The Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County, Nevada awarded a contract for operations and maintenance of its fixed route transit services, known as RIDE, to MV Transportation. The contract became effective July 1.
“The RTC has systematically looked at new business models to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public transit services in Washoe County," said Lee Gibson, RTC executive director. “We engaged in an industry outreach effort and solicited comments on continuing to use a management services contract or whether we should use, for the first time in Washoe County, the turnkey model. The industry was extremely helpful in providing insight and ideas for our request for proposal. After weighing the pros and cons, the RTC board directed staff to move forward with implementing the turnkey model.”
After a very long and thorough proposal evaluation process, the RTC selected MV Transportation Inc. “MV was the highest ranked proposer bringing savings and an excellent team,” said Gibson.
MV Transportation successfully transitioned incumbent employees including operators, mechanics, dispatchers and supervisors. “MV’s contract is likely to bring nearly $8 million in savings over the four-year term of the contract for the fixed-route RTC RIDE service,” Gibson said. RTC ACCESS, the paratransit service operated by First Transit is not affected.
“The savings couldn’t have come soon enough. Transitioning to MV means we do not have to cut service and with gas prices at almost $4 in Washoe County, we will be able to continue to serve an increasing ridership,” Gibson said. In 2011, RTC’s ridership has steadily increased by 7 percent. Ridership levels on the bus rapid transit service have increased by as much as 17 percent.
MV’s president of West Coast Operations, John Siragusa, said the company is honored that the RTC selected his firm, he looks forward to a strong business partnership and that the transition went well.
Roger Garza serves as MV’s new general manager for RIDE.
“With the service operated and maintained by MV as a private contractor to the RTC, the people of Washoe County will benefit from MV’s long history and breadth of experience running transit systems across North America,” Garza said. “As a contractor MV will apply industry best practices to enhance the county’s fixed route bus service. As with all of our contracts, we will focus on customer service, professionalism and delivering overall outstanding performance. As a private contractor, we will make sure the system not only works well, but to its full potential, we will identify efficiencies and improve customer service.”
MV’s first day went smoothly for riders and employees with all routes and schedules operated normally.
The RTC officials celebrated the successful kickoff with a media event at RTC 4th Street Station in Reno on July 21, coinciding with a free transit day designed to encourage new riders to try transit.
The RTC also announced the addition of a new RTC INTERCITY trip to accommodate high demand on the service between Reno and Carson City, the state capital, as ridership had reached capacity on other RTC INTERCITY trips.
