Abstract: This paper addresses private sector involvement in the delivery of public transport. It is part of a larger project to investigate the question: What should government control in a “privatised” urban public transport system in order to safeguard the public interest? The paper will outline the evaluative framework being prepared to analyse three case studies of cities that have pursued the privatisation of public transport provision. Public values we expect governments to protect in transport will be identified. The paper investigates various methodologies to evaluate social benefits in a privatised public transport model and adapt them to provide a Public Value evaluative framework to compare the ability to innovate and more effectively deliver on those public values. The framework enables different examplars to be compared on their ability to deliver various social benefits. The public values are: social inclusion, economic development, safety and congestion, environment, public administration, quality, and value for money.