Airport officials had planned to award a contract for shuttle service between the airport and intown hotels to a company that just days ago was involved in an accident that sent shuttle passengers to the hospital.
It was months before Friday’s accident that Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport selected the company, MTI Limo and Shuttle Services Inc., to operate “shared-ride” shuttles between the airport and downtown, Midtown and Buckhead.
Airport memos show MTI was recommended for the contract in January.
A resolution to approve the shuttle contract was on the City Council transportation committee’s agenda for Wednesday, but it’s unclear how the accident will affect the process.
The shuttle contract has been controversial since Atlanta Link stopped operating the shuttles in 2010. A-National Limousine has been handling the shared-ride shuttles on an interim basis since then, while the city worked toward officially contracting out the work. A-National also holds an airport curbside management contract.
The city solicited proposals for the shared-ride shuttle in 2011. After complaints about conflicts of interest, the city said last year it would rebid the contract. The airport then decided the company awarded the shuttle contract could not also manage curbside operations.
Four people remain in hospitals after Friday’s hotel shuttle accident in College Park, police said.
A shuttle bus operated by MTI carrying 15 passengers late Friday morning slammed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that was making a U-turn on Loop Road just south of Virginia Avenue.
Police, with the help of the Georgia State Patrol’s special collision reconstruction team, continue to investigate the crash.
College Park Police Sgt. Keith Stanley said the investigation could take up to two weeks “before anybody might be charged.”
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