The 2025 State of Public Transportation Report reveals driver safety, recruitment and retention is the top priority while the adoption of AI technologies is slow.
The majority (95 per cent) of public transportation organisations say they have explored artificial intelligence (AI) but only eight per cent are actively using it, according to a report. Meanwhile autonomous bus trials continue to make headlines, but the technology ranked as the least popular area of investment.
The findings are revealed in the 2025 State of Public Transportation Report by Optibus, the end-to-end software specialist platform for public transportation planning and operations.
Public transportation planning
The report aims to provide a snapshot of the current state of public transportation planning, highlighting the most pressing issues, emerging trends, and areas of opportunity. The survey targeted organisations with fleets of 20 or more vehicles or those involved in public transportation operations without a direct fleet.
It surveyed 231 senior professionals across key operational and strategic roles, including heads of scheduling, heads of planning, CIOs, COOs, innovation managers and fleet and depot managers.
The key findings include:
- Driver safety and retention: this is the top priority for 36 per cent of public transportation organisations. In some regions, such as the UK, Germany, and Austria, this figure rises to 45 per cent, highlighting the urgency of addressing driver-related concerns. Retention and recruitment are cited as the biggest workforce challenges by 49 per cent of respondents, while 37 per cent emphasise driver safety as a major concern. To address these issues, 48 per cent of agencies are exploring real-time shift adjustment tools and 37 per cent are investing in driver safety technologies.
- Electrification: nearly 90 per cent of respondents consider the transition to zero-emission fleets as at least “moderately important”. Within the next five years, electrification will become a critical goal or top priority for the vast majority of survey respondents. Despite mounting regulatory pressure and sustainability commitments, 80 per cent cite infrastructure delays as a key challenge, alongside funding shortages and regulatory hurdles.
- Real-time monitoring: this is the number one planned investment among planned technology investments, ranking as the top priority with 43 per cent of respondents. The lack of real-time tools already contributes to financial losses, with 48 per cent of agencies reporting moderate losses and 20 per cent experiencing significant financial strain due to delays in operational responses. Investments in real-time monitoring aim to enhance service reliability, optimise fleet performance, and improve the experience for both drivers and passengers.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): while 96 per cent of respondents have explored AI, full adoption remains slow, with only six per cent actively using it across multiple areas and seeing measurable benefits and two per cent in advanced AI adoption, saying it has transformed how they work. Thirty-six per cent are planning to invest in it. This gap between exploration and investment underscores key barriers such as implementation challenges, integration complexities, and difficulties in measuring return-on-investment.
“The report highlights EV infrastructure, driver recruitment and retention, and real-time monitoring as some of the biggest challenges and priorities for the public transportation industry in 2025 – and likely beyond,” said an Optibus spokesperson. “Addressing these issues will require collaboration across the industry, with strong partnerships between local governments, transportation operators, and technology and utility providers playing a key role in the path forward.
“Investing in technology-driven solutions and workforce initiatives will shape the future of public transportation.”
Download the ebook The 2025 State of Public Transportation Report by Optibus.
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Quelle/Source: Smart Cities World, 27.02.2025
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