Private sector 'backup' DATA plan

Mar 9, 2010 — The Herald-Sun

Ray Gronberg

Mar. 9, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- DURHAM -- Seeking what the city manager terms "a backup plan" in case negotiations with Triangle Transit fall through, officials have asked private-sector companies to put in offers to operate the Durham Area Transit Authority.

The request for proposals went out last week and directs interested companies to answer by March 31. A parallel document covers Durham Access, the van service the city offers to the disabled.

But City Manager Tom Bonfield and Triangle Transit General Manager David King separately confirmed Monday that their organizations are still working on a deal that could moot the bidding process, as far as the city's concerned.

Bonfield said he and his staff likely would present a draft agreement with Triangle Transit to the City Council on March 18 or April 8.

"In the meantime, we want to leave our options open," Bonfield said. "That should not signal in any way that we're not aggressively trying to work through the Triangle Transit option."

He said every council member has been briefed, and "generally there was a favorable reaction" to the idea.

But "council members need to see the details before I can confidently say they're all on board," he added.

At least some members are signaling full steam ahead.

"I hope the manager in his wisdom would move to bring Triangle Transit into the equation," Councilman Howard Clement said during a recent city budget retreat. "There's a role for a more compact and coordinated transit system."

King, meanwhile, said he'll ask his agency's directors to sign off once he gets "the signal that the city is proceeding" with the idea.

He and Bonfield aren't figuring that Triangle Transit will file a formal response to the request for proposals the city issued last week.

Instead, the information it generates could wind up helping King's organization pick a company to help it run DATA. State law prohibits Triangle Transit, the city and other public entities from negotiating labor contracts with the bus system's unionized drivers and mechanics.

The city request for proposals warns would-be bidders that Durham officials could "reject any or all" of the submissions they receive.

King said other transit providers in the area are watching to see if Durham and his agency can negotiate -- and execute -- a deal making Triangle Transit responsible for DATA's day-to-day operations.

Success would show that "the whole integration idea" is possible and perhaps encourage other operators to follow Durham's example, King said, naming Duke University, Raleigh and Cary as organizations with bus service that are keeping a close eye on the process.

If the council and the Triangle Transit board do green-light a management deal, "job one" will be making sure that riders see a smooth transition during its first 90 days, King said.

He cautioned, though, that the City Council would need to stay involved in the following months, particularly if Triangle Transit starts looking at route changes to make the system more efficient.

The city request for proposals makes it clear that would-be private-sector operators aren't welcome to join the debate about DATA's long-term direction.

It includes a strict no-lobbying clause that bars would-be operators and their representatives from contacting council members or DATA trustees. A violation will result in the applicant's automatic disqualification.

The city has used similar language in previous DATA contract solicitations.

But a federal arbitrator's ruling in a wrongful-termination dispute noted that the system's current operator, MV Transportation Inc., lobbied City Councilwoman Cora Cole-McFadden before receiving its first contract in 2004.

More recently, administrators and the council went through a bruising fight last year to bring recycling collections in-house and select a company to process the goods the city picked up.

Officials in the Solid Waste Management Department didn't include an anti-lobbying clause in their request for proposals, an omission bidders exploited to deal with council members directly. The selection of a recycling processor wound up being delayed by months.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0052-42701436