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Berkshire Non-Profit Dismantles Transportation Dept., Expansion Plans Hampered

Facebook: Berkshire Community Action Council, Inc.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated Berkshire Community Action Council incurred a loss of $20,000. It was BerkshireRides that incurred a $20,000 loss. Also, the Massachusetts legislature included $400,000 in its 2016 fiscal budget for BerkshireRides, not BCAC.

A Berkshire County nonprofit has dismantled its transportation department after losing a contract it has held for years from the area’s regional transit authority.Berkshire Community Action Council laid off 43 people, returned more than 20 leased vans and vacated the Pittsfield building that housed its transportation department. The moves came after the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority awarded five-year contracts for the transportation of disabled adults to daytime rehab facilities to Action Ambulance and County Rainbow Taxi.  BCAC executive director Deb Leoncyzk says the agency provided 65,000 rides for 134 clients across 25 routes.

“We did not score honestly the way we thought we would,” Leoncyzk said. “For experience we’ve been doing this for over 25 years and we had the same contract that we were bidding on for seven. Nobody else had that level of experience. We did challenge them, but rather than have a contentious relationship with the BRTA we decided to back off from that because we really want to pursue our low-wage employment transportation program.”

Leoncyzk says she was told BCAC did not submit the lowest price. According to the request for proposals form, the BRTA evaluated an organization’s personnel, vehicle management, training, quality assurance, experience and cost. BRTA’s administrator Robert Malnati says decisions were made based on the information submitted.

“There was a solicitation issued in October where numerous companies responded,” Malnati said. “The responses that were received were then given to a review committee, scored and contracts were issued were based upon scores.”

Malnati says Action Ambulance and County Rainbow Taxi are working out the kinks. They started the routes July 1st.

“I think with this kind of a program there are always hiccups the first couple of days,” He said. “It’s a matter of being a team and trying to make sure that things go smooth. After a couple of day, I think things are going smoother.”

Leoncyzk said she learned in December that BCAC wouldn’t be getting the contracts which were worth $1.4 million a year, or roughly 15 percent of the agency’s revenue. She says a majority of the drivers were part-time and some have been hired by Action Ambulance and County Rainbow Taxi. Now with a staff of roughly 30 people providing community programming along with weatherization, heating, repair and fuel assistance, Leoncyzk says further cuts will be needed after losing the contracts. BerkshireRides, which provides 80 rides a day for people going to and from work in northern Berkshire County, merged into BCAC earlier this year. With federal funding still up in the air, Leoncyzk says Massachusetts approved $400,000 in its 2016 fiscal budget for BerkshireRides, $60,000 short of last year’s allocation.

“We incurred a loss last year on BerkshireRides so this $400,000 won’t operate Berkshire Rides the way it exists today,” Leoncyzk said. “So what we’re going to have to do is try to get employers to understand the value of this service and get them to set up transportation benefit accounts in their place of business where the employer and the employee can contribute.”

Earlier this year, BerkshireRides was seeking a three-year $2.5 million state grant to expand service with the goal of becoming self-sustaining. Leoncyzk says BCAC’s goal of broadening employee transportation countywide is farther off than if it had kept the contracts.  Late last year, Malnati took over as full-time administrator after Gary Shepard stepped down to take a position with Soldier On. Shepard had no comment on the matter. Leoncyzk would not comment on whether the leadership change had anything to do with the contract decision.

“We have to work together if we’re going to solve some of the transportation issues that Berkshire County is facing,” said Leoncyzk.

Jim is WAMC’s Associate News Director and hosts WAMC's flagship news programs: Midday Magazine, Northeast Report and Northeast Report Late Edition. Email: jlevulis@wamc.org
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