Ripon council directs staff to seek bids for shared-ride taxi service with 9,500-hour cap after debate on costs

The Ripon Common Council voted to give staff policy direction to procure the city’s shared-ride taxi service with a maximum annual purchase of 9,500 hours, following a lengthy staff presentation and council questions about costs, service levels and long-term funding.

Agency official said the city partners with Brown Cab to operate the shared-ride program, which is funded by a mix of federal, state, city and rider fare dollars. The official said the service faces a growing structural deficit — previously about $177,000 and later closer to $338,000 — and staff have increased general-fund support in recent years. “We are headed into a competitive procurement,” the official said, explaining the contract will start Jan. 1 and typically runs two years with three one-year renewal options.

Council members pressed staff on several topics: vehicle ownership and maintenance, how driver hours are allocated, and whether credit-card processing or an online scheduling system could increase ridership. One committee member criticized the large vendor for not offering routine features such as online scheduling and credit-card payments and asked whether those services could be added; the agency official said the city and Brown Cab have identified solutions but that processing costs would be built into the hourly rate.

Staff presented scenarios showing widely varying budget impacts depending on the hourly rate contractors quote. Using an illustrative high-end hourly rate of $44.80 for 11,960 hours would raise the city’s match substantially; reducing purchased hours to about 9,152 would lower the projected local match. Staff recommended setting a realistic maximum for the RFP to avoid an unexpectedly large local match if bids come back high.

After questions about whether the city could operate its own service and who would handle reporting and compliance, the councilmember who moved the motion amended it to set a 9,500-hour cap for the RFP. Council discussion acknowledged the trade-offs: reducing hours can lower the required local match but may reduce service availability and require riders to schedule shared trips or wait longer.

The council approved the policy direction by voice vote. Staff said they will return with a final contract for council approval after bids are evaluated. The council also discussed the possibility of evaluating fares later, but staff recommended not increasing fares during the procurement year to avoid compounding service reductions with higher user costs.

What’s next: staff will prepare the RFP using the 9,500-hour maximum and proceed with the federally guided procurement timeline; a final contract will come back to the council for approval before Dec. 31 to take effect Jan. 1.