Strategies for Tackling Bus System Challenges in 2025

Kwadwo Atta Explores 5 Best Practices in APTA’s Passenger Transport Magazine

Public transportation agencies have faced a challenging and changing environment in recent years, with major shifts in ridership, public expectations and revenue. Despite the hurdles, transit remains a critical service for communities, and bus systems, in particular, provide important opportunities to address these challenges. 

Kwadwo Atta is HDR’s southeast transit leader and has more than two decades of public and private sector experience as an industry expert in rail, streetcar and bus rapid transit project planning, design, program management and construction management. Writing in Passenger Transport, the magazine of the American Public Transportation Association, Atta recently shared five strategies that bus system owners can implement to set a strong foundation for future success. They included improving business intelligence, using program management contracts, seeking state and local funding, prioritizing community engagement and re-examining revenue streams. 

“The bus mode — whether traditional fixed route, enhanced, flexible routing, or BRT — is a valuable tool to address these challenges head on,” Atta wrote. “It is impossible to know exactly what the future will hold. But implementing these strategies can set the right foundation for success and help bus systems continue serving riders well for decades into the future.”

Read the whole article, “Driving Bus System Success,” in the April 2025 issue of Passenger Transport.