Transit contract renewed

Jeff Schweers

Friday, July 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

ATC/Vancom, the same company that started Clark County's regional bus line three years ago, has been chosen to drive it into the next century.

The Regional Transportation Commission unanimously agreed Thursday to renew its contract with ATC/Vancom for the next five years at a price exceeding $160 million, as recommended by an appointed evaluation committee.

A final contract will be brought to the board for further approval, but RTC Director Kurt Weinrich said ATC/Vancom will earn over $30 million a year for the next five years to run the Citizens Area Transit fixed route system.

That amount isn't dependent on ongoing negotiations with the CAT drivers' union over pay, ATC/Vancom President Terry Van Der Aa said.

The Illinois-based company won out over Ryder/ATE, a joint venture with headquarters in Miami and Cincinnati. The evaluation committee gave ATC a score of 602 out of 700, while Ryder/ATE got 577 points, Weinrich said.

The committee leaned toward ATC because the Ryder cost proposal "had a lot of caveats ... that made their cost subject to further negotiation," Weinrich said.

ATC/Vancom cost proposal was a fixed rate contract.

"It was a tough competition," Van Der Aa said.

Van Der Aa said he was excited to have the contract renewed because "Las Vegas is the largest totally private system in the U.S., and a perfect example of the private sector's role in public transit."

Despite some problems like overcrowded and late-running buses, and safety and security issues, ATC/Vancom has steered the CAT system into one of the top-ranked bus systems in the country.

Most problems have been dealt with by adding new buses and expanding the hours of service, Weinrich said.

For the future, RTC wants the company to take an incentive plan implemented on the Strip to increase service and apply it to the entire bus system, Weinrich said.

Officials said a priority will be to coordinate the bus routing with any rail system that evolves over the next five years.

Meanwhile, management and the bus drivers' union have three meetings scheduled this month with a federal arbitrator to negotiate a contract acceptable to both sides.