HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-03-04-TAC-min.pdf TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE--March 4, 1986
Present. S. Arnold, S. Castleman, E. Dratch, Lill Silvers, Fred Rosenberg
1 Met with the 2 Lexpress bidders.
First Call--Met with Aruthur Goldberg and Stephen Meyers.
Discussed background and references Has served Dept. of Public Welfare, VA
recipients Medicade Is an offshoot of Bay State Cab Started in Feb. of
1985 Has 1/2 million bond on fed for financial backing. Ran three shuttle
buses for dialysis patients. Has 52 vehicles--station wagons, sedans, and 3
minibuses Bulk of the work is within Route 128. Has 51 drivers working full
time
Fred Pennelli, who worked with LEXPRESS when operated by
Commonwealth Thomas, will be a supervisor He has 10 years experience
with special needs transportation.
Maintenance will be in Cambridge at 2 Bay Street.
Drivers will be paid $7.50 at least, plus benefits. Plan to hire 9-10
parttime drivers. Feels that current contractor has had 2
problems--monotony of driving for drivers and not enough buses. The extra
back up vehicle will make a difference
Made counter proposal--3 new vehicles and use 3 of the current fleet,
recondition them completely and could probably save $40hour, bringing the
cost down to 22.69 per hour
Safety Transportation--Met with Ken Hoggard and Clare Marshall
Company has statewide operations Peter Picknelli is president and owns
Safety Transportation. Has operated special ed and regular buses and the
elderly shopper shuttle in Newton. Has provided service in Cambridge,
Somerville and Newton. Provides service for ABCD in Boston. In
transportation since 1975.
Operates 350-400 vehicles--school buses, etc They have 60-75 buses
with passenger capacity of 16-65. Have 40 wheelchair vans and 200 wagons
Lloyd Huskins will be the Operations Manager Will have an on site
supervisor full time Drivers will be paid $7-8.50 plus benefits. Will be
eligible for insurance Will hire no less than 7 drivers. They will work
fulltime--4 days a week. They have a DPU trainer--requires a minimum of 20
hours for training. They have back up drivers in Newton.
Maintenance will be at garages in Medford or Newton. They will get bids
for the Thomas Mighty Mite. Use APS Truck Service--office is in
Medford--Arthur Silva. Will use a half-bus for backup.--24-29 passenger if
we didn't require second back-up bus we could save about $1 per hour-11250
per month.
It was decided that S. Arnold would get names and call references for both
companies.
2. Talked about Gray Line ending their service on April 1 Hudson wants to
provide the service but will eliminate Copley. The Town has always felt
obligated to these people but the Copley stop has always been a problem, and
it is time to stop it. We need to publicize this change. Hudson would like to
know the potential for ridership on the buses.