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December 10, 2018 | Aside from conducting a swearing-in ceremony, the Elk Grove City Council will face a full agenda of hearings at their regular meeting - their only one in December, when they convene this Wednesday night. Among the items under review is the possibility of Elk Grove dropping its contract transit provider, MV Transportation, which operates the city's e-Tran bus service.In a staff report prepared by Michael Costa, the city's public transit system manager recommends the city enter into a contract with Sacramento Regional Transit (Sac RT) to provide its bus transit services. The city has been contracted with MV Transportation since 2006 when it split from Sacramento Regional Transit.As outlined in Costa's report, while the cost savings between the two entities will be negligible, there are quantitative and qualitative benefits for the city to contract its services with Sac RT. On a quantitative basis, Costa notes that Sac RT offers better pay and benefits for drivers, which could alleviate driver shortages, which leads to bus route disruption, that has been experienced by private sector contractors like MV. On a qualitative basis, Costa contracting with Sac RT could "provide the City with a greater ability to collaborate with SacRT on regional transit operations and long-range capital planning efforts." The 2006 Elk Grove City Council had a go-it-alone philosophy that fractured many regional relationships and has dogged the city as an uncooperative government entity.The city could allow Sac RT to annex Elk Grove to its service area, but Costa recommends that the city test the waters and initially contract with the agency. If it were to annex Elk Grove into its service area, the city would lose all control of federal and state mass transit funding.Although MV has been in a long-time relationship with the city, it has not been without several rocky periods. As noted in the report, MV staffing failures have resulted "with several routes running late, or being missed completely, due to a lack of available drivers to run the service."Although the report is tilted towards contracting with Sac RT, MV is no without ammunition in the battle to keep their franchise. MV has been a frequent campaign contributor to members of the Elk Grove City Council. Wednesday's meeting starts at 6 p.m.
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