RTA to change airport shuttle plan to attract bidders

The plan to create an express shuttle between Detroit Metropolitan Airport, the city and its suburbs was expected to generate wide interest in the long-missing service.

But, no one came forward, with some potential bidders citing a lack of data on passenger numbers, high upfront costs for vehicle fleets and airport authority rules. So Regional Transit Authority officials decided to solicit feedback from potential bidders with hopes of reissuing a request for proposals by year’s end.

As transit officials build a vision for the region that will culminate in a November 2016 ballot initiative to expand transportation options, the RTA faces the challenge of creating good public service with scarce dollars that marries the needs of vendors and the rules and regulations of the airport.

“Once I saw the vehicle requirements, I stopped even reading. We knew we could not accommodate anything in that nature,” said Greg Bissone, the owner and operator of SKOOT, a shuttle service between Metro Airport and downtown hotels for the past two years.

“We don’t have any in our fleet. We don’t have any operators who can operate those type of buses. We’re a smaller business. I don’t have the resources to just pull the switch and say let’s go.”

Bissone’s main issue with the July proposal was the requirement to have 55-passenger vans; his seat up to 11. “I don’t know what the new RFP is going to look like, but the initial one was definitely out of our scope,” he said.

RTA officials say they hope to reissue the RFP by the end of the year and say that finding public dollars is paramount. So far, they have $1.5 million in grant money to appropriate for the duration of the demonstration project that officials hope will ultimately be funded by taxpayers.

“It was important for us to get immediate feedback from industry leaders on what they needed as clarifying factors on the RFP for regional connections to the airport,” said Michael Ford, CEO of the RTA. “We received positive comments, which has led us in the direction of being more specific with the outlined request.”

Tiffany Gunter, the chief operating officer of the RTA who has spearheaded the shuttle project, said the shared concerns from vendors gave transit officials much to think about, and seeking more funds was at the top of the list.

“We were asking them to essentially find the funding and they weren’t willing,” she said. “We are looking at the funding that does exist as well as the duration of the demo — and essentially when we want the service to start and end.”

Not all the comments were positive. Chad Cushman, the vice president of Indian Trails, and his counterpart Ody Norkin at the Michigan Flyer, wrote a scathing letter about the RFP, primarily criticizing the airport’s new intercity bus operator permit which they feel is restrictive to vendors.

The proposed agreement, which hasn’t been formally presented, calls for any airport express bus operators who make 30 or more trips to and from the airport to indemnify Metro from any claims or lawsuits and damages. Cushman said his company’s interpretation is that it will indemnify the airport “from every single incident or accident that occurred out there, even it it was their fault.”

“I’m not shocked at all that there were no bidders,” Cushman said. “That permit prevents anyone from being able to operate in or out of that airport. We can’t agree to something with the hope or understanding that some of those things can be negotiated.”

Cushman said the only way the RTA would be successful in its bid to award a shuttle contract would be to tell the airport to toss out the intercity bus operator agreement.

“No one’s not bidding on it because they don’t want a $5 million or $10 million a year contract. That’s not it. Trust me, we’d love to get it,” Cushman said. “At the same time, we’re not going to invest millions of dollars into a venture with the hope that some of these issues can be worked out.”

Brian Sadek, assistant general counsel for the Wayne County Airport Authority, which runs Metro Airport, said the permit process was “a collaborative effort” between the airport and the RTA and that airport officials do support needed transit from its facility.

“There are no boogeymen hidden in that permit, there are no bombs dropped,” Sadek said. “It just enshrines current operational practices.”

Sadek said it would augment “what is already going on down” in the ground transportation center and that many airports across the country have similar clauses in agreements with transportation vendors.

RTA officials have estimated the service may cost $6.5 million to operate but would possibly be folded into next year’s November election, when voters will decide whether to fund transportation projects, including bus rapid transit on three regional routes.

Airport shuttle services have struggled in Metro Detroit. The last full-time service other than SKOOT folded in 2001 after years of losing money.

Limousines and taxis charge passengers between $45 and $60 one way, while standard fare on the Michigan Flyer coaches from Ann Arbor to Metro Airport, for example, are $12 one-way and $22 round trip.

Gunter said given the feedback the RTA received, she is more confident they will get a bidder and “build off of what an existing provider already has” in its operation.

Michael O’Callaghan, the executive vice president and CEO of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, said RTA and airport officials seem to be on the right page of “providing reasonably priced transportation from our airport” to various locations.

But O’Callaghan said both sides need to put their thoughts together and come up with a solution that will meet the RTA and vendor needs.

“The airport is recognized as one of the finest in the U.S., but I believe that it behooves everybody that the next impression that visitors have is the transportation piece and that it also leaves a positive impression,” O’Callaghan said. “I think there are a lot of very smart people at the airport authority and the RTA and we should all be able to come together and come up with something that makes sense.

“There is a real need for public transportation from the airport.”

lfleming@detroitnews.com

(313) 222-2620

Twitter: @leonardnfleming