From the Associated Press:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration has awarded a contract to a Pennsylvania-based catering company to sell food, drinks and merchandise at Virginia highway rest areas.
CRH Catering of Connellsville, Pa., will pay the Virginia Department of Transportation about $2 million a year for vending and advertising rights at the state’s 42 rest areas and welcome centers. Most are along interstate highways.
I thought we were prohibited from installing vendor sales at our interstate rest stops because of federal regulations and that Governor Kaine has applied for relief from the regulations. How is it we can now have vendor machines at interstate rest stops? Actually it is a good idea but the bidding should have been limited to Virginia companies first. If no Virginia companies met the specs, then out of state companies could then bid.
Bringing in CRH Catering is supposed to add an extra million dollars a year to help offset the cost of keeping rest areas open. Rest stops should be open. To do otherwise is dangerous and irresponsible to travelers and it hurts the tourist industry.
The rest stops on the Jersy Turnpike are great. Wendys, McDonnalds, Popeyes, all the fast food you can eat in one convenient location. Oh yea, and plenty of restrooms.
Do they still charge for the toilets?
No, the tour buses to NYC stop there and it would create big delays, not to mention possible riots.
The Virginia Department of Transportation issued a request for proposals in March at the direction of Gov. Bob McDonnell, who is seeking to generate additional revenue to help defray the costs of operating the rest areas. The Sponsorship, Advertising and Vending Enhancement program is one of the first of its kind among state transportation agencies.
While fully privatizing Virginia’s rest area operations is prohibited by federal law, “the SAVE program will enable marketers to effectively and cost-efficiently promote their goods and services to a significant number of motorists as they take a break while traveling through the Commonwealth, while saving taxpayers money,” Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton says in a news release.
http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2011/08/local-firm-to-partner-on-rest-areas.php
It appears that in terms of the federal law because this is a public-private partnership that it doesn’t violate the federal law.
If an RFP was issued that means anyone could compete… Virginia and out of state companies.
Moon-howler, you mean that you didn’t encounter citizen resistance to the pay-to-pee fee? Women would hold the door open for the next person so the lock didn’t engage. That worked if there weren’t attendants.
I remember the pay to pee on the turnpike and my mother held the door for me.
I vaguely remember running into a few “pay-to-pee” rest stops when I was younger. I usually just urinated on the side of the building. Seemed fair to me!
Didnt you at least go behind a tree or a bush, pokie?
What a pity that the governor couldn’t find a Virginia company to award the contract to instead of sending more Virginia money out of the state. Must be a Repblican contractor.
Agreed.
CRH has the contract for rest stops along interstates in MD and PA, and has those 30 in Virginia Given it is the Federal Interstate System, CRH might have had that going for them since they held existing contracts in other States, plus current in VA. Still, at least there are two small VA firms partnered into it.
Still, its sad that Virginia jobs aren’t kept in Virginia.
Well, another way to look it at is with expansion to cover all the reststops (40 some I think), there will be jobs added. Granted, maybe not at a livable wage rate, but jobs.