Keeping bus drivers safe keeps bus riders safe, too

Ottawa's City Council recently voted unanimously to support two private-members bills presented to Parliament that seek to toughen penalties against people who assault operators on public transit in Canada. Both Bill C-533 (moved by Liberal MP Ralph Goodale) and Bill C-402 (moved by NDP MP Peter Julian) are in progress and were written to offer more protection for public transit employees.

The city's vote comes on the heels of a recent well-known assault in Ottawa, for which a man who pulled his bus driver from the vehicle and beat him bloody received only a suspended sentence and no prison time.

Mayor Jim Watson was quoted in the Ottawa Sun after the City of Ottawa's vote, and he had this to say:

"Broadly speaking, a driver is vulnerable when operating a vehicle. They're focusing on the road and upcoming hazards, looking ahead and checking mirrors, with both hands on the wheel. And they're doing all this, sitting by themselves, while trying to keep the other passengers in the vehicle safe. In the case of transit operators, these passengers can number in the hundreds or thousands in a given day."

There's enough for operators to worry about even if they're not at serious risk of being assaulted--and sadly, the numbers suggest they are at risk. The president of the union that represents OC Transpo operators said that there are, on average, about 60 physical assaults on drivers every year; that's more than one per week.

Bus drivers obviously need better protection, for their individual sakes and for the sake of the passengers they're ferrying around the city. Hopefully these bills pass and can offer that protection.

OC Transpo's double-decker safety and reliability concerns

photo via CBC

When the City of Ottawa initially discussed the inclusion of double-decker buses in OC Transpo's fleet, I had some concerns about their performance in the city--but was mostly intrigued by the novelty of the vehicles. After a little while with them integrated into the transit system, though, questions seem to be coming up about their suitability in Ottawa's climate and within OC Transpo's system.

Last week, it came out that OC Transpo and the union representing bus operators (ATU 279) has reached an agreement that would see double deckers kept off a section Woodroffe Avenue out of concerns for safety after a couple were blown into the ditch due to high winds blowing across the farm fields in the Greenbelt on either side of the roadway.

According to OC Transpo's official Twitter account, the agreement only affects a section of Woodroffe Avenue from the Nepean Sportsplex to Fallowfield Station--a four-kilometre stretch used exclusively by out-of-service buses:

@ptio All DDs will use the Twy from Sportsplex to Fallowfield. Currently, only out of service buses travel along that section of Woodroffe.
— OC Transpo (@OC_Transpo) July 29, 2013

With that in mind, it's not much of a concern from a rider's perspective; the stretch runs parallel to the Southwest Transitway, so the only change we're likely to see (aside from fewer buses in the ditch, hopefully) is more out-of-service double-decker buses running along the Transitway.

As a refresher, Ottawa bought 75 double-decker buses at a cost of roughly $82M a couple years back. These buses offer good "horizontal efficiency," so to speak, because they carry a comparable number of passengers to articulated buses but are the same length as a standard 40-footer--a significant benefit given the congestion along the Transitway downtown at rush hour. They also have more seats than an articulated bus, resulting in greater comfort for riders (although the upper-deck seats are not designed for tall people, trust me).

However, due to the time required for loading and unloading passengers, the buses are mostly used for express routes--which means that for most of the day, these buses are mostly parked and unused. They are, essentially, reserved for express route use.

Thing specific change restricting double-deckers from a rather small stretch of Woodroffe Avenue doesn't seem to be a very significant cause for concern, but potential problems navigating windy and slushy road conditions certainly are. (Of course, it's also worth noting that articulated buses can sometimes struggle with Ottawa winters, as well.)

I'm curious: Are readers questioning the suitability of double-decker buses for Ottawa's transit needs?

Check your behaviour

Update (5:30pm ): General Manager Alain Mercier sent a memo to members of Transit Commission.  You can find it on Alistair Steele's blog from the CBC. In the letter, Mr. Mercier makes an apology, believes the incident is "genuine", reassures that this is a rare case and is not the "norm".  Mr. Mercier said the right things and responded in a timely manner.


You can also read a reasonable response from an OC Transpo driver on his blog Drives in Circles.

Some are suggesting that the victim was trying to get attention given that he studies acting.  Passengers and at least one driver say that he is annoying. While the young man may be annoying to everyone on the bus, it doesn't appear that he was seeking attention to showcase his acting skills because we didn't see any kind of acting in the video.



