# Transportation Service Provider > Transportation Service Provider means an entity primarily responsible for providing passenger transportation in vehicles or offering related software **Term:** Transportation Service Provider **Last updated:** 2026-07-29 ## Definition ## What Transportation Service Provider Means in a Contract A Transportation Service Provider is the contracting party tasked with delivering passenger or freight movement, or with furnishing the technology that enables such movement, such as booking platforms, fleet management software, or telematics hardware. The definition is used to anchor obligations around vehicle operation, driver conduct, scheduling, and service reliability to a specific counterparty in the agreement. This term commonly appears alongside definitions of the customer or platform operator, creating a clear division between the entity that physically or technologically enables transport and the party that receives or resells the service. Contracts use this designation to allocate operational responsibility distinctly from administrative or payment obligations. Because the definition can cover both traditional carriers and technology intermediaries, drafters must be careful that the scope matches the actual business model being documented, whether that is a bus operator, a ride-hailing platform, or a supplier of route-optimization software. ## How Transportation Service Provider Is Defined or Measured Most agreements measure the role by reference to the functions performed rather than by industry label alone. Typical defining criteria include operational control over vehicles, employment or engagement of drivers, ownership or licensing of transportation-related software, and responsibility for regulatory compliance such as vehicle safety inspections or driver certification. Performance under this role is frequently tracked using service metrics similar to those found in a