Stop Transpo Reliability ‘Crap-Shoot’: THE VOTER
First, there were not enough drivers for Trillium Line reliability tests. Second, OC Transpo buses go missing on their routes.
If it were anybody other than OC Transpo, this would be unbelievable. Unfortunately, nothing is beyond the brain trust that runs our transit company.
In most normal operations, they would look at the number of buses they need to put on the road at a given time and then ensure that there are enough inspection facilities open to process that number of vehicles. Not so OC Transpo.
One would be forgiven for thinking that they are pretty clueless down at Transit Central about how bus and train service works. Recently we had the trains that couldn’t be tested because there were not sufficient drivers to put them through their paces. Now we find out that they can’t put buses on the road because they failed to have enough inspection stations operational.
Don’t they have people who are responsible for logistics whose job it is to ensure that these types of failures don’t happen? Don’t they have checklists of the components of a successful provision of service? Did the person who decided to shut down the inspection facility not know that those inspections are a prerequisite for sending the buses out each day?
Of course, it isn’t a departure from normal management at OC Transpo. Just another brick in the wall. You have to wonder how these people get themselves up and out the door in the morning. Do they each have a keeper of some kind – a partner, parent or roommate – who ensures they make it to work every day? Maybe by the time they’ve dealt with negotiating their way to the office, they’ve used up all their rational, logical thinking capacity for the day.
The suggestion that every passenger should check to see if their bus or train is running before going out to the stop is ludicrous. First, do they have the capacity to handle that many queries from customers twice a day? Second, many people have other things to do before they head out to the bus stop or train station. And third, the transit company is supposed to be providing a service of such a level that there are buses and trains turning up at stops at the advertised times. It shouldn’t be a crap-shoot as to whether you can get to and from your destination and you shouldn’t have to check on whether there will be a vehicle at your stop every time.
The Voter is a respected community activist and long-time Bulldog commenter who prefers to keep her identity private.
For You:
Top Canucks From Each Province: THE BEAVERTON
The Bulldog App: No Night Mayor Needed Here
The Case Of The Missing Buses … SOLVED!
Bookmark The Bulldog, click here
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
– The Bulldog – News Feed Enter 
OCTRANSPO couldn’t manage the night shift cleaning crew at a Burger King and I say that with deep respect to the men and women who are employed in those positions.
All in a Day’s “work” at O.C. Make using transit miserable so O.C. management can blame the customers who are NOT flocking to the transit system for continual and increasing losses.
Bruce,
I wonder what happens at OC Transpo when an employee shows up an hour or more late for work and, like so many of the rest of us, has to explain their tardiness was because their bus never showed up and the next one was so full that they couldn’t get on. Is that acceptable and does the supervisor commiserate with the employee and say how happy they are that the person is there now? Do they thank the traveller for their patience and understanding in the situation as Mme Amilcar does repeatedly to the public? Or do they get docked pay or have to work late to make up the time the way others do?
Voter Do you really think employees of O.C USE the transit “system” Drivers get a free pass to take a bus to the location where they pick up their bus (if it is ready) which may be why some are late …the bus.. or never get to where they should be on time. The parking lot for bus dispatch is/was full of cars even with free ride. St Laurent as a populated by inside staff has many such examples of have to drive a car. Wonder how Amilcar gets to the job? and her minions?
Voter. What you have pointed out in you article is a fundamental flaw that exists not only within OC Transpo, but in the overall way the City of Ottawa conducts most of their business. It seems this organization just doesn’t know how to walk through a problem in a logical fashion, what I refer to as top-down processing. No wonder the city is such a mess. By the way, when will you be setting up a pool to determine on which day Renee Amilcar will be fired?
She will not be fired as that is not how the city works! Resign with a package of some sort and a key to ride O.C for life?
Bruce,
I wasn’t thinking of people in the higher-paid level but more along the lines of the receptionist or other “common people” jobs. Good point though.
Only if she changes her name to Amilbus.
Sisco,
October 20th marked three years that she’s been head of OC Transpo. I must have overlooked my invite to the celebrations – did you get one? In that time, she’s been paid over a million dollars by Ottawa residents and what have we received in return?
There has to be a reason why Renee Amilcar is still with us that we don’t know about. I’d love to see the terms of her contract to know what her conditions of employment are and what the expectations are of her. I suppose it may be so iron-clad that they can’t get out of it. They were over a barrel at the time of her hiring given all that was going on then. Most people would have been reluctant to touch OC Transpo with a ten-foot pole so she would have been in the driver’s seat (pun intended!) when she was negotiating with them.
On the other hand, I am becoming increasingly convinced that she has something on someone or some people down there. Think about it – she’s probably had access to information about what went on in the days of her predecessors and their political masters for some time. Maybe she came across that long-buried file or files with some useful and incriminating evidence that hasn’t seen the light of day yet and they know she has it.
If you want to talk to her at the beginning of next month, know that she’ll be in Singapore acording to an announcement she made today. “Excited to announce that I’ll be speaking at the LTA-UITP Singapore International Transport Congress & Exhibition (SITCE) 2024! 6 – 8 November 2024: Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre”. She invites you to “Join me and other transport experts as we delve into the future of urban mobility and discuss innovative solutions to make transport networks more efficient, sustainable, and inclusive.” Notice there’s no mention of making the networks ‘functional’. If anyone does join her there, perhaps you could bring that up.
Bruce,
You may have just identified the reason she is still here! Wouldn’t being given the key to ride OC Transpo for life be a punishment rather than an inducement to leave? Maybe she’s holding out for that to be removed before she agrees to leave.
Interestingly when the city hired Renee Amilcar she was from Quebec. As a professional engineer she was licensed by the Quebec engineering regulator, Le Ordre de Ingenieurs du Quebec. Three years later and she is still licensed with the Quebec engineering regular and not the Ontario regulator, Professional Engineers Ontario. Normally people get licensed in the jurisdiction in which they work and may have multiple licenses if they work in several provinces. Strange that she has not gotten licensed in the province in which she has worked for three years now.
Andrew,
That’s very interesting. Could she be keeping her Quebec license up-to-date in case she needs to retreat to that province?
I can see why she mightn’t have bothered to get an Ontario license since she’s not actually practicing engineering in her current job. Getting and maintaining a professional license can be costly so, if you aren’t going to be using it, it may not make sense to bother with it.
The Voter- The cost of an Ontario engineering license is about $300 per year and it is tax deductible so hardly a big expense. As well, many employers will pay the cost of the licence if the employee needs it for the job. Being already being licensed in one province makes it relatively easy to get licensed in another province. While she may not be doing engineering herself, she is managing engineers.