The city isn’t planning any changes behind the wheels of its transit fleet, after extending a contract with a third party operator.
City council approved a one-year contract with Diversified Transportation on Tuesday night. The deal pays the transit contractor, based in Fort McMurray, $49.41 per hour for basic service, with rates going up to $79.06 for service on statutory holidays.
The contract was extended by a year rather than putting it out for tender because the city is rolling out a new computer scheduling software for all routes, said Transit director Bob McDonald.
“It’s a short-term measure to ensure we have operators in place while we implement the service,” said McDonald. “We want to see what efficiencies there are as a result.”
McDonald later said the new software would allow for transit administration to create and optimize bus routes better and in turn, allow Diversified to schedule their drivers in a more efficient manner. Currently, he said Strathcona County and Lethbridge use the same system in their transit operations with success, according to McDonald.
The system would also allow for the city to eventually bring in a real-time transit timing service, which would let riders know when the next bus is expected according to the bus’s movements on the road.
“In order for us to proceed with the next phase of an automated finder and GPS service, you need something to compare it to and this is it,” McDonald said, explaining the need for consistency.
General manager of planning and engineering Neil Jamieson told council the cost of the contract extension was factored into the transit budget and wouldn’t require additional funds. He added that a new request for proposals process would start in 2011 to look for a third party to continue transit operations.
However, if the process is similar to the way it was in 2004 when Diversified was the only bidder, it may not take long.
“We’re going to have to beat the bushes for interest, though I don’t know why there isn’t any interest,” Jamieson told council. “The [request for proposals] will go out in 2011.”
Coun. Roger Lemieux supported the contract, later saying that he was happy with the current service from the drivers and believed the new automated bus route service would help everyone become more efficient.
“I’ve always felt that if a person or company goes through a measured process, there is better performance,” he said. “I’m not saying they don’t work hard, but it will make things better.”
Coun. Gareth Jones said he had no issues with approving the sole-sourced contract with Diversified while the city installs and works out the kinks with the transit route system.
“We don’t want to sign a three-year contract and not know if there are problems,” he said. “If, as we hear, that this will make us more efficient and save us money, I think that’s excellent.”