A video of an OC Transpo driver swearing and threatening a mentally ill passenger has caught the attention of many including Mayor Jim Watson and even made national news.  The video is below (warning: there are f-bombs):

 

Normally, with any video featuring bad behaviour, there may be something that we missed before the video was captured. The video uploader, DartPak, explains the passenger was talking very loudly and when he approached the bus driver to talk to him, the bus driver flipped out on him. Apparently, the passenger apologized numerous times. The witness added in the comment section that the driver told the passenger to leave bus while it was on the Queensway and told CTV the driver and passenger have probably met in the past:

“I heard the bus driver say ‘every night it's the same thing with you, just sit down and shut up and take your meds,'” he said. “Just really inappropriate things in my opinion.”

An OC Transpo driver, familiar with the passenger, told the Ottawa Sun the passenger was “aggressive socially”, but harmless.

Swearing at a customer and threatening physical violence is completely inexcusable, unacceptable, and is not tolerated anywhere. In fact, that type of behaviour makes one unqualified to work with the public.  The behaviour of this driver has further supported the public perception that OC Transpo drivers provide terrible customer service. It's unfortunate because many bus operators are very kind and care about the safety of passengers. OC Transpo is attempting to re-brand themselves by displaying ads of their employees in a positive manner on buses and shelters .

As for the punishment, people on Twitter are calling for the bus driver to be fired. OC Transpo deals with such matters internally and discloses little information to the public.

ATU Local 279 President Garry Queale gave a response that could be just as upsetting as the video. Queale told the Sun: “There is a City of Ottawa bylaw that people aren’t supposed to take pictures on buses.”

This response is very similar to the one from the union representing STO drivers when an STO driver was caught on video filing paper work while driving his bus. I understand that drivers don't want to be filmed. But, when the driver is negligent behind the wheel or abuses a passenger, claiming “privacy rights” is not a valid excuse. When the union makes such a statement, the public can't take it seriously.

Video recording is prohibited on OC Transpo property unless it is for personal use (Section 19.7). In other words, as long as the video isn't used for commercial purposes, then it is considered legal.

So far, the only person who has apologized for the incident is the victim, which is very unsettling, and it may be the only apology we will ever hear.

Complaints, complaints, complaints against OC Transpo and STO

It seems like over the last few weeks we've seen a spat of articles about complaints made against our local transit authorities, OC Transpo and STO. Rather than delve into them one by one, it seems sensible to discuss them here.

Most of us remember the STO operator who was filmed doing paperwork while driving along one of Gatineau's busiest streets a couple of weeks ago. It looked like he was disciplined, but not fired, for the transgression. His union is working on protecting driver privacy by ensuring riders can't film drivers, but the Ottawa Citizen's David Reevely argues that the freedom to record drivers breaking rules (especially when they endanger the lives of the riders they're carrying) can be a pretty useful thing.

Don't think there haven't been complaints about OC Transpo, though. The Ottawa Citizen reported a few weeks ago that riders made 178 complaints about drivers using electronic devices behind the wheel between the year-long period from April 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011. ATU 279 president Garry Queale questioned the number of legitimate complaints in that pool and transit commissioner Keith Egli downplayed the number of complaints, while a letter-writer to the Citizen wondered why people would make up complaints about such a specific violation.

Finally, one OC Transpo operator is facing allegations that he left his bus idling while he picked up some "groceries" from the LCBO.

And, of course, Twitter and other social media are always filled with complaints about OC Transpo.

The problem with complaining about public transit is that, sometimes, the delay you're experiencing isn't anything that could have been avoided. Take the massive delays yesterday along the Transitway between Hurdman and Laurier Station due to a collision between a bus and a pedestrian. I saw the grisly aftermath of that collision as I took the bus down the roadway, but even seeing that didn't stop people on my bus from complaining. And that's disrespectful to the person who is now in critical condition, to the driver who's likely dealing with a lot of trauma of his own as a result of it, and it's a shame.

Next time you're complaining about OC Transpo service, take a minute to consider the possibility that it's not necessarily managerial incompetence that's made you a few minutes late.

Good news in OC Transpo negotiations

For most of this round of negotiations, both the City of Ottawa and the ATU 279 representing OC Transpo drivers and mechanics have been saying the right things. That continued last week, despite the fact that as of last Thursday, the union is actually working without a contract while their representatives continue negotiating. New president of the ATU 279 Garry Queale is talking the talk, with regard to good-faith negotiations. From the Ottawa Citizen:

“The contract has expired, but at this point in time the union wants to finish what wasn’t finished in the 2008 contract — the scheduling issues, and when that is finished we are ready to move to the new contract. My goal is to get this scheduling issue finished ‘ASAP’ and then let’s move on to new negotiations and get something settled there,” he said.

