BACKGROUND
Transportation agencies of all sizes throughout North America are being fundamentally challenged to plan, operate, finance, and manage their activities in different ways. Agencies are increasingly expected to pursue greater efficiency/effectiveness, greater transparency and public accountability, as well as support non-transportation goals. Meeting these expectations, however, may require transformation from current institutional structures and business models. The forces of change were well documented in the Transit Cooperative Research Program’s “New Paradigms for Local Public Transportation Organizations” work completed for the transit industry in the late 1990s. At that time, the study teams recognized pressures for a greater role in mobility management, profound demographic shifts and higher consumer expectations, new technological opportunities, and the multi-jurisdictional/regional context of the challenges facing communities extending well beyond the traditional silos and institutional structures of existing transport agencies and their key stakeholders. These forces have continued and expanded in scope, but an agency’s ability to respond has often been constrained and inhibited in part by a lack of information about the mechanisms for and dynamics of successful change. There are, however, useful industry experiences and case studies to be found, documented, and analyzed for consideration, evaluation, and possible emulation. Such information would be immensely useful to transportation agencies and policymakers throughout the country.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this research was to identify and document successful agency approaches that have transformed public transportation business models and institutional structures to better serve current mobility needs and support long-term community visions. The research examined transportation agency experience that has the potential for emulation. It identified factors that enabled agencies to implement changes that led to improved transportation service delivery while responding to changes in the business and regional context in which those agencies operate. The intended audience for this research is senior executives of transportation agencies, board members and governing officials, participants in leadership training, and others.
