The major social welfare benefit of PPPs is their ability to expedite the delivery of transit facilities and services and to reduce capital and operating costs so that these benefits can be generated in a timelier manner at the same or lower overall costs. Transit projects and services that can be accelerated at reasonable cost by the use of PPPs enable residents of the area to enjoy such benefits as improved mobility and reduced energy consumption, air pollution, and congestion on adjacent highways more quickly.
Continuing to provide social benefits through the availability of transit services is a major reason that public transportation systems in the United States and elsewhere around the world consume significantly more revenues than are provided directly by user charges, even with private sector operations. This is a major reason that the achievable goal of transit PPPs is "subsidy minimization," not "profit maximization," with the sponsor agency retaining the responsibility for protecting the public interest through conscientiously administering the PPP contract to hold the private partner accountable for the level of services specified in the agreement.