“We will continue working as if we are under a contract that’s been grandfathered, and hopefully someday soon, we will start collective bargaining for 2011.”

Once the old issues are settled, Queale said the union will start serious bargaining to reach an agreement that works for the workers and the city.

“I don’t want a work stoppage or strike. We want to negotiate in good faith and get a deal for the membership that we can live with, and that doesn’t jeopardize transit users,” he said.

No one from the city has been quoted recently about negotiations, but there's little doubt that nobody wants a transit strike. Hopefully negotiations continue fairly and uneventfully, and we find a mutually acceptable solution before the fact that there is currently no contract becomes a big issue.

Cooler heads need to prevail in OC Transpo contract negotiations

Through the 2008-09 winter transit strike and ever since, citizens in Ottawa have been witness to the back-and-forth between OC Transpo and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) 279, which represents OC Transpo operators and mechanics, about (along with other issues) scheduling. OC Transpo General Manager Alain Mercier has a number of ideas which, by his numbers, would increase efficiency and improve service for Ottawa transit system; the ATU, led by current vice-president Mike Aldrich, thinks most of the changes will do the opposite, and also says they'll further poison the work environment at OC Transpo. For most citizens, it's a debate short on provable facts and high on rhetoric, which makes it all the more frustrating for most.

Last week in the Ottawa Citizen, Randall Denley waded into the debate, offering a column that indicated support for Mercier and management as the decision-makers. From his column:

Mayor Jim Watson said Monday he wanted to get the facts on the table as the city heads into contract negotiations so that “urban myths” weren’t allowed to persist. Good idea.

The problem with running an organization like OC Transpo is that every employee and bus rider fancies himself an expert because he knows something about some element of this complex service.

What is little appreciated is that the current Transpo management has brought rationality and a numbers-driven approach to running a bus company that used to be an amateur operation. Mercier won’t win any popularity contests, but most of what he does is soundly supported by numbers and analysis.

Unfortunately, numbers and analysis are never as compelling for an individual as his direct experience, however limited that might be.

Denley also spoke about a few other issues currently being debated between two sides. But through it all, Denley made one especially prescient point: No matter whether the ATU is in the right or the wrong, their attempts to gain publicity for the issues have for the most part backfired. The public hasn't been sympathetic to the concerns of drivers, and for the most part the perception--whether rightly or wrongly--is that operators are compensated well for their work, and if they are unhappy with what they get, there are many others prepared to step in and accept it (that was also the tone Denley ended his column on, as well: "OC Transpo who really think the job is terrible should quit and give the opportunity to someone who wants it."). That's a dangerous stance to take with any group of workers (imagine the experience that would be lost), but it seems a fairly common sentiment. The union lost the battle for public opinion in the last round of negotiations; they would do well to heed lessons learned and keep their tactics to the bargaining table, especially with a mayor who seems more willing to play fair this time around.

It does seem that the union realizes there are things they can do to improve their reputation among the public. On the OC Transpo LiveJournal, a hub dominated largely by operators, user mayorzero published an entry called "Stop The Whining", asking his fellow members to stop complaining to the media about their working conditions, pointing specifically to this letter published in the Citizen from a 30-year veteran of OC Transpo. Mayorzero speaks to Denley's column:

While most of Denley's column is complete and utter crap (as usual), he does make a number of good points too, and the union and membership should take note.

[...]

So please stop whining on Facebook, blogs, letters to the editor,
(especially) CFRA etc, etc. Every time somebody whines on behalf of the membership, the public and the majority of the media just bury our asses further and further.

All we should be hearing from the union right now is exactly what we are hearing from Jim Watson: "We will not be negotiating in public, we will bring the issues before our membership and will provide information at the appropriate time."

It would seem that new ATU president Garry Queale is handling things the right way: Say the right things about wanting to avoid a transit strike, issuing complaints through the appropriate agencies (like the Canada Industrial Relations Board, which was sent a complaint a few weeks ago) instead of through the media, and--basically--taking the high road in the negotiations. The city and OC Transpo has done a good job this time around keeping their tone civil.

But one thing that absolutely must change, if we're seriously going to see an improvement in relations? Regular citizens of Ottawa, the people who take the bus or even those who only pay taxes, need to show a little bit of respect and respectability here. ATU members are fighting to get a bit more money from you, yes, but they're also human beings, with families and lives. So treat them with the respect they deserve.

