3 mistakes led to Winnipeg's bus shortage, says urban issues critic
Former mayoral staffer lists factors that led to Winnipeg Transit’s sudden service cutbacks
Brian Kelcey, a former staffer during Sam Katz's tenure as mayor and urban public policy consultant, says three factors conspired to create an embarrassing situation for Winnipeg Transit and the city's mayor last week.
On Wednesday night the city issued a release stating the new fall bus schedule had to be changed.
Due to "fleet maintenance demands," or repair backlogs, more than a dozen morning and afternoon bus schedules had to be scaled back. Winnipeg does not have enough working buses to service the frequency promised to riders during rush hour, the city said.
Winnipeg's Chief Administrative Officer, Doug McNeil, apologized and pledged to "make improvements to prevent this from happening again."
Kelcey said it all could have been avoided if the early warning signs had sparked action.
1. Failure to deal with the maintenance backlog
Kelcey said Transit should have asked for more resources months ago. In June, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505 warned maintenance staff could not keep up with demand. Kelcey said the city could have leased buses temporarily to cover routes while city-owned buses got repaired.
2. Failure to create emergency bus schedule and warn riders
Winnipeg Transit could have created a contingency schedule for those routes where there would not be enough buses. Kelcey said Transit could have been more open with the public, anticipated problems earlier and taken steps to prepare bus riders for a possible change to the fall schedule.
"There [still] would have been less service but at least the public wouldn't have been surprised in the same way," said Kelcey.
3. Failure in oversight
Kelcey blamed Mayor Brian Bowman, his staff and council for failing to sound the alarm earlier and come up with strategies to address the bus maintenance backlog.
"The reason why you have a mayor and council and mayor's office staff is to watch for these kinds of warnings," said Kelcey, "This should be a wake-up call for the mayor."
Kelcey said Bowman should be spending more time working with managers and identifying problems rather than "focusing increasingly, almost exclusively, on the fun, ceremonial aspects of the job."
A spokesperson for Mayor Brian Bowman said: "The reality is that the issue should have been brought forward to the CAO much earlier, and better managed, as CAO McNeil has acknowledged. Mayor Bowman is working on addressing the priorities of all Winnipeggers; this requires close collaboration with departments and elected members, as well as the citizens of Winnipeg – which remains his focus daily at City Hall."