OC Transpo’s ‘Abundance Of Caution’
“An abundance of caution.”
A phrase seen often in OC Transpo press releases
concerning safety.
The phrases “abundance of caution” and “safety is our first priority” often grace the press releases of OC Transpo.
Here is how abundance of caution has been put into action by the transit service:
- multiple derailments of the O-Train;
- the O-Train inaugurated too early and was not ready;
- safety striping on deadly bus station canopies at Lincoln Fields station was planned to be installed in late 2022 but was installed this week during the special coroner’s inquiry into the 2019 brash crash at Westboro station;
- 11 crashes in five years at Westboro station prior to thee deadly crash there;
- the delay in putting up the striping, OC Transpo says, was related to the Covid-19 pandemic;
- safety striping at other Transitway canopies, planned in 2022, was not installed;
- 13 canopies of the type at the now-unused Westboro station are still in place;
- the canopies were installed long before the advent of double-decker buses;
- three people killed, 23 injured in 2019 Westboro station bus crash;
- six people killed, 34 injured in 2013 bus-train crash near Fallowfield station.
Ken Gray
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– The Bulldog – News Feed Enter 
Well, just imagine how bad things would be if they didn’t use an abundance of caution.
Merrill, I would prefer to sleep soundly.
I can see the videos of Renee Amilcar dancing to “YMCA” and ignoring the questions that should be asked based on the facts presented above. First question, “when will she hold a town hall meeting to openly discuss OC Transpo with a live audience?”.
I believe that, in an abundance of caution, the time has come to tell Renee Amilcar that her services are no longer required by OC Transpo. The caution that needs to be exercised is to prevent her and those she is currently supervising from doing any further damage to the transit company and/or the residents of the community.
Given that Wendy Stephanson, the City Manager, has been supposedly supervising Mme Amilcar since August of 2023, she must be called upon to justify not taking the step of removing her before now. Stephanson’s own job performance must be reviewed in light of this dereliction of duty and to discover if this is an isolated incidence of incompetence or if her performance to date indicates an inability to carry out the duties assigned to her. If the latter is the case, she too needs to be terminated asap.
Sisco,
Mme Amilcar is too busy crossing her fingers to appear in front of the public and/or do the YMCA dance.
At the Transit Commission meeting, when talking about the “New Ways to Bus” reorganization that’s coming on April 27th, staff reported that they don’t have enough buses to deliver service on all those routes even though the “improved” service will use less buses than are currently required. They have about 521 buses that will be roadworthy but need a minimum of 540 per day to meet the new service levels.
As reported in “Capital Current” this week, Mme Amilcar & Co told councillors that the aging fleet, combined with a shortage of about 50 mechanics, means that they can’t put enough buses on the road. They are, in fact, overworking their newer buses (thereby shortening their lives) to try and maintain service.
The responsible approach she’s taking to the problem? “We will continue to maintain the aging fleet and fingers crossed we will not need to retire some of them prior (to) receiving E-buses,” said OC Transpo General Manager Renée Amilcar. Quite the announcement to make a couple of weeks before the launch date of “New Ways to Bus”. Particularly when she had control of choosing the launch date.
Now that’s good planning and management of the transit company, isn’t it?
Voter. Hear, hear!! Or maybe heard, heard!!