Everyone's talking about another OC Transpo strike

It seems like everyone's pretty pessimistic about the possibility of avoiding a transit strike during this year's negotiations between OC Transpo and the City of Ottawa. Considering the virulent back-and-forth between both sides through the last one, people can probably be forgiven for their cynicism.

Although the possibility of a strike has been in everyone's mind for quite a few weeks, it really took off when former mayor Larry O'Brien penned a guest column for the Ottawa Citizen suggesting that we're headed down the same road as we were last time. David Reevely pointed out a few falsehoods in O'Brien's op/ed on the Greater Ottawa blog, but even if the factors O'Brien pointed to are flawed, the fact that some of the same issues which caused the last transit strike remain unsolved is undeniable.

On the plus side, no one wants a transit strike. Or at least both sides say they want to avoid one. From the city's perspective, a strike would be disastrous, and would likely be something saddled on mayor Jim Watson--whether it's fair or not--after he promised to work on repairing strained relations with OC Transpo. Unions never really want to go on strike, but it is one of few options available to them in negotiation; still, with the last strike so fresh in their minds, you've got to think the ATU 279 are especially dreading the possibility--their new president, Garry Queale, said in one of his first interviews that he's not in favour of a strike (although his predecessor, Mike Aldrich, said the same thing weeks before walking away from negotiations).

If you think Toronto's recent advances towards an essential service designation for the TTC might pave the way for a similar one in Ottawa, don't count on it. Neither the city nor the union are in favour of the designation, and also anything in Ottawa would have to go through the federal government (which in the past had no interest) rather than the provincial.

So the negotiators from the city and the union will have to figure it out themselves. Well, once they get back to negotiating...

Transit union has a new president

As you might have seen reported in most Ottawa news media, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) local 279 elected a new president last week. The new boss is Garry Queale, a longtime driver and dispatcher for OC Transpo, and his first comments should be welcome: "I want to negotiate a fair deal for our members, and not do it through the TV and radio and newspapers."

His full (and brief) comment, from the Ottawa Citizen:

"My priority is to work within the membership to boost morale and work with the city together, and not through the media," said Queale, a longtime dispatcher with OC Transpo. "We’ve been through lots of battles and I want to negotiate a fair deal for our members, and not do it through the TV and radio and newspapers. I know Mayor Jim Watson; I’m sure I can work with him."

The last president of the ATU 279 was certainly commendable for the passion with which he fought for his union, but came under fire for his unapologetic comments in the media. And acting president Mike Aldrich, who served while Cornellier he was in poor health and since his mid-January passing, was no stranger to the media, and routinely offered his comments whenever asked--whether the subject was his membership, or simply OC Transpo as a whole.

Citizens and ATU members are both likely relieved to see someone who, at least initially, is more interested in negotiating with the city rather than negotiating through the media. The toxic atmosphere through 2008-09 transit strike was contributed to by poor choices on both sides, and poor decisions made by both Cornellier and former mayor Larry O'Brien in particular. Hopefully in this round of negotiations, with the sides led by quieter leaders Queale and Watson, we'll see a more amicable resolution.

Outsourcing an issue between city, union

One issue that didn't get as much coverage in the winter transit strike of 2008-09 but remains a significant one is the outsourcing of labour at OC Transpo. The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) local 279, representing operators, obviously doesn't like the idea, but the city maintained that it was something they could use to keep operating costs lower. It's become an issue once again, according to 580 CFRA:

The vice president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Mike Aldrich says safety inspections for busses are being delayed because OC Transpo management didn't submit the required paperwork in time.

Mike Aldrich says it means the work - normally done by union members - is being outsourced to commercial garages in the city.

"It's just another way of somebody dropping the ball in management," says Aldrich. "Someone has got to be accountable for this."

Relations between the two sides seem to be improving, but this is one issue which will certainly continue to come up in the ongoing negotiations between the two sides.

A great new year's resolution: Avoid a transit strike

According to a report from 580 CFRA, that's exactly what at least one of the parties involved has resolved to do.

The head of the union representing OC Transpo drivers, dispatchers and mechanics is telling commuters not to put "too much worry" into the threat of a transit strike.

Contract negotiations between OC Transpo and the Amalgamated Transit Union will ramp up in January.

ATU Acting President Mike Aldrich tells CFRA News his New Year's resolution is to ensure a bus strike is not repeated.

So that's a plus. Because if there's one thing I'd rather not blog about in this year, it's labour strife at OC Transpo.

Is OC Transpo an essential service?

Public transit news made some waves earlier in the week when the Ottawa Sun ran a cover story featuring Toronto mayor Rob Ford saying that Ottawa should make OC Transpo an essential service, similar to what he's trying to do with public transit in his city.

