‘We have not received what we paid for’
LRT-building Rideau Transit Group has ‘failed the city,’ top official says
Rideau Transit Group received another gut punch from the City of Ottawa on Wednesday, this time with the city manager suggesting taxpayers so far have been ripped off on the $2.1-billion LRT system.
“The level of service (RTG) provided is unsatisfactory and they have failed the city and its residents,” Steve Kanellakos told the transit commission before transit management provided a detailed overview of all the problems with the Confederation Line.
“We have not received what we paid for, and I can say that categorically.”
Kanellakos accused RTG and the company’s maintenance arm, Rideau Transit Maintenance, of “inadequate management oversight, poor planning, underresourcing and failure to anticipate predictable issues.”
RTG, which handed over the constructed LRT system more than a year late, has a 30-year maintenance agreement for LRT and receives between $4 million and $5 million each month from the city.
Because of the LRT problems, the city is withholding $2.8 million this month and Kanellakos said the city will continue not paying RTG until the rail line is running properly under provisions of the contract.
The transit commission meeting was for members to receive OC Transpo’s draft 2020 budget and ask questions about the transit problems over the past month.
The two issues are related as Transpo tries to find money to rescue the bus network connected to the LRT system.
The commission meeting was largely an airing of transit grievances.
Coun. Theresa Kavanagh said constituents feel their bus routes were “cannibalized on behalf of the LRT.”
Transpo has identified 49 issues with the bus system, with three main themes: overloaded buses, late or missed trips, and complaints about new service to LRT stations.
Transpo plans to spend $7.5 million more in 2020 (using $3.5 million from transit reserves) for bus service, including 19 new buses. Forty buses taken off the road are being put back into service.
Transpo has 880 buses available for service out of the 1,000 in its fleet, with the rest under maintenance. There are 139 bus routes and 8,454 scheduled bus trips each business day.
Transpo didn’t have specific information on what routes will be improved with the service expansion. Staff continue to discuss priorities with councillors.
Kavanagh worries it will be “a Hunger Games of whose ward is going to get this money and buses.”
Even with all the complaints about quality of the bus service and the LRT delays, Transpo is bullish on its ridership projections.
Ridership rose a tiny bit — 0.6 per cent — between January and September, compared with the previous year. However, Transpo is banking on a ridership increase of 2.6 per cent in 2020, a forecast that Coun. Riley Brockington called “ambitious” and “unlikely.”
At the same time, Brockington said the city can’t lower expectations for the LRT-backboned transit system.
The LRT problems caught the city by surprise. The rail system launched on Sept. 14 and had a decent three weeks during parallel bus service, but then started experiencing glitches.
Transpo has identified four problems contributing to the LRT problems: the system that monitors all functions on the train; the
vehicle on-board controller, which allows the train to communicate with the signalling system; door faults; and track switch issues.
Didn’t the city make sure these things were running properly before accepting the LRT system from RTG?
City rail construction director Michael Morgan said all of the issues were tested for years.
Now, train-maker Alstom has brought in experts from overseas to solve the ongoing problems.
But customers shouldn’t expect transit reliability in the short term. OC Transpo manager John Manconi said RTG hasn’t provided a timeline for fixing the technical problems.
The problems over the past month “really threw us back,” Kanellakos said, adding that he still believes it will take time to maintain an operational “rhythm.”
While the city blames most of the problems on RTG, Transpo acknowledges it, too, can do a better job.
There will be a small hiring frenzy at Transpo if council approves the budget. The agency is looking to add 15 customer service staff — 12 for LRT stations, two to blast out social-media messages and one supervisor.
The proposed 2020 budget also provides money for 58 more bus drivers to handle the service expansion and another 88 staff in several areas, though most will be drivers and mechanics.
Transpo wants to freeze the costs of the EquiPass and community pass in 2020, but other fares are scheduled to go up an average of 2.5 per cent at the beginning of the year.
Coun. Shawn Menard asked how Transpo could freeze all fares in 2020, which he’s interested in pursuing during the budget process. City treasurer Marian Simulik said it would be likely that Transpo would have to use transit capital reserves because there wouldn’t be enough in transit operating reserves.
Anthony Carricato, a citizen transit commissioner, wondered if it’s too late to cancel a $6-million electric bus pilot project and use the money to offset a larger fare freeze.
The transit commission will consider the draft 2020 budget on Nov. 20 before council votes on the entire city budget on Dec. 11. jwilling@postmedia.com twitter.com/JonathanWilling