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1. Transit
Services Annual Performance Report 2008
Rapport annuel sur le
rendement des services de transport en commun 2008
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committee
recommendation
That Council receive this report for
information.
Recommandation
du comité
Que le Conseil municipal prennent connaissance du présent rapport.
Documentation
1. Deputy City Manager Report,
Infrastructure Services and Community Sustainability report dated 25 May 2009 (ACS2009-ICS-TRA-0008).
2. Extract
of Draft Minutes 33, Wednesday 3 June, 2009.
Report to/Rapport au :
Transit Committee
Comité du
transport en commun
and Council / et au Conseil
25 May 2009 / le 25 mai 2009
Submitted by/Soumis par : Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager/Directrice
municipale adjointe,
Planning,
Transit and the Environment/Urbanisme, Transport en commun et Environnement
Contact Person/Personne ressource : Alain Mercier, General
Manager/Directeur général,
Transit
Services/Services du transport en commun
(613)
842-3636 x 2271 ,
Alain.Mercier@ottawa.ca
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Ref N°: ACS2009-ICS-TRA-0008
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SUBJECT:
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TRANSIT SERVICES ANNUAL PERFORMANCE
REPORT 2008
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OBJET :
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RAPPORT
ANNUEL SUR LE RENDEMENT DES SERVICES DE TRANSPORT EN COMMUN 2008
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REPORT
RECOMMENDATION
That the Transit
Committee and Council receive this report for information.
RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT
Que le Comité du
transport en commun et le Conseil municipal prennent connaissance du présent
rapport.
DISCUSSION
Document 1 to this report presents the
Annual Performance Report of the Transit Services Branch for 2008.
CONSULTATION / PUBLIC NOTIFICATION
Consultation/public
notification was not required as part of the preparation of this document.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no legal/risk management impediments to the
implementation of this Report's recommendations.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no
financial implications related to this document.
SUPPORTING
DOCUMENTATION
Document 1 Transit Services Annual Performance Report
2008
DOCUMENT
1
TRANSIT SERVICES
ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT 2008
RAPPORT ANNUEL SUR LE RENDEMENT DES SERVICES DE TRANSPORT EN COMMUN 2008
ACS2009-ICS-TRA-0008 CITY WIDE / À
L'ÉCHELLE DE LA VILLE
The following delegations were received:
Katherine Kersteins related her
experience of being put into a severe anaphylactic reaction while riding an OC
Transpo bus. Unbeknownst to her, she
had touched the same part of the bus as an individual who had eaten a cereal
bar made with peanut butter. At Hurdman
Station, she got off the bus and received initial assistance from OC Transpo
Security. A paramedic team and finally,
an ambulance followed this. In order to
provide access for the latter, police vehicles blocked the intersections so
that bus traffic in and out of the station was halted.
Ms. Kersteins
emphasized the impact caused by one individual eating a peanut butter bar on
the bus, and the costs incurred by human resources and emergency vehicles, plus
the delay caused to transit passengers who had to wait until the ambulance left
to take her to the hospital. This
incident could also have cost her her life.
Ms. Kersteins believed that banning food on buses will inconvenience a
small amount of people, but will benefit a great number more when they are not
stopped or delayed, by an emergency of someone having an anaphylactic
reaction. She referred to a handout
listing cities in Canada that currently have a food policy on buses,
including: Barrie; Hamilton; Oakville
and Burlington. A copy of her
submission is held on file.
When asked to comment on her statements, Mr. Mercier explained that
the issue of hygiene/cleanliness/debris on buses was identified as being one of
the weakest elements in their service delivery in terms of customer perception
and staff intend to bring forward a report in the fall, on the cost/benefits
related to creating a hygienic environment.
Catherine Gardner spoke to several
issues, namely:
Driver Safety: drivers are distracted by having to answer to dispatch, calling out
stops and giving directions to passengers; she has also seen some of them using
their cell phones when driving. She
suggested drivers should use earplugs instead and should get in touch with
dispatch only after hours. Further,
when dispatch announces to the drivers to watch for a particular person, that
individual may be on the bus and this could put the driver in danger.
Elevators at transit stations: The report states these are operating
at 94% but it has been her experience that they are usually out of order (at
the stations she uses). Also, one of
the elevators at the St. Laurent Station is not lit and it is extremely dark
once the doors close.
Size of text depicting routes: The printed route on the front of the bus is
not always legible to those with poor eyesight. When the same route numbers go to multiple destinations, rather
than trying to fit the destination on the front of the bus, the individual
routes should be named 118 A, 118 B and 118 C, for example. Printed and electronic schedules would
identify where each go and passengers would soon learn which bus to take.
Responding to some of her specific concerns, Mr. Mercier
confirmed that there is a policy that drivers are not to use their cell phones
while driving. He advised that they
have gone to text messaging for official communications so the driver does not
have to use the handset. And, if a
driver needs to contact the control centre, they have been instructed only to
do so when they are not driving the bus.
Daniel Oickle put forward the following
concerns:
·
the Para Transpo driver who dropped
him off today was told he could not pull up to the entrance on Lisgar Street,
but had to let him off at the curb (the Chair remarked that staff would
follow-up on that particular complaint because it is regular practice to bring
people to the door)
·
he did not think it was fair to have
to pay an additional $5 to take Para Transpo to the Gloucester Fair at the
Rideau Carleton Raceway. This facility
is served by regular transit. He
believed disabled people are being discriminated against by having to pay a
higher fare (the Chair explained that the Gloucester Fair was located in a
rural part of the City and he was therefore charged the rural fare)
·
he stopped using regular transit
because parts of his motorized scooter had to be repaired because of the way he
has to get on the bus; some drivers are moving before he is “parked” on the
bus.
With regards to his remarks on the different fares between regular
service and Para Transpo, the Chair estimated that regular transit (roughly
$3/ride) is subsidized by half, whereas there is an approximate 90% subsidy for
the $30/ride on Para Transpo.
In response to concerns and questions raised by Councillor Leadman
about accidents, Mr. Mercier provided the following details:
·
the data presented in the report is
very high level and the next phase is to take a more defined view of what is it
that can be controlled; Ottawa is well below industry acceptable norms for
accidents
·
the general risks and costs have been
buried within the cost structure of claims and risk within the City and staff
have requested transferring those costs to Transit Services in order to provide
a clearer view of the costs of incidents
·
they have introduced a comprehensive
program for defensive driving to address the increase in preventable accidents
·
they have acquired a technology to
assess drivers and instructors and those who are involved in a preventable
accident to improve their skills;
·
there is a review program held every
three months for the first year so their skill level and comfort can be
assessed
·
they have made significant strides and
the rejection rate for operators who did not qualify to pass the skills
assessment following their training is extremely low
·
they put a lot of emphasis at the
pre-qualification level and spend significant time over six weeks to bring
those drivers to the skill level and there is over a 90% success rate
That the
Transit Committee and Council receive this report for information.
RECEIVED