DARTS takeover to be among city cost study scenarios

Council again debating future of service; believed to be seventh review in 13 years

Councillors won’t make any major changes to the city’s accessible transit service until they have a better idea what a makeover might cost.

The city has repeatedly debated the future of the Disabled and Aged Regional Transportation System (DARTS) following several years of ballooning costs and an audit that recommended efficiencies and an overhaul of how complaints are tracked.

Earlier this year, the city gave DARTS a year to come up with $1 million in savings or face the possibility of the city asserting more control of the arms-length non-profit.

City staff reported back on several possible options Monday, including maintaining the status quo, renegotiating the operating agreement, testing the market for new contract bidders or committing to a takeover by the city’s transit department.

But the report notes the agency is “on target” to meet its cost-cutting goal in 2016, while a municipal takeover risks “significant and ongoing” costs to the city since HSR bus drivers are paid more than DARTS employees. Salary parity could add $1 million to the city budget.

The report prompted a motion from councillors Lloyd Ferguson and Sam Merulla to seek a detailed report on the costs within six months. “I want to put this issue to rest once and for all,” said Ferguson.

Merulla, a staunch supporter of the city taking the service in-house, said users of the shared-ride system “deserve direct accountability” from city council.

He expressed hope a HSR-led accessible transit service could find budget savings and provide more control over service levels and complaints. “What we have now is an outdated governance model, an unnecessary two-tier system.”

Coun. Terry Whitehead, on the other hand, argued DARTS has lived up to its endof-the-budget bargain and is willing to talk to city staff about up to $1.5 million in possible new savings in 2017. “It’s not a perfect service … but we’re moving in the right direction.”

Mark Mindorff, executive director of DARTS, said he is disappointed “to be left in limbo” after what he believes to be the seventh review of the agency in 13 years.

He acknowledged complaints spiked in 2012-13 as service standards changed and a brutal winter caused vehicle problems. But Mindorff said complaint numbers have “levelled off ” even as the number of trips offered on the shared-ride service has shot up from 400,000 to 700,000 a year since 2012.