Frank Bruno has an identity crisis.

Not because the CEO of Boulder-based Via Mobility Services has the same name as a British former heavyweight boxer, but because the name of the 46-year-old nonprofit paratransit service he runs is being confused with New York-based Via Transportation Inc., the company with which the city of Longmont contracted last year to run its microtransit service, Ride Longmont. That company insists on placing “by Via” on the Ride Longmont cars.

So when venerable Via vies with vendor Via’s vehicles, it can be very vexing.

The problem, Bruno said, is that Via Transportation insists that its “Via” name be displayed on the Ride Longmont vehicles, “so our riders have seen that in Longmont and think it’s us.”

Ride Longmont operates much like Uber or Lyft: Customers can call to book a ride, although many use a cellphone app to create an account and summon the six- or eight-passenger vehicles to a point within walking distance.

Passengers may have to ride with others as the vehicle picks up more people along their route, but should make it to their destination in 15 to 20 minutes. Rides will cost $2 for the general pub- lic and $1 for students and seniors.Via Mobility is different. It was founded in 1979 as Special Transit, the region’s first paratransit provider, and is funded through donations. It helps people who can’t drive or who live with disabilities get to medical care, senior centers, grocery stores, or even just family and friends. Bruno says the respect it built is now under threat.

“We’re now somewhat subject to what they do,” Bruno said.

“If something happens on that service and people say ‘That was Via,’ it hurts our reputation. We’ve had donors reach out and say, ‘We’ve given you all this money and then you do this in Longmont?’ We’ve had to say, ‘That’s not us.’

“I had met with that company about the potential of working together, and I suggested the name was a problem,” Bruno said. “They were polite and kind, but they don’t see it that way. If the contractor says no, what do you do?”

Phil Greenwald, Longmont’s transportation planning manager, got the same response when he worked with the New York company on the Ride Longmont contract.

“That was part of our early negotiations, to have them not use the ‘by Via’ on our vehicles,” he said, “but they’re a for-profit company trying to sell a product, and they couldn’t make that work for their business model.”

Greenwald and Bruno discussed the problem over lunch on Thursday.

“Phil’s a longtime friend and colleague,” Bruno said, “so when he tells me he asked, I believe him.”

Added Greenwald, “We don’t want Via Mobility to lose donors because there’s confusion over who’s providing services. We are dependent on them to provide that level of door-to-door service we can’t.”

Bruno had even sought advice from former Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett, now a founding partner at the Garnett Powell Maximon Barlow & Farbes law firm, but said “I don’t think I can ask him to do a cease-and-desist order. How am I going to pay for that? He might do it pro bono, but it’s not fair to make him eat that. If I were to seek a legal pathway, that’s going to cost a boatload of money, donor money or earned income that I’d rather use to invest in our services. I don’t think it’s right for a nonprofit to sue somebody.”

Couldn’t Bruno’s company simply change its name, as it did in 2012 when Special Transit rebranded as Via Mobility Services — six months before Via Transportation was founded in New York?

“Stan even asked me that,” Bruno said. “But we’ve spent 13 years building this particular brand. We have a couple hundred vehicles with our Via Mobility branding wraps. The process of redesigning would take at least $300,000 if not a half million. I don’t have that kind of money, not even on the low end.”

Any extra money will be needed to meet the growing demand, Bruno and Greenwald agreed.

Ride Longmont, which launched in December, is averaging more than 200 riders per day, Greenwald said, and “just added a seventh vehicle and new drivers.

“The whole idea is to relieve these other services with Ride so they’re not inundated with needs they can’t meet,” Greenwald said. “None of these services has seen a drop in services.”

So what can be done to cut through the confusion?

“Frank and I are going to work on things we can do to help get the word out,” Greenwald said.

“We’re not disparaging Via Transportation,” Bruno added. “I don’t see why this couldn’t be an easy solution.

“There’s room in the market for a lot of different services. It’s not that. It’s just the name.”

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