Get it in writing
Along with providing a sense of stability, contracts can also give transport operators a financial advantage. This has already been demonstrated in Dubrovnic, which formalised its public transport agreement in 2004 under pressure from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). There, the local transport company Libertas Dubrovnik had applied for a EUR 7.5 million loan to buy a fleet of buses, and the bank said it would approve the loan only if Libertas had an operating contract with the mayor's office.
In fact, it was also EBRD that spurred ZET to get a contract. The company had gone to the EBRD for credit to buy a new fleet of low-floor, articulated trams, and during due diligence the bank took note that ZET did not have a contract.
"The EBRD looked at everything: our budgets, our assets, our staffing and so on," said Valasek. "They insisted they wouldn't make a loan unless we had a proper contract with the city."
