A proposal was presented to assess the incapacity risk of commercial vehicles performing transport tasks under market conditions. The risk assessment model in the form of cost was used, which is based on the determination of operational efficiency, referring the probable costs of ensuring the reliability of the transport system to the estimated threshold income. It includes costs: incidental repairs, unplanned downtime and resulting from the presumed loss of client’s trust. Operational research were carried out on a group of several dozen vehicles, registering their operational states during several years of use. The results of the research confirmed the suitability of the incapacity risk model for predicting potential expenses for guarantee the vehicle’s continuity of running in the company and to verify the selection of the vehicle brand and the period of use.

The paper describes operational efficiency research of city buses from two manufacturers during the 6 years of operation under real conditions. The presented operational efficiency assessment model includes unplanned incidental repairs costs, downtime costs, as well as the likelihood of losing customer-passenger’s trust. The results of the efficiency calculations were used to estimate the expected costs of buses’ incapacity risk. It has been demonstrated that the operational efficiency and incapacity risk costs can be a criterion for the optimal period of operation, as well as the criterion of comparison of bus makes in a transport company.

The development of public transport systems presently focuses on sustainability. In this situation, the issue of user (passenger) migration has become important to the transport company as a service provider. This paper presents an integrated model of the operational risk of vehicle incapacity, including the following: costs of incidental repairs, costs of unplanned downtime and costs resulting from potential user migration. The paper presents the results of operational research on buses of two makes over a period of 6 years, in the mileage range of 0–420 000 km. The authors have determined the risk as a regression function of operational mileage to estimate the optimum life cycle. The quality of the vehicle was assessed using the criterion of the maximum cost of the operational incapacity risk being equal to the current residual value of the vehicle. The research results confirmed the suitability of the integrated risk model for a comparison of vehicle makes and assessment of their reasonably foreseeable life cycle in a balanced carrier-vehicleuser system.