The city is studying the possibility of selling naming rights to the downtown streetcar line.
The Tucson City Council talked about the idea behind closed doors in executive session Thursday and voted to continue the discussion at a meeting next month.
The city previously hired a consultant, The Superlative Group, from Cleveland, to do a valuation study.
The study, obtained though a public records request, was to describe “the fair market value for naming rights to the Sun Link Modern Streetcar Line, which can provide significant additional revenue for the City of Tucson.” However, the dollar figure was redacted.
The person or company who buys the naming rights could put their name on streetcar stations, vehicles, maps and schedules, and websites, the Superlative study says.
Superlative provided examples of other cities’ naming-rights contracts. In one case, the Tampa Historical Streetcars system was named for TECO Energy for $1 million for 10 years.
City Manager Mike Ortega said it’s a revenue opportunity for the city to help pay for streetcar operations, but he said he didn’t know how much money could come in. He said the city should maximize revenue within constraints like aesthetics, timing and location of signage.
In other action, the council approved an operations and management audit of the contractor that manages the Sun Tran bus system following a six-week strike this summer. Council Member Regina Romero cited communication problems, missteps and delayed action by Professional Transit Management to resolve the strike.
The council additionally approved talks with the Pima Association of Governments and other groups to identify other possible management models for the bus system.
Ortega said the audit would be “an all-inclusive look” conducted by city staff and the city’s Independent Audit and Performance Commission.
Romero said the council could use the audit to revise the contract with PTM or another contractor in the future.
Council Member Paul Cunningham said, “This isn’t about the drivers, or the management group or issues that we’re having with them per se. It’s about the whole system and how it’s kind of set up where we’ve gotten into a situation where every single time we come up for contract we’re looking at a strike.”
Details about how to make changes will become clear as the talks progress, Cunningham said.
The council also approved two employee incentive programs that could give city workers bonus checks for ideas that save money in the city budget.
