacy paratransit software that was falling short on performance targets and delivering a fragmented digital rider experience. |
Strategy 4: Leverage vendor experience in network design
Why this matters
Your current network was likely designed for a community that looked different from the one you serve today. Populations have shifted, housing has expanded, and employment centers have moved. Yet most transit networks evolve incrementally — adding a stop here or extending a route there — rather than being reconsidered holistically.
Procurement is one of the few moments when you can ask a different question: not just who will operate your existing routes, but who can help you thoughtfully reshape the network itself. Experienced transit partners have seen what works across many communities. They understand where fixed-route service alone falls short, where last-mile solutions can close gaps, and how a redesigned network can serve more residents for the same or lower cost.
What to look for in your RFP
- Ask bidders to propose how they would modernize your network — not just maintain it. Require them to show how their design improves coverage and efficiency without exceeding your current operating budget.
- Look for proposals that address how fixed-route, on-demand, and paratransit work together as a cohesive system, not three separate services that happen to share a logo yet require different technology.
- Consider whether the procurement is an opportunity to introduce new service models — microtransit, commingling, first/last mile connections — that could reach residents your current network doesn't serve cost-effectively or doesn’t reach at all.
- Ask for examples from comparable communities. A vendor who claims they can redesign your network should be able to point to cities where they've done it and demonstrate the actual results.
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A growing regional transit provider undertook a holistic network redesign to better adapt service to seasonal demand shifts and long-term community growth. |
Strategy 5: Build for long-term success, not just day-one operations
Why this matters
A transit contract is not just a purchase of bus operations. It is a strategic partnership — one that can expand your team’s capacity, bring community engagement and marketing expertise, and help your agency stay ahead of changing needs rather than react to them.
Many agencies and cities sign contracts that cover the operational basics and little more. They then spend the contract term wishing they had support to grow ridership, communicate with residents and stakeholders, or shape a longer-term vision. By the time renewal arrives, the system is often in much the same place — only more expensive.
Value-added services are not extras. They are often the difference between a transit system that stays stagnant and one that becomes a source of community pride.
What to look for in your RFP
- Require a dedicated public engagement, marketing, and ridership growth strategy as part of the contract scope. Not a one-time launch campaign — an ongoing, multi-channel effort to attract new riders and retain existing ones.
- Ask for community outreach and rider education support, particularly around service changes, new technology, and accessibility. You can have the best network in the region and still struggle if residents don't know how to use it.
- Prioritize partners who offer consultative planning and system design support — regular data reviews, network performance analysis, and forward-looking recommendations for how the system should evolve over the next three to five years.
- Evaluate the vendor's community relations capabilities. When a new transit system launches, or when service dramatically improves, that's a story worth telling. A partner who can help you tell that story makes the investment more defensible and more visible.
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A network redesign was paired with a comprehensive, multi-channel marketing and community engagement strategy designed to grow ridership and expand the customer base. |
Making the decision to go to RFP
Going to RFP is not easy. It takes internal resources, careful planning, and a desire to manage a competitive procurement process. For smaller cities and agencies, it can feel disproportionate to the scale of the contract. For managers with competing priorities, it's one more thing on an already full plate.
But consider what a well-run competitive procurement actually provides: a clear picture of what is possible within your budget, more thoughtful responses to your local needs, and a rare opportunity to set a higher standard for what transit can deliver to your community.
You do not need a perfect RFP to create a better outcome. You need the willingness to ask better questions, set a higher standard, and use this rare window of leverage to build a transit system that can keep evolving with your community.
Seeking support for your next RFP?
Contact Via for strategic guidance to get the most from your next transit investment.
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