APPENDIX D

Survey Questionnaire

Note: This appendix contains a Word-formatted export of the online survey. The export does not exactly reflect the appearance of the online survey but does accurately present the design and wording of survey questions and conditional logic. Question numbers are displayed but not necessarily sequential due to both conditional logic and the order in which the questions were added to the survey design. The export does not exactly reflect the appearance of the survey letter, which is in CRP synthesis style.

The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) is conducting a study for the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP). The project, TCRP Synthesis SG-20: “Performance Metrics in Third Party Contracts for Bus Operations and Maintenance,” is studying:

• The nature and extent of contractual arrangements,
• Reasons and decision-making processes for outsourcing (or insourcing), and
• Methods and measures for contractor accountability.

For the purpose of this research [study], contracting out fixed route bus operations is defined as when a public transit agency has a written agreement with another entity (private or public, for-profit or not-for-profit) under which the other entity operates fixed route bus revenue service (i.e., at least provides the operators) in exchange for payment. Some contracts may include additional outsourced functions like vehicle maintenance, scheduling, and dispatching. This survey will use the terms contracted out and outsourced interchangeably.

We anticipate that the information gained through this survey and the subsequent case studies [case examples] will be useful to transit agencies that are currently outsourcing or are considering doing so. The research [study] will be summarized in a forthcoming TCRP Synthesis report.

This survey will take about 15 minutes and should be completed by February 25, 2022. Your answers will be saved every time you advance to the next page of the survey. If you return to the survey later using the unique invitation link provided to you, you will be able to continue where you left off. You are encouraged to collaborate with colleagues at your transit agency to complete the survey.

The information you provide in response to this survey will be synthesized with information collected from other transit agencies that contract out fixed route bus services. Your answers will be confidential to the extent possible. Your participation in the survey is voluntary, and you can quit at any time without penalty.

If you have questions, concerns, or complaints regarding this survey or the research project, you may contact Michael Walk. You may be contacted by the team after the survey is complete to help clarify your answers or obtain additional information.

Q2 Do you agree to participate in this survey?

Yes (1)

No (2)

End of Block: Intro

Start of Block: Block 1A

Q48 Do you currently contract out any fixed route bus revenue operations?

Yes (1)

No, but have in the last 5 years (2)

No (3)

End of Block: Block 1A

Start of Block: Block 1B

Q4 Are you able to provide some insights into why you switched to insourcing fixed route bus revenue operations?

Yes (1)

No (2)

Q5 Briefly describe the switch from outsourcing to insourcing—in particular, when and why you changed to insourcing and how the transition went. If a particular analysis was performed, please describe the analysis. For example, an agency might have conducted a cost-benefit analysis comparing an insourcing and an outsourcing scenario.

Q6 Are you able to provide details about your most recent contractual arrangement for fixed-route bus operations? For example, the performance measures, transit functions outsourced, and payment structures?

Yes (1)

No (2)

End of Block: Block 1B

Start of Block: Block 2

Q7

NATURE OF CONTRACTUAL ARRANGEMENTS

This section asks about the nature of your agency’s current (or most recently terminated) contract for outsourcing fixed route bus operations. Please answer the questions based on your agency’s current or most recently terminated contract. We realize that contractual arrangements can be complex, and our questions and provided options may not capture all potential realities, so feel free to add your own options where it is allowed.

Q8 Note: Your previous answers indicate that you’ve switched to insourced operations, so please answer the questions based on your most recent contracting arrangement(s). The questions will be present tense, but remember we’re asking you about the past!

Q9 What amount of your fixed route bus revenue operations is outsourced?

A single route (1)

A set of routes (2)

A single garage (out of multiple garages) (3)

Multiple garages (but not all) (6)

Some other portion (please describe) (4)

All fixed route bus service (5)

Q49 What amount of your fixed route bus vehicle maintenance is outsourced?

A single route (1)

A set of routes (2)

A single garage (out of multiple garages) (3)

Multiple garages (but not all) (4)

Some other portion (please describe) (5)

All fixed route bus maintenance (6)

None (maintenance is performed in-house) (7)

Q50 About what percentage of your fixed route bus vehicle maintenance is outsourced (in terms of vehicles)? Type the number only, without the percentage sign.

Q11 How many different contractors provide your outsourced fixed route bus operations?

1 (1)

2 (2)

3 (3)

4 (4)

5 (5)

More than 5 (6)

Q12 What type of entity is the contractor(s)?

	Private for-profit (1)	Private not-for-profit (2)	Another public transit agency (3)	Other public entity (4)
Contractor 1 (1)
Contractor 2 (2)
Contractor 3 (3)
Contractor 4 (4)
Contractor 5 (5)

Q47 You indicated earlier that more than 5 contractors provide your outsourced fixed route bus operations. Please list the contractors not represented in the table directly above and identify if each is a private for-profit entity, a private not-for-profit entity, another public transit agency, or another public entity.

