VTA has a new shuttle service operator for people with disabilities and the previous contractor is raising concerns about why it was ousted.
The public transit agency’s board of directors unanimously and begrudgingly awarded a three-year, $110 million contract to Transdev Services as the new VTA Access paratransit shuttle program operator. The contract includes four one-year extensions, totalling $227-million. The current operator, MV Transportation, and multiple board members raised concerns at the May 1 meeting about the agency’s lack of transparency in the procurement process, including the agency not requesting a “best and final” offer.
On-demand paratransit eligibility is determined by an individual’s physical inability to use VTA’s bus and light rail systems. It runs during the same hours as the bus and light rail trains, but a rider needs to book their ride at least a day in advance. According to VTA’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026-27, there were about 361,000 VTA Access riders in 2024 and ridership is expected to reach up to 498,000 by 2027.
MV Transportation, which has run the service since 2017, was one of three bidders, including Transdev Services and WeMoveU. VTA did not disclose the bidders during the meeting.
MV Transportation Vice President of customer success Nikki Frenney said the selection process felt unfair and different from previous interactions with VTA.
“We are just a little stunned and a little shocked at the way that this (request for proposals) process took place,” Frenney told San José Spotlight. “You want to make sure every process in procurement that VTA has is transparent, and we feel the board should maybe look into that.”
A spokesperson for VTA told San José Spotlight that Transdev offered more improvements to safety and performance, meaning its proposal scored better than MV Transportation and WeMoveU.
Dennis Shipman, MV Transportation’s senior vice president of business development, said during public comment he was disappointed with how VTA handled the procurement process.
“As it was stated, this was a competitive, best value procurement, and yet it did not have a ‘best and final offer.’ A fiscally responsible approval from this board for $337 million of VTA funds certainly warrants a procurement asking for a ‘best and final offer,’” Shipman said.
Rachelle Tagud, VTA Regional Transportation Service Manager, responded the contract’s evaluation committee didn’t need final offers to make a recommendation.
VTA CEO Carolyn Gonot said an earlier request for proposals was published in 2023, then closed and reopened it in late 2024, which created the rush.
“It just takes time to do a really good thorough evaluation, it takes a few months to negotiate the contract,” Gonot said at the meeting. “I apologize it was so late but we were trying to make sure everything was done in a fashion that we felt like we were doing, or at least our staff was doing due diligence before we bring it to you.”
A VTA spokesperson told San José Spotlight the original request was canceled because the goal of working with small and minority-owned businesses wasn’t clear enough, resulting in inconsistent proposals on the first round.
Unanswered questions
A week after the meeting, Shipman sent a letter to the VTA board members asking them to reconsider the contract and reexamine the selection process.
Shipman further argued it’s unclear why Transdev Services was selected, as VTA didn’t respond to questions about what “service improvements” set it apart. Shipman repeated that the agency did not ask for a “best and final offer,” which would have given MV Transportation the opportunity to make proposal adjustments and present a lower price. He also said MV Transportation is open to extending the contract.
“The stakes — both financially and in terms of passenger service and public trust — are far too high to ignore in the name of false urgency and under false pretenses,” Shipman wrote.
The existing contract with MV Transportation expires June 30, and Tagud said at the meeting the board had to approve the new contract to maintain paratransit services.
VTA board member and Morgan Hill Mayor Mark Turner, asked if the contract could be extended for six months to to allow more time to review proposals, but a VTA employee shook their head, indicating it couldn’t be extended.
A spokesperson for VTA told San José Spotlight that MV Transportation’s original contract was only intended to run for three years and has been extended nine times. The extensions were pushing the boundaries of the original contract, which could have raised legal issues, making it necessary to open public bidding.
“Such changes (to scope) are considered impermissible because they alter the ‘essence’ of the original agreement — so much so that other vendors should have had the chance to compete,” the spokesperson said.
Suds Jain, a Santa Clara councilmember and VTA board member, told San José Spotlight the board received a confidential copy of the contract only hours before the meeting. He declined to speak further on the issue.
At the meeting, board members questioned the contract’s cost in the face of declining sales tax revenues and said they felt rushed to make a decision.
“This feels almost like a set up,” Sylvia Arenas, a county supervisor and VTA board member, said at the meeting. “If we don’t do this, then we are going to potentially hurt the transition for the paratransit program, which nobody wants, but that’s not how you make decisions.”
Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X.
