Is Tucson “finding a way to bail them out”
In Portland, when civic leaders took their first ride on their new eastside streetca, it was supposed to be a triumphant ride, according to Williamette Week. “It’s one of the first federally funded streetcar rail projects (and the nation’s most expensive).” Besides being very expensive, the Portland streetcar is notorious for its “sluggish pace.”
In Tucson, the street car is already notorious for its sluggish pace and it isn’t even installed yet.
The company that makes the cars is far behind its production schedule for Portland, and Tucson is second in line for cars behind….. Portland.
“We’re not “on schedule” and “in budget”. We’re behind schedule, and we have a funding short fall. And we don’t have a long term funding source identified for O&M. It’s past time to start painting this project with an honest face and get serious,” says Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik in his newsletter.
According to Kozachik, “We are told during our regular briefings that this project is still “on time and in budget”. Clearly it’s not on time, and we are still searching for nearly $20M to fill budget shortfalls.”
The contract between OIW and Tucson is 600 pages. The contract requires testing on all of the systems, a training process relative to operators (to begin within 10 days of the arrival of the first vehicle) and a significant, 52 week maintenance worker training program. Kozachik writes, “None of that can have begun because OIW is behind schedule.”
Kozachik, who rarely questions anything the City does, is actually questioning OIW. “We were told in July that the FTA required that we purchase an eighth vehicle. We were told that we’d have to fund the debt service for that vehicle through the general fund since the $3+M purchase price was coming from COP’s (Certificates of Participation.) The agreement to buy that eighth vehicle is signed by the same OIW president who says that they’re way behind schedule and that he won’t comment on the contract. Are we finding a way to bail them out, or is the FTA really forcing us to buy that eighth vehicle? If they are forcing that on us, why now, when the contractor is not complying with their original commitments – and according to FTA’s own rules, the contract could be terminated.”
But, he then dismisses his questions as “above my pay grade, and I understand the desire by the Feds to want to get an American producer up and running, and yet this just feels like an incremental cost escalation for a company that is struggling under the weight of never having produced the product for which they are now under contract.”
A Czech firm challenged the bid award to OIW on the basis of technical inability.
Kozachik talks tough and says that the City needs to “make it clear to OIW that we’re going to enforce the contract and charge OIW liquated damages dating back to when the first car shell was due if there isn’t concrete action getting us back close to our initial schedule. The contract says LD’s “will be implemented.” They have a $15M performance bond, and this seems a reasonable time to deliver the message that we’re not satisfied being behind Portland, we are serious about our schedule, and there are multiple millions of dollars in private sector investment in Tucson that was made anticipating the arrival of this product.
Kozachik reports that the City does not have a long term funding source identified for the operation and maintenance.
Portland has the same problem, who’da thunk? Portland Streetcar Inc., the nonprofit that runs the line, says it’s already short of money and the money isn’t going to increase soon. Like Tucson, they hope the feds will bail them out when need be.
According to Willamette Week, Eric Fruits, an adjunct professor in the urban studies department at Portland State University and a longtime critic of streetcar transit, calls the existing service “abysmally slow.” He notes that the streetcar’s projected travel time to get from OMSI to the Pearl District is 24 to 27 minutes. “It takes 32 minutes to get from OMSI to Powell’s Books by foot,” he says. “It’s a virtual tie. But if you’re waiting [at a stop] an average of 8½ minutes, the streetcar loses the race. You can get there faster by walking.”
At least there is a bright side; Tucsonans don’t really have to worry about the slow ride any time soon.