ATC selected to run new high-tech MAX bus system

Friday, Oct. 10, 2003 | 9:16 a.m.

ATC, the Chicago-based company that operates the public bus system under a Regional Transportation Commission contract, has been pegged to run another form of the region's mass transit system.

The RTC board on Thursday picked ATC to drive and maintain the MAX system buses, a high-tech system scheduled to begin operation early next year. The $19.4 million system is 80 percent funded by Federal Transit Administration dollars as a "demonstration project" to test the feasibility of the European-built Civis buses.

The buses are about 60 feet long and can accommodate 120 people, but what makes them unique is that they will function like a light-rail commuter system. The bus will stop at dedicated stations on its way from downtown Las Vegas to Nellis Air Force Base. The system was dubbed the Metropolitan Area Express, or MAX.

The first of 10 of the buses arrived at the bus system's maintenance yard in North Las Vegas in August.

ATC has had the contract, worth about $40 million a year, to operate the local bus system for the public RTC. Valerie Michael, ATC spokeswoman, said her company and the RTC have made a good partnership and that will continue with the MAX system.

She said that while ATC has been driving and maintaining buses in the United States for 75 years, and 10 years in Las Vegas, the MAX vehicles are a new technology.

"These are the first Civis buses in the country, so we're excited to be a part of that," Michael said.

Ingrid Reisman, RTC spokesman, said the cost of the contract is still under negotiation but is expected to cost about $2 million yearly.

June Devoll, RTC transit operations manager, said ATC was the best of the three companies that submitted proposals to run the new system.

"Being a demonstration project, there are a lot of unknowns," Devoll said. "Based on all of the proposals we received, ATC had both the most realistic costs and greatest flexibility to accommodate any challenges we may face in the demonstration period."

California-based MV Transportation and Illinois-based Laidlaw Transit, which operates the RTC's bus service for people with disabilities, lost the bid to operate the MAX system.