TRANSIT: Underestimating the Situation

[dewline]

Have a look at this:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/oc-transpo-overtime-costs-rising-1.5200845

Noting this quotation in particular from the article:

"The city handed layoff notices to 345 transit operators last August. At the time, the Confederation Line was expected to be up and running by November. That deadline and several subsequent ones have come and gone, and it's now hoped the trains will be running by September.

Many of those layoff notices have since been rescinded, but some drivers have moved on to other jobs. As of June 1, the city had 76 fewer drivers than it had in April 2018, and overall there are 140 job vacancies."

I am thinking that those layoffs were a mistake in themselves. Also, the long-standing assumption that OC Transpo will need fewer buses once the trains are up and running is an error that's going to backfire on us passengers. If the O-Train lines work as we hope, there's going to be more passengers on those buses feeding into and out of the Trillium and Confederation Lines. And more people needing to get around those portions of the city that don't get directly served by the train lines, as well.

So, they'd better not shed those buses and drivers.

Comments

[thewayne]

It's an old, old story. Get rid of the people you don't need that are surplus to requirements because no ever comes in on time, then when you need them, they've moved or moved on and are no longer available and it costs more money to hire new people and bring them up to speed.

And there's no easy remedy because accurate project completion is almost impossible.

[notasupervillain]

That sounds like a mistake made by someone who wants to fire drivers, no matter the situation :(

[dewline]

Such would not surprise me.