The Cincinnati streetcar is facing ongoing questions over who will operate the transit system.
The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, which is tasked with operating the streetcar, must choose between two types of bids: those from companies that will manage SORTA’s union employees and those that will hire their own. That’s caused controversy.
A motion proposed March 25 by most Democrats on Cincinnati City Council would direct SORTA to only consider bids in which SORTA employees are used to run the streetcar. That motion, which council has yet to take up, would need two extra votes and isn’t binding.
Mayor John Cranley has come out in support of using union employees for the transit project.
“I don’t want streetcar operators subject to a different level of benefits,” he said during the March 25 City Council meeting. “We intend to have the same type of person who operates our buses to operate our streetcars.”
Some on council, including Republican Transportation Committee Chair Amy Murray, say the motion will increase streetcar costs. She opposes the motion.
Meanwhile, the federal government has warned council to avoid interfering with SORTA’s bidding process. A past effort by council to get more details about the bids drew sharp rebuke from the Federal Transit Authority, which said that any attempt to change SORTA’s bid process could result in loss of federal funds for the streetcar. The feds provided more than $45 million for the nearly $150 million project.
“The council’s proposed changes to the procurement process could be perceived as giving preferential treatment to one contractor over another,” wrote FTA attorney John Lynch in a March 23 letter to SORTA.
Democrats’ recent motion doesn’t include maintenance personnel, a sticking point in negotiations between SORTA and the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Bids for operating the streetcar are due at the end of the month, and SORTA’s board will vote to award the contract in July.
This article appears in Apr 1-7, 2015.