Public Services Committee Meeting on Transit Contract - September 9, 2025
Public Services Committee Meeting on Transit Contract - September 9, 2025
The Public Services Committee met on September 9, 2025, to discuss and answer questions regarding a proposed contract between the City of Mobile and Port City Transit LLC (VIA) for public transportation services. The contract is valued at not to exceed $12.1 million per year, with $4.1 million anticipated from federal awards and $8 million from the city. The meeting focused on contract terms, employee transitions, and operational concerns. No vote was taken; the committee agreed to amend the contract to address council members' requests and bring it back for a vote the following week.
Discussion Items
- Contract Overview: Scott Collins (staff) explained that the current contract with Transdev expires on September 30, 2025. An RFP process resulted in VIA being the highest-rated bidder. The proposed contract is for five years with a five-year renewal option, but council members requested changes.
- Term Structure: Councilman Corey Penn requested a three-year initial term with a two-year renewal that requires council approval. VIA initially countered with a three-four-three structure but later verbally agreed to the three-one-one (three-year initial, one-year automatic renewal option, then another one-year option with council vote).
- Employee Transition: Councilman Penn raised concerns about language making employee transfer optional. VIA has already begun offering jobs to all Transdev operational staff, but Penn requested the contract specify that employees will be transferred except for failures in background checks or drug screens. Staff agreed to draft that language.
- Employee Benefits: Councilman Gregory inquired about accrued vacation and health benefits. Transdev will pay out accrued leave on final paychecks; VIA may negotiate transferring balances. Health benefits were identified as a concern.
- Financial Questions: Councilman Reynolds asked about federal fund risk (if not awarded, VIA is responsible), the finance director's role as owner's representative (not decision-maker, all changes to council), billable hours (active vs. static), and cost escalation. The contract includes a fixed monthly fee; any additional capital or change orders require council approval.
- Nine-Month Planning Period: The planned nine-month period is for community engagement and route optimization, not federally mandated. During this time, minor improvements to shelters and stops can be made. VIA plans to use smaller vehicles through leases to reduce capital costs.
- Technology and Accessibility: Digital payment and on-demand booking will be available, but cash and phone call options will remain for non-tech-savvy users.
- Revenue: Current annual revenue from transit is less than $1 million; similar levels expected initially.
Key Outcomes
- VIA verbally agreed to the 3-1-1 contract term (three years initial, with two one-year council-approved renewals). Staff will amend the contract accordingly.
- Staff will work with Councilman Penn to specify employee transfer language (mandatory except for background/drug screening failures) by end of day.
- No vote was taken; the committee will reconvene on September 16, 2025, to vote on the amended contract.
- Staff emphasized that action must occur before September 30 to avoid transit service interruption.
Meeting Transcript
Absolutely not. All right, how about all right? Ready. All right. We'll go ahead and uh call this committee meeting in the order. This is the uh public services committee meeting. Um I'm your chair, Josh Woods, and um on the committee is Councilman Joel Daves and Councilman Corey Penn. Uh today uh today what uh the purpose of this meeting is to is to walk through, answer any questions um for a contract that we have on the agenda on that contract dealing with uh transit um and bus service the city mobile um utilizes and contracts for. Uh currently, um if no one's watched the news lately um or read the agenda. Uh currently we have a contract up uh for uh for review and also for approval on by city council to uh contract between the City Mobile and Port City Transit LLC, uh, which is an entity of of the of a company via um for uh public transportation to run our bus system. Um the total amount of the contract uh is uh not to exceed 12 million one hundred thousand dollars per year. And um, with that being said, I will um turn this over. And um, I know there are some questions from council members that we've we've uh we've kind of talked through individually. Um would like to ask that uh we'll in normal fashion uh we'll start with the committee members and then roll out to the other council members. Um I'll turn this over to Mr. Collins just to kind of briefly tell us uh where we are, how we got here, and um, and then we can ask any questions we move for. Yes, sir. Um good morning. Thank you for doing this this morning. Um obviously we are working through a transit system contract. We're currently contracted with transdev and have been through a couple of iterations of transdove since 2018. Um that contract as we know it expires on September 30. It originally expired on June 30. We did a nine-day extension to get us through a bid process um to where we are today. And we've completed the bid process. We went through a review of all of the bids submitted um via transportation. Um was the highest rated um vendor who submitted proposals for the for the RFP. So that's what's gotten us to the contract and discussions that we have today. Um Rhea Shaw with VIA uh with their team is here with us today. We have their team available remotely as well. Uh Jacob Lawrence in the finance department um has done a substantial amount of the work on the contract itself and the discussions back and forth, as has our legal team um enterlina upstairs. So that's kind of where we are, and just a nutshell, a recap of that. We'll be glad to answer any questions or or work through details that we need to. Um obviously we know that this is a big decision. There's a lot to consider uh with transit. We also know that the calendar is um is what it is. We've been some specifics that we just had to to work towards some deadlines. So that's kind of where we are. The um specifics just as it relates to the 12.1 million, the total of that would be uh the system will be 12.1. 4.1 of that would be anticipated federal awards that via would be our partner to to obtain and manage. So the city would be effectively paying eight of the 12.1 with the other 4.1 VNN um federal awards that we've gotten parts of over the last couple of years. Um not up to the 4.1, but they're confident that they can work through and get to those numbers. So that's kind of how we arrived at it where we are. Um, and with that, we'll be glad to kind of engage questions and make sure that our team's available um to answer those um as they come up. Thank you. And then um Rhea, you said uh could she uh do you have maybe like a quick 60-second overcap and overview of uh who VA is, what you do, why you do it, and if you like doing it. Yes, absolutely. Um good morning. It's really nice to meet you all. My name is Rhea Shah.
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