Q13 Fixed route bus service requires additional support functions. For your outsourced fixed route bus operations, what additional functions are provided by the contractor (in whole or in part)? Select all that apply.

Executive management (1)

Administration (e.g., payroll and accounting) (2)

Scheduling (3)

Planning (4)

Dispatching (radio room) (5)

Street supervision (6)

Call center (7)

Passenger information (e.g., sending notices and alerts) (8)

In-person customer service or ticket sales (9)

Providing revenue vehicles (contractor uses own vehicles) (10)

Providing operations and maintenance facilities (contractor uses own facilities) (11)

Other (please describe) (12)

None (13)

Q14 The next three questions are about the contract that accounts for the majority (or all) of your outsourced fixed route bus operations.

Q15 How long has the current contract been in effect (from date of award)?

Q16 What is the duration of the contract including option periods?

Q17 How many renewal options are included (i.e., how many times can the contract be extended)?

Q18 What payment structures are used in your contract? Select all that apply.

Fee per revenue hour or mile (1)

Fee per vehicle hour or mile (2)

Fee per bus per a time period (3)

Fee per day / week / month / year (4)

Fee per mechanic or maintenance hour (5)

Additional admin or overhead fee or rate (6)

Cost pass-through (you pay all costs of the contractor) (7)

Other (please describe) (8)

End of Block: Block 2

Start of Block: Block 3

Q19 REASONS FOR OUTSOURCING

Q20 What were the main reasons that you originally started outsourcing fixed route bus operations? Select all that apply.

Reduce operating cost (1)

Increase service cost efficiency or effectiveness (2)

Improve service quality (3)

Increase service flexibility (e.g., faster changes or improvements) (4)

Lack of staff capability (5)

Lack of staff capacity (not enough people) (6)

Needed quick new service start-up (7)

Historical or political reasons (8)

Other (please describe) (9)

Don’t know (10)

Q21 What analysis did you initially do to help decide to begin outsourcing instead of insourcing (in addition to any required by federal law)? Select all that apply.

Compare operational costs (e.g., operating cost per hour) (1)

Compare capital costs (cost of vehicles and facilities) (2)

Compare fully-loaded costs (e.g., operating and capital cost per hour) (3)

Staffing analysis (e.g., staff needed under an insourced vs. outsourced operation) (4)

Other (please describe) (5)

Did not perform an analysis (6)

Don’t know (7)

Q22 What are the main reasons that you continue to outsource? Select all that apply.

Service cost efficiency or effectiveness (1)

Service quality (2)

Service flexibility (e.g., faster changes or improvements) (3)

Lack of staff capability (4)

Lack of staff capacity (not enough people) (5)

Need quick new service start-up (6)

Historical or political reasons (7)

Other (please describe) (8)

Don’t know (9)

Q23 What analysis do you do to help decide to continue outsourcing instead of insourcing (in addition to any required by law)? Select all that apply.

Compare operational costs (e.g., operating cost per hour) (1)

Compare fully-loaded costs (e.g., operating and capital cost per hour) (2)

Staffing analysis (e.g., staff needed under an insourced vs. outsourced operation) (3)

Other (please describe) (4)

Do not perform an analysis (5)

Don’t know (6)

End of Block: Block 3

Start of Block: Block 4

Q24 CONTRACTOR ACCOUNTABILITY

The following questions ask how you monitor the contractor providing fixed route bus operations and how you measure and ensure performance. Q26 was removed from the final survey design.

Q25

Look at the list of potential contracted service operational performance measures below. Indicate how frequently you monitor each one. Monitoring refers to evaluating a performance statistic (e.g., on-time performance) against some goal, standard, or historical or cross-sectional trend. (Please answer based on your regular current processes and NOT what you’d like to do or should be doing.)

If your monitoring is less frequent than quarterly, please select Not monitored.

If you also outsource maintenance, those performance measures will appear in a later question.

Q27 For each of the operational performance measures you monitor, please provide the details requested in the table below.

	Explicitly mentioned in contract?		Associated with contractual incentive or penalty?		Who calculates the measure?
	Yes (1)	No (2)	Yes (1)	No (2)	Contractor (1)	Us (2)
Schedule adherence (enroute on-time performance) (1)
Headway adherence or headway reliability (2)
Pull-out adherence (on-time pull outs) (3)
First time point on-time performance (4)
Missed trips or blocks (or % service operated) (5)
Complaint rate (6)
Complaint response time (7)
Customer satisfaction (8)
Overcrowding (9)

Q55 Would you like to describe any additional contracted service operational performance measures?

