Various forms of competition in the delivery of public transport services have been developed in the last 20 years. This competition has been 'on-road', with multiple operators on the same route, and 'off-road', through tendering for exclusive contracts on a route or network basis.

Using case studies, this training material covers the rationale for introducing such competition and the various approaches taken. It also addresses the issues of trying to achieve efficiencies in the cost of operating services while trying to improve the quality of public transport services through appropriate organisational measures.