Public Transit Records Request Form

Public transit agencies collect extensive data on operations, safety, and service quality—and as a taxpayer, researcher, or advocate, you have the right to access it. This Public Transit Records Request Form template helps you submit formal requests for ridership statistics, on-time performance metrics, safety incident reports and other public records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or your state's open records law.

Whether you're a journalist investigating service quality, a researcher analyzing transit patterns, a community advocate pushing for accountability, or a business conducting market analysis, this template streamlines the entire records request process. Instead of drafting letters or navigating unclear agency portals, you can submit a professional, compliant request that clearly specifies what you need and why.

Built with Paperform, this template gives transit authorities a modern, accessible way to receive and process public records requests. Conditional logic guides requesters through the right questions based on the type of records they're seeking, while built-in calculations can estimate processing fees upfront based on agency fee schedules. Submissions flow directly into your workflow—whether that's a tracking spreadsheet, case management system, or email notification to your records officer.

For agencies managing multiple requests, you can connect this form to Stepper to automate acknowledgment emails, assign requests to the right department, track deadlines and send status updates—all without manual intervention. This ensures compliance with statutory response timelines while reducing administrative burden on your team.

The form is designed to be clear and accessible for any member of the public, while capturing the specific details your agency needs to process requests efficiently—request type, date ranges, preferred format, fee waiver justifications and contact information. You can customize fee structures, add agency-specific fields, or embed the form directly on your transit authority's website for a seamless experience.

With Paperform's SOC 2 Type II compliance and secure data handling, you can trust that sensitive request information is protected. The form works beautifully on any device, making it easy for the public to submit requests from anywhere, and easy for your team to stay on top of transparency obligations.