After nearly 36 years, Lane Transit District, in an effort to save money, will replace the private contractor that provides more than 500,000 rides a year for disabled, elderly and low-income residents in Lane County.
That’s leading the longtime contractor, Portland-based Special Mobility Services Inc., to lay off 101 employees in Lane County, although the new provider may offer jobs to some of the laid-off workers.
LTD’s board of directors is set to award the contract to St. Louis-based MTM Inc. this month.
MTM tentatively has indicated that it will hire about 109 employees but hasn’t said how many SMS workers it might hire, LTD said.
The change this summer will be seamless from the perspective of riders, according to LTD.
“We don’t want to get people freaked out, because for a lot of the population who we work with, this transportation is a lifeline,”
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