Rochester City Lines will continue operations on same route - KTTC Rochester, Austin, Mason City News, Weather and Sports

ROCHESTER (KTTC) -- For more than two hours Monday, the Rochester City Council discussed the possibility of its long time bus provider, Rochester City Lines (RCL), running a private bus route after its contract ends with the city.

First Transit will take over in the beginning of July.

RCL will continue to operate in the Med City, but it's unknown what that will look like.

The Department of Public Works suggested that RCL be on a different schedule than First Transit.

However, RCL can be on its same route.

The different schedule means RCL can not arrive sooner than 15 minutes before its scheduled time.

Both the Rochester Fire Department and Rochester Police Department expressed concern over increased congestion that would add on to response times.

Specifically, they wondered how double the bus traffic would affect 2nd Street SW.

RCL's attorney, Steven Diaz, says this is "an attempt to put RCL out of business."

Rochester City Attorney Terry Adkins is working on the schedule details.

It will run a 90 day trial and be revisited in October.