Ellington

The city of Jackson has postponed plans to take over the operations of its citywide bus service. The city council had been faced with the prospect of the city adopting the work of Texas-based McDonald Transit Associates Inc. when its contract ended in mid-December. The council opted instead to extend the McDonald contract another 90 days, until it either finds a new contractor or works the bugs out of the current McDonald contract.

Ward 6 Councilman Marshand Crisler had been dreading the changeover.

"I don't think we can say that the city could do what McDonald Transit did with good confidence. I'm just not confident with the city's ability," he said.

"We're too uninformed."

McDonald Transit had re-submitted a bid to run the bus service for another five years, but the city preferred an alternative contract with Ohio-based Professional Transit Management.

The PTM contract fell through earlier this month after negotiations, but administration head Robert Walker informed the council soon after that the city would do without a contractor rather than stick with the Texas-based company.

Jackson Chief Administration Officer Robert Walker, who had approached the council with the possibility of adopting the transit system earlier this month, offered the new proposal on Monday, which the council gratefully approved.