Workshop 2B report: Governance of relationships between authorities and operators with particular reference to situations of fundamental change

Contracting public transport services is one of the traditional topics in the Thredbo conference series. Nine papers were presented in this workshop, leading to in-depth discussions on a better contracting framework for informal sectors and on improving stakeholder relationships. The evidence from papers in this workshop fell broadly into three areas. The first considered contracting frameworks to formalise and better organise the informal passenger transport (IPT) sectors, the second discussed contracting issues on resource and pricing strategies, and the third looked at contracting issues for innovative services. In addition to the detail provided by the evidence in the papers, the workshop discussions identified a trade-off relationship between many aspects of the tendering processes and broadly defined stakeholder relationships. The workshop developed five areas for further research: review mechanisms across regions, settings, and disciplines; stakeholder relationships in contracting and concessions; the importance of social outcomes of contracted/concessioned services; quantifying the informal sector; and innovation.