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Shuttle owner cries foul over I-93 bus contract
(The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jun. 22--SALEM -- A war of words has erupted over a grant-supported contract to carry bus passengers from Interstate 93 in Southern New Hampshire to Boston and Logan Airport.
James Dowd, co-owner of Flight Line Inc., a Salem-based airport shuttle company, said the state's agreement with Boston Express gives it an unfair competitive advantage. Dowd claims the deal, which includes a $4.89 million grant, threatens Flight Line's business and the livelihood of its 80 employees.
Furthermore, he says, the state unfairly left his company out of the bidding for the contract.
State Department of Transportation administrator Christopher "Kit" Morgan said the agreement was consistent with those the state has granted for bus operations elsewhere in the state. Requests for bids went out to experienced motorcoach companies, he said. Flight Line provides door-to-curb service using vans.
Jim Jalbert, principal of Boston Express Bus, says Dowd is "crying foul after the fact." Jalbert maintains Dowd could have bid on the contract and Flight Line continues to have a chance to compete for customers.
The state awarded the "amended" contract to Boston Express to provide bus service between Manchester, Londonderry, Salem and Boston, and to operate and maintain bus terminals at park-and-ride facilities at Exits 2, 4 and 5 on I-93. The contract, intended to reduce traffic congestion on I-93, was approved in January and is good through 2018. It is funded by 80 percent federal and 20 percent state contributions.
Dowd said the grant will allow Boston Express to artificially lower fares and undercut the Salem-based shuttle service. He said the state has approved a $5 introductory fare for Boston Express that would include with a bottle of water and a newspaper.
"It is predatory pricing," Dowd said.
Jalbert said the introductory fare has yet to be set for the service, expected to start in the fall. He said the $4.89 million grant his company is getting over three years will pay for less than 40 percent of the cost of providing the service, which will include 18 runs a day. After that, the service must be self supporting, Jalbert said.
Dowd said he is most disturbed that Jalbert's company is allowed to charge competitors a fee for serving customers at the park-and-ride facilities. If Flight Line picks up or drops off a customer at a facility operated by Boston Express, it must pay a user fee. "The vendor of the facilities should not be a competing bus service who is not paying any fee to use the facility," he said.
Morgan said it's standard procedure to allow companies that operate and maintain facilities to charge a fee to transportation companies that use them. Jalbert said maintaining and operating the bus terminal includes everything from salting and sanding park-and-ride lots to cleaning bathrooms.
Dowd said Flight Line, which takes 6,500 customers a month to Logan Airport and 1,500 to Manchester Boston Regional Airport, should have been sent a request for a proposal for the service once Logan Airport was made part of the package in 2007.
"The NH DOT has either by design or incompetence ... mishandled this contract/RFP for the commuter service on I-93 from the outset," Dowd wrote in a letter to state legislators.
Morgan and Jalbert refute Dowd's claims, saying the contract bidding was directed toward bus companies that could ferry large numbers of riders and reduce traffic on the widened I-93.
Morgan said six to eight firms with experience running commuter coaches and operating terminals were sent requests for proposals in 2004. Three responded. Delays with the I-93 widening project and new information led to a revised RFP sent out in 2007, Morgan said. Boston Express was the only company to respond to the revised contract.
The state decided to revise the contract to allow the selected company greater scheduling flexibility, including Logan Airport, after it learned it would be unsafe to drop off customers on downtown Boston streets.
Dowd said his company would have bid on the contract had it known that Logan was part of the deal. Flight Line has had authority to haul riders between Manchester and Boston for 25 years, he said. Dowd said his son was told several times in communications with the state DOT that Logan service would not be part of the agreement.
Morgan said he couldn't comment on these claims since Flight Line has retained a lawyer and the matter has been referred to the state attorney general's office.
Meanwhile, Jalbert calls "ridiculous" Dowd's claim that Boston Express insisted that Logan be made part of the contract.
Dowd also said he wants the relationship between Jalbert and the DOT examined. Dowd wrote in his letter to legislators that Jalbert's position on a citizen advisory board that made recommendations to the state DOT about I-93 transportation, and his company, Boston Express, getting the bus contract, raises conflict-of-interest questions.
Morgan said in an e-mail to Dowd that Jalbert's participation on a public committee for a long-range transportation business plan should not disqualify him from bidding on the project.
Jalbert said the committee had many members and looked at a host of issues geared toward enhancing all kinds of public transportation and reducing traffic and pollution.
Jalbert said he takes umbrage at Dowd's questioning the relationship between him and the DOT.
"He ought to be ashamed of himself for saying that," Jalbert said.
Dowd says he wants to be able to compete fairly. He said he is contemplating legal action, and has registered complaints with the federal Department of Transportation and the state of New Hampshire.
He has also inked a deal with Manchester Boston Regional Airport to provide hourly bus service between it and destinations in northern Massachusetts and Boston.
To see more of The Eagle-Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.eagletribune.com/.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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