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After 46 years of working with Rochester City Lines to provide bus transit in Rochester, the city council voted 6-0 to shift gears, awarding a contract to First Transit, an Ohio-based company that also operates First Student buses, to run city buses on a 54-month contract starting in July.

The contract was put up for a best value competitive bid for the first time this last fall when the Federal Transit Administration found Rochester’s contracting process to be out of compliance with Federal guidelines, according to public works director Richard Freese.

An eight-member group evaluated bids from First Transit, Rochester City Lines, and two other bidders. Four of the evaluators were city staff members, and remaining members were MnDOT employees and managers of transit systems in other cities. The group evaluated bids on technical proposals, past performance, financial ability, and in-person interviews.

Rochester City Lines scored the lowest of the four bidders. First Transit was ranked first by seven of the eight evaluators and also offered the lowest cost at $19,674,750 for the duration of the contract based on an estimate of 70,000 service hours. The cost will adjust based on that figure in the event of an increase or decrease in actual service hours.

The process left Rochester City Lines management baffled.

“If you talk to anyone in the city of Rochester, you’ll know that our past performance is compared to the rest of the country,” said Rochester City Lines administrator Joe Jacobson. “Our score doesn’t show it and that concerns me.”

Jacobson also raised questions about the fairness of evaluating bids based on technology, such as bus location, that the company currently doesn’t have, while it is known that competitors do. He questioned whether former Rochester City Lines transit manager Randy Huston, who has recently agreed to take a similar position with First Transit, was developing technical proposals for both bidders.

Jacobson and Rochester City Lines general manager Dan Holter, whose family has run the company for 46 years, asked the city council to table the decision.

In addressing the council, Holter stated that city staff, with whom the company once had a good working relationship, has grown unresponsive. He stated that city staff had misled the Federal Transit Administration in 1989 and the same staff was now misleading the city council.

“You have quite a quandary,” Holter said. “This quandary wasn’t built by me, it wasn’t built by the Federal Transit Administration. It was built by your own staff.”

Clarence Zaborowski of Rochester has been a bus rider for 21 years, choosing this transit option three to five days a week and is pleased with the service he has received.

“I don’t know the whole story, but I’m left with the impression that for whatever reason, someone wants City Lines out of Rochester and a new company in,” Zaborowski. “If it’s not broke, don’t try to fix it.”

All parties involved credit Rochester City Lines drivers for providing stellar service. First Transit general manager Paul Buharin stated a preference to hire existing Rochester bus transit workers. The company will also look to renegotiate a contract with ATU local 1005, which represents Rochester City Lines drivers and dispatchers.



Holter said that it is his intention to continue to provide bus service in Rochester even without the city contract, but is keeping options open saying he “will see which way the wind is blowing.” Holter claims that having a private company running in competition with the company with the contracted bus company would void monies coming from the Federal Transit Administration. Freese maintains that such a scenario would not jeopardize funding.

There is ongoing litigation between Rochester City Lines and the City of Rochester centered on ownership of the bus transit system. The company has typically worked with city public works staff to develop bus routes. Attorneys for Rochester City Lines failed twice in attempts to receive an injunction in Olmsted County District Court that would have stopped the bidding process.