Transforming the public transport sector in the Philippines through service contracts: A program evaluation study

We evaluate two schemes of service contracting (SC) program implemented for the first time in the Philippines: gross-cost and net-cost. Using an automatic vehicle location (AVL) dataset generated using a mobile application, we examine the supply and performance of jeepney, a form of paratransit, on 20 routes during the pandemic. Ten of these routes are under gross-cost, and the other ten are under net-cost. Our evaluation suggests that gross-cost SC has resulted in more kilometer-run travelled, more arrivals at the stop, shorter headway duration, which are indicative of increased supply, compared to net-cost. However, we obtain mixed results for metrics associated with performance (headway regularity, dwell time and route compliance) for gross- and net- cost. We recommend that for SC to maximize its impact and raise performance, the government should set standards on metrics associated with fleet management and enforce strict compliance. Since SC is typically applied for the management of formal public transport, our work represents a novel contribution on the application of SC on the management of paratransit in the Global South.