It’s safe to say that public-private partnerships, also known as P3s, have had a rocky history in the United States, with some major infrastructure projects costing cities more than anticipated or leaving them with questions over complex contracts.
But as officials are now confronted with the rapidly expanding ways people are moving throughout their cities (such as bikeshare, ride-hailing, and soon driverless vehicles, on top of already established road and transit networks), new wrinkles are being added to P3 conversations.
At last month’s policy summit of the Association for Commuter Transportation, transportation professionals from throughout the U.S. discussed ways they are navigating and undertaking P3 arrangements in their own jurisdictions.
Can on-demand companies spark more P3 agreements?
At the ACT meeting, most of the concern rested on the ability of city leaders to grapple with the fact that private companies like Uber and Lyft appear more nimble than the more traditional transit services the public sector typically offers, like subways, buses, carpools, and vanpools.
“There’s so much of the shared-use mobility innovation going on from the private sector. The Ubers and Lyfts are just going to come in and do things if we can’t partner with them and help ourselves not become irrelevant,” said Howard Jennings, Mobility Lab’s managing director.
“In Arlington, we’re looking at how all these services can come in and complement our existing transit. We need to allow a short form of procurement. How can we make ourselves more amenable for opening ourselves with the private sector?”
Jennings noted that Los Angeles Metro, for example, recently created an office of innovation and announced it was seeking ideas from the public, yielding a chorus of calls to get private entities involved in transportation improvements.
Publicly built, and privately operated
Joshua Schank, who heads L.A. Metro’s innovation efforts, told Mobility Lab recently, “The public sector did an admirable job when it came to all that amazing construction in the post-war period. But when it comes to operating that stuff, there’s a much better role for the private sector because, if you have competition involved, you’re able to come up with many more innovative service options.
“Uber, Lyft, Via and other companies are using public infrastructure with private operators to come up with innovative means of delivering people better access. That’s the kind of thing we need to be encouraging more,” Schank said.
So as new mobility options – like bikeshare, Uber, and, someday, driverless cars – enter the fold, old-school transit can still benefit.
Denver just opened a 23-mile train line from downtown to the international airport. Nearly 20,000 people are expected to ride the line on weekdays, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the 34-year “Eagle P3” operational agreement, that also covers the construction and operation of two more lines set to open later this year.
Denver’s new P3 rail line, named “University of Colorado A Line” as part of the Eagle P3 agreement.
In Virginia, the commonwealth opened in 2011 an Office of Public-Private Partnerships that looks to establish “a model for other U.S. states” in delivering transportation infrastructure improvements. The office cites a rate of $6 to $7 in private investment for every dollar the state contributes.
Making partnerships easier
Establishing better models for P3s should ultimately make it easier for jurisdictions to adopt such contracts. Jason Pavluchuk, ACT’s government affairs officer, said, “Once we create the models, we create the funding. Cities can offer curb space to companies like Zipcar and car2go in exchange for data, and these agreements can involve a simple MOU rather than some long drawn-out procurement process.”
Pavluchuk adds that data is crucial for transportation planning because, for example, cities don’t know the demographics of the people who are relying on ride-hailing to solve their first-/last-mile problem between transit and home or work. The public sector could gather information to help people determine which transportation options work best individually.
Other suggestions from the ACT panel included:
- Better branding efforts for P3s to ensure they are more recognizable
- ACT becoming more of a P3 resource for its members, helping public entities find and work with private service providers.
- Public agencies working closely with the Federal Transit Administration on its anticipated “Sandbox” grants for mobility-on-demand initiatives.
“Just getting the public sector to recognize that these options exist, transit payments need changing, is a good first step,” Pavluchuk said.
Startup hubs, another potential source for private connections
Business incubator 1776 has had part of its focus on this general bridge between the private and public sectors, particularly in the D.C. region. David Zipper, its managing director, spoke to ACT members about how 1776 chooses to foster innovative companies working in “life-critical, multi-trillion dollar sectors like cities, transportation, and energy that haven’t been transformed like retail … They are risk-averse sectors for good reason, because lives are at stake.”
Five years ago Zipper was an official in the D.C. Mayor’s Office, he said, and was “basically being reactionary” when a company he knew nothing about called Uber approached him as the city “was trying to shut the service down.”
According to Zipper, Ike Leggett, county executive of Montgomery County, Md., visited 1776 and saw one of its startups, TransitScreen (which started at Mobility Lab), whose screens he is now bringing to public buildings throughout the county.
“Before, there wasn’t that point for startups to come together with city officials,” Zipper said.
He encourages cities and startups to adopt more piloting and testing into their approaches: “do a little bit, get feedback, do a little more, get feedback.” Additionally, there are startup accelerators similar to 1776 in other cities – such as Pie and the Oregon Angel Fund in Portland, Ore.
In a broad sense, these resources open up potential private connections to cities, providing new avenues to help solve transportation issues. There is still plenty of room to strengthen P3 connections, which could improve urban spaces by strengthening active and public transportation networks.
Photo, top: A flyover bridge for Denver RTD light rail under construction in 2010 (Jeffrey Beall, Flickr, Creative Commons).