The Fox Cities Transit Commission met 05/23/2023. One of the items they took up was the request to authorize Lamers Bus Lines To provide the Downtown Appleton Trolley Services for the summer of 2023.
Lamers has provided the trolley service for a number of years. Last year, they refused to provide the service unless they received a payment increase of over $5,000 even though their contract with Valley Transit had automatically renewed and they were outside the 90-day period in which they could have cancelled or asked for changes. The Transit Commission and the Common Council did eventually vote to approve the payment increase but not without expressing frustration with Lamers.
Last year, there had been talk about Valley Transit purchasing a trolley to provide the service in-house rather than contracting it out. But, this year, the commission voted to go ahead and continue using Lamers along with approving a 7.3% payment increase to maintain the trolley service.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.
Valley Transit General Manager Ron McDonald addressed some of the questions that probably existed because of the situation last year. He said that they had talked last year about Valley Transit getting its own trolley. Since that time, he had spoken with the manufacturers of trolleys, but there had been technological problems with electric trolleys, so Valley Transit had not purchased one yet. He was recommending having Lamers provide the trolley service again this year.
He said that had had a very good conversation with Lamers. They were expecting to begin service on June 1 even though the contract approval would not go to the Common Council for final approval until June 7. Lamers was willing to start the contract before it could be voted on.
General Manager McDonald had researched and verified that the rate of inflation for the transportation sector over the past 12 months was 14%, but Lamers had agreed to keep their rate increase to just 7% from their rate last year. He said that Valley Transit could cover that increase within their existing budget.
None of the commission members had any questions and they approved the contract unanimously.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1088823&GUID=D1770C6B-B8D0-454D-B738-318BFFF19E8C
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