Most transit agencies did not turn to contracting out services in response to the fiscal pressures of the Great Recession

The Great Recession of 2007 – 2009 put financial pressure on transit agencies from declining fees and state allocations. In new research, Olga V. Smirnova and Suzanne Leland look at whether or not the agencies responded to these financial pressures by contracting out services. Using national survey data from 2009, 2011 and 2013, they found that this was not the case. Transit agencies, they argue, are path-dependent in their contracting out decisions; they are influenced by both political and economic factors.