Yes (1)

No (2)

Q56 Describe the additional operational performance measures in the box below. Please include how often the measure if [is] monitored, whether the measure is specifically mentioned in the contract, whether the measure is associated with any performance incentives or penalties, and who calculates the measure.

Q28 Look at the list of potential contracted service maintenance performance measures below. Indicate how frequently you monitor each one. Monitoring refers to evaluating a performance statistic (e.g., on-time performance) against some goal, standard, or historical or cross-sectional trend. (Please answer based on your regular current processes and NOT what you’d like to do or should be doing.)

If your monitoring is less frequent than quarterly, please select Not monitored.

Q29 For each of the maintenance performance measures you monitor, please provide the details requested in the table below.

	Explicitly mentioned in contract?		Associated with contractual incentive or penalty?		Who calculates the measure?
	Yes (1)	No (2)	Yes (1)	No (2)	Contractor (1)	Us (2)
Distance between mechanical failures (1)
Fleet availability (% of buses available for service) (2)
Road calls (3)
Road call response time (4)
Preventative maintenance inspection on-time performance (5)
Maintenance cost per mile / bus (6)
Repeat mechanical failure rates (buses with a repeated problem) (7)
Farebox failure rates (8)

Q53 Would you like to describe any additional contracted service maintenance performance measures?

Yes (1)

No (2)

Q54 Describe the additional maintenance performance measures in the box below. Please include how often the measure if [is] monitored, whether the measure is specifically mentioned in the contract, whether the measure is associated with any performance incentives or penalties, and who calculates the measure.

Q30 Does the contract(s) have any language that requires contractor-provided data and/or reports to be correct? That is, does the contract stipulate that the contractor must provide you with accurate data and reports?

Yes, with associated penalties / incentives (1)

Yes, but no associated penalties / incentives (2)

No (3)

Q31 Do you have regular, ongoing (at least annual) procedures to check contractor-provided performance measure data for accuracy?

Yes, for all measures provided by contractor(s) (1)

Yes, for some measures provided by contractor(s) (2)

Not applicable (we calculate all performance measures) (3)

No (4)

Q32 Please describe your regular, ongoing procedures to check contractor-provided performance measure data for accuracy.

Q33 Do you have dedicated in-house staff who supervise and/or provide pro-active oversight of contractor-provided fixed route bus revenue operations (e.g., reviewing performance measures, performing field supervision, etc.)?

Yes, for all revenue service provided by contractor(s) (1)

Yes, for some revenue service provided by contractor(s) (2)

No (3)

Q34 Do you have dedicated in-house staff who supervise and/or provide pro-active oversight of contractor-provided fixed route bus vehicle maintenance (e.g., reviewing performance measures, performing follow-on inspections, etc.)?

Yes, for all vehicle maintenance provided by contractor(s) (1)

Yes, for some vehicle revenue service provided by contractor(s) (2)

No (3)

Q35 Do the in-house staff dedicated to supervising and/or providing pro-active oversight of fixed route bus operations and/or maintenance have adequate time to perform their oversight duties?

Yes (1)

Some of the time (2)

No (3)

Q36 Please describe why the dedicated oversight staff do not have adequate time to perform their oversight duties.

Q37 Do you use a “secret shopper” or similar spot-check program as part of efforts to monitor contractor performance?

Yes, for all revenue service provided by contractor(s) (1)

Yes, for some revenue service provided by contractor(s) (2)

No (3)

End of Block: Block 4

Start of Block: Block 5

Q38 GENERAL INFORMATION

Q39 Overall, how satisfied are you with your agency’s outsourcing of fixed route bus operations and/or maintenance?

	Very satisfied (1)	Somewhat satisfied (2)	Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied (3)	Somewhat dissatisfied (4)	Very dissatisfied (5)	Not applicable (6)
Operations (1)
Maintenance (2)

Q40 What are the most important benefits you’ve achieved from contracting out fixed route bus operations?

Q41 What are the most significant challenges you’ve experienced from contracting out fixed-route bus operations?

Q42 Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your experience with contracting out fixed-route bus operations?

End of Block: Block 5

Start of Block: Block 6

Q43 RESPONDENT INFORMATION

Q44 Please provide the name of your agency and your contact information.

Agency Name: (1) ________________________________________________

Main Service Area: (2) ________________________________________________

State: (3) ________________________________________________

Your Name: (4) ________________________________________________

Phone Number: (5) ________________________________________________

E-mail Address: (6) ________________________________________________

Q51

You have reached the end of the survey. YOU MUST CLICK SUBMIT BELOW to submit your responses. Once you click SUBMIT, you cannot edit prior responses without contacting the team.

End of Block: Block 6