Yolobus is about to have a new company behind the wheel, but riders are being told to stay calm and keep swiping their passes as usual.
The Yolo County Transportation District, which oversees the bus network that links Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento and Sacramento International Airport, has voted to bring in a new contractor to run the system. MV Transportation will take over day-to-day operations under a multiyear deal that replaces the current vendor. District officials say the contract is structured to protect frontline workers during the handoff and to tighten up scheduling and operator shifts. Riders are not expected to see immediate route cuts, although the change does trigger a formal transition period for staffing and training.
According to the Sacramento Business Journal, MV Transportation Inc. has been awarded a three-year contract worth $123.6 million to operate Yolobus. The Dallas-based company has managed transit and paratransit systems across North America, according to MV Transportation's website.
Contracts, Staffing And The Procurement Process
Documents prepared for the Yolo County Transportation District board show that MV agreed to honor the existing collective bargaining agreement with the Amalgamated Transit Union and to rehire unionized employees during a 90-day transition window, provisions intended to smooth the handover rather than upend it. The evaluation panel unanimously recommended MV for the contract, and staff notified all proposers of the district's intent to award on March 30, according to the Yolo Transportation District board packet.
The district's procurement documents lay out a three-year base contract with the possibility of two additional two-year options, giving the agency some flexibility if it likes what it sees from the new operator, per the Yolo Transportation District RFP.
Who MV Is And What It Means
MV Transportation is one of the largest privately owned transit contractors in the United States, running dozens of local transit and paratransit contracts from its headquarters in Dallas. Yolobus has been operated by Transdev under the district's previous agreement. Transdev told the Sacramento Business Journal that it expects MV to retain most of the existing workforce once the switch is complete. District staff said MV's pricing and its proposed scheduling tools scored strongly in the competitive evaluation.
What Riders Should Expect
The district and MV say current service levels and fares will hold while the two companies coordinate staffing, training and vehicle maintenance. Riders will be updated through Yolobus service alerts and the agency's usual outreach channels. For the latest changes and real-time information, check Yolobus online.
For now, officials are framing this as a behind-the-scenes vendor swap aimed at shoring up operations, not a front-of-the-bus overhaul of routes and fares.
