County awards winners of spots for limo, shuttle service

Despite a vocal turnout by dozens of limousine drivers faced with losing their jobs, the Clark County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved four of six limo and shuttle van companies to be allowed to operate at McCarran International Airport.

Two incumbent companies will lose their airport permits starting May 1, while a division of Frias Transportation Management, Las Vegas' largest taxi cab operator, will return after a four-year hiatus. The service covers companies that sell individual rides immediately outside the baggage claim and not the limos or vans that hotels send for guests or high rollers.

Lower passenger counts than in 2007, when the last contracts were awarded, and changing traffic patterns that will result from the opening of Terminal 3 next June, caused airport managers to reduce the companies from six to four.

One of the losers, CLS Transportation, disputed how the qualification process was run. Company President Charles Horky said that the minimum rent he promised to pay would run about $5 million more over the span of the new five-year contracts than the next competitor.

However, a company's financial capability and proposal counted for only 70 of the 125 maximum points used in scoring the nine submitted bids. Quality factors such as the business plan and experience comprised the balance of the rating system.

"We are considering our legal options at this point," said Horky after the county commissioners' unanimous vote. "We feel that much of the process unfortunately was based on subjectivity and a lack of transparency."

But Clark County Aviation Director Randall Walker noted that CLS was the only company that based its bid on being able to pick up passengers outside certain doors at the baggage claim. The doors are a critical factor because more passengers go through some doors, because of proximity of the baggage carousels assigned to busy airlines, than others.

Horky said his airport services employ about 250 people. Many stand to lose their jobs, but Frias CEO Mark James said his company would hire about 200 people.

Besides Airline Limousine, which is the Frias division, the winners included Whittlesea-Bell, a joint bid between Nevada Coaches, which goes by the street name Showtime, and ODS Limousine and Jacob Transportation Services, known as Executive Las Vegas.

Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at
toreiley@reviewjournal.com
or 702-387-5290.