What Nelson Nygaard does

Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates is a transportation planning and engineering consulting firm founded in 1987 and headquartered in San Francisco, operating as a subsidiary of global design firm Perkins&Will. The firm employs 170+ planners, engineers, data scientists, and designers across 15 offices in the United States and Canada, serving three primary client segments: cities/towns/regions, transit providers, and campuses/developments. It claims the largest dedicated transit planning team in the industry.

Core offerings span multimodal planning, safety action plans, active transportation, parking and curb management, transportation demand management (TDM), and transit priority work. The firm has developed proprietary analytical tools including the Bus Delay Analysis Tool (BDAT), which uses automated vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger count (APC) data to visualize segment-level transit delays, and an Interactive Route Profile Dashboard that replaces static route evaluations with dynamic visualizations. Notable engagements include SEPTA's Bus Revolution comprehensive bus network redesign, TransLink's Bus Speed + Reliability Report identifying 20 priority corridors in the Vancouver region, MBTA's Bus Priority Toolkit, and TDM programs for OHSU and Expedia Group.

Revenue is generated through project-based consulting contracts secured primarily via competitive procurement with government agencies, transit authorities, universities, and corporate campuses. The firm delivers professional engineering services in California and Illinois through a wholly-owned subsidiary, NN Engineering, Inc., to comply with state licensing requirements, and maintains engineering licensure across more than 25 US jurisdictions. Customer logos span Tier-1 US and Canadian transit agencies (SEPTA, MBTA, TriMet, King County Metro, TransLink, CapMetro) and large institutional clients (OHSU, Western Michigan University, Expedia Group).

Name

Nelson Nygaard

Legal name

Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates, Inc.

Website

https://nelsonnygaard.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Nelson\Nygaard is a US-based transportation planning and engineering consulting firm founded in 1987, serving municipalities, transit agencies, universities, and corporate campuses across 15 offices in the US and Canada. It is a subsidiary of Perkins&Will and employs 170+ planners, engineers, and data scientists.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Transportation Planning Consulting

NAICS

Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services (5413), Support Activities for Transportation (488)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711), Transportation Services (4700), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Transportation & Traffic Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Transportation & Infrastructure Planning (BPAHAKAF)

Keywords

• Transportation planning services
• Transit consulting
• Mobility planning
• Multimodal engineering
• Transportation demand management

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices14 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Professional Planning and Engineering Consulting Services: Nelson\Nygaard generates revenue through professional consulting engagements with government agencies, transit authorities, universities, and development clients. Services include transit planning, multimodal corridor design, TDM programs, parking management, and engineering compliance. Revenue is project-based, typically through consulting contracts with public sector clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Nelson\Nygaard provides professional transportation planning and engineering consulting services to government agencies, transit authorities, universities, and private developers. Its core offerings include multimodal planning, transit network redesign, transportation demand management (TDM), parking and curb management, and active transportation design. The firm supplements these consulting services with proprietary interactive analytical tools such as the Bus Delay Analysis Tool (BDAT) and the Interactive Route Profile Dashboard.

Product overview

Nelson Nygaard is a transportation planning and engineering consulting firm offering professional services rather than a unified software product. The company's offerings span multimodal planning, transit planning (including BRT, bus network redesigns, microtransit), transportation demand management (TDM), active transportation, parking management, and curb management. Key analytical tools include the Bus Delay Analysis Tool (BDAT) for segment-level transit delay analysis and the Interactive Route Profile Dashboard for route evaluation. The firm also produces research publications, toolkits (such as the NRDC Transit Priority Toolkit), and case studies documenting TDM implementations. These services are delivered through 15 offices across the United States and Canada to cities, transit agencies, campuses, and private developments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Multimodal Planning and Engineering Services Comprehensive planning and engineering services covering multimodal transportation, active transportation, safety action plans, parking, curb management, TDM, transit priority, strategic planning, development impacts analysis, station area planning, and transit oriented development for cities, towns, and regions.
• Transit Planning Services Transit planning services for public transit agencies including Comprehensive Operational Analyses (COAs), bus network redesigns, Bus Rapid Transit, microtransit, transit master plans, scheduling, paratransit, fare policy, zero-emission fleet planning, bus stop optimization, and station access.
• Campus and Development Transportation Services Transportation demand management, commute program management, campus master plans, parking policy and management, bike and pedestrian access, and development entitlement support for universities, corporate campuses, and real estate developers.
• Bus Delay Analysis Tool (BDAT) Interactive analytical tool that uses automated vehicle location and automatic passenger count data to visualize when and where transit delays occur at the segment level, enabling transit agencies and cities to target roadway improvements. Includes a Project and Treatment Module for experimenting with improvement scenarios.
• Interactive Route Profile Dashboard Interactive website-based dashboard that provides dynamic visualizations of route performance at the stop and trip level, replacing traditional static route evaluation documents and enabling transit agencies to share route profiles publicly for comment.

Quantifiable outcome

• SEPTA ridership recovery through comprehensive bus network redesign
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Perkins&WillcoreOthersNelson\Nygaard is part of global design firm Perkins&Will, providing transportation planning services as a subsidiary within the Perkins&Will network. This relationship provides access to broader design capabilities and international resources.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• AECOM: AECOM operates a major transportation planning and engineering business serving transit authorities, DOTs, and municipalities worldwide. It competes head-to-head with Nelson\Nygaard on bus network redesigns, transit master plans, and large-scale multimodal planning engagements.
• STV Group: STV is an engineering, architectural, and planning firm with a significant transit and transportation practice, working on bus network redesigns, transit master plans, and station area planning for agencies across the US.
• VHB: VHB is an engineering, planning, and design firm serving public and private clients with transportation planning, transit, traffic engineering, and TDM services that overlap materially with Nelson\Nygaard's core offerings.
• Fehr & Peers: Fehr & Peers is a transportation planning and engineering firm focused on multimodal mobility, traffic operations, and data-driven analysis for public agencies and private developers, with overlapping services in TDM, transit planning, and active transportation.
• Kittelson & Associates: Kittelson & Associates is a transportation engineering, planning, and research firm specializing in traffic operations, transit, and multimodal planning. Its focus on transit priority and complete streets closely mirrors Nelson\Nygaard's service mix and target clients.
• Kimley-Horn: Kimley-Horn is a major US engineering and planning consultancy with a strong transportation practice covering transit planning, traffic engineering, TDM, and campus mobility, serving many of the same public-sector clients as Nelson\Nygaard.
• HDR Inc. HDR is a large employee-owned engineering and architecture firm with a robust transportation practice that competes for transit planning, BRT, and corridor studies for agencies such as transit authorities and state DOTs.
• WSP USA: WSP is one of the largest global engineering consultancies with a substantial transportation planning practice serving transit agencies, municipalities, and federal clients across North America, directly competing with Nelson\Nygaard on transit planning, traffic engineering, and multimodal corridor studies.

Broad incumbents

• Arup: Arup is a global engineering and design consultancy with a transportation practice that competes for transit planning and urban mobility engagements, particularly on larger, multi-disciplinary projects where its global design portfolio adds scale.
• Jacobs Engineering: Jacobs is a large global engineering and professional services firm with a transportation planning and operations consulting practice that serves transit agencies and DOTs, often on larger or more complex procurements where it can leverage cross-discipline scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NelsonNygaard
• Facebookfacebook.com/103480669743574
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/120052

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Nelson Nygaard