“They should do the same thing,” said Ford when contacted by the Ottawa Sun on the subject. “It’s definitely an issue. We had 13 strikes in Toronto and it cost us $50 million a day.”

My immediate reaction was: Why are we asking the mayor of another city why Ottawa's public transit should be declared an essential service?

But after deciding to move beyond that question, I remembered the discussion of making OC Transpo an essential service in the aftermath of the 2008-09 winter transit strike. The Canadian Industrial Relations Board, which has jurisdiction over OC Transpo because of the inter-provincial routes included, sought to determine whether or not such a designation was fitting, and both the city and the union argued that it wasn't an essential service. Certain citizen groups had argued in favour of the designation, but given those counter-arguments, it wasn't done.

In response to Ford's comments, Amalgamated Transit Union 279 interim president Mike Aldrich said he was "surprised" by the comments.

My opinion on the matter is that public transit is most definitely an essential service for some people in the city. Although legislating it would be difficult, a partial solution for Ottawa may be designating the core of OC Transpo service essential (for instance, Transitway routes 95-96-97 and select others, like the 106), as was suggested by Klaus Beltzner (B.Sc., M.Math., M.B.A, and member of Friends of the O-Train) a couple of years back.

A change of tone between the OC Transpo and the union

Well this is a refreshing dose of positive news.

Less than a week ago, I posted about early jockeying between the city and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) 279 as the two sides were preparing to negotiate an extension to their agreement to keep OC Transpo buses running. It seemed the hostility between the two sides hadn't faded at all, and didn't bode well for negotiations.

But now, things seem to be a little different. Mayor Jim Watson met with acting president of the ATU 279 Mike Aldrich on Monday to discuss the future of Ottawa public transit (and preventing another transit strike), and Transit Commission acting chair Diane Deans is to meet with Aldrich on Tuesday for the same thing. The two had earlier said their interest was in smoothing relations between OC Transpo and the union, but hadn't done anything to put substance behind their words; opening up communication is a good place to start.

But it takes two sides to negotiate, and it looks like Aldrich is ready to do so now, too. On Monday, in an interview with the Ottawa Sun, Aldrich seemed to be moving forward with the negotiations:

Aldrich said he’s “looking forward” to the upcoming negotiations and hinted that things will be different with the ATU now under his leadership and not that of former president Andre Cornellier.

“It will be a whole new way of negotiating. We’re going to get rid of the adversarial attitude and get along. We (the ATU and the city) want to have a world-class transit system,” he said.

“This is the public’s transit system and I don’t want to use the public as pawns, we had 54 days of that s**t. It’s the last thing we want.”

There's some passion there, and it's a passion to find a proper agreement before push comes to shove and a strike seems inevitable. All of a sudden, I'm fairly optimistic these two sides can figure this thing out.

Jockeying starts early for city, union in negotiations

Although the contract between the Amalgamated Transit Union 279 and OC Transpo doesn't expire until March 2011, and with the winter 2008-09 53-day transit strike still fresh in our minds, both sides of the labour agreement have already started posturing to gain advantage in the upcoming labour talks.

Through his mayoral campaign and since, mayor Jim Watson has been stating his intention to mend the relationship between the city and the union; on the day she was selected as chair of the transit commission, Gloucester-Southgate Councillor Diane Deans talked to CTV Ottawa about "a new era of co-operation" between the two sides. Although it's still very early in their respective mandates (Deans was just approved as chair of the commission yesterday), neither has done much, if anything, in the way of tangible action to change anything.

Meanwhile, OC Transpo general manager Alain Mercier has initiated a survey of workers to get to the bottom of the seemingly ever-present low morale issues at OC Transpo--a survey which, according to acting president of the ATU 279 Mike Aldrich, is identical to one which was done five years ago, as reported by the Ottawa Citizen. Aldrich said issues are the same as were determined in the previous survey--"running times, scheduling and poor morale throughout the company"--and didn't approve sending the survey out.

On the other side, the ATU 279 leadership is using some more strongly-armed tactics, putting pressure on the city to make changes even before the union will agree to come to the table. Aldrich has complained that the negotiating team--led by Mercier--is the same as it was during the last negotiation, and that he wants to see some "changes" before proceeding with negotiations. From the CBC:

"We have the same players negotiating the same proposals," said Aldrich, referring to the 51-day strike in 2008-09 that shut down buses in the city.

"We know what happened last time. I'm not interested in going down that road."

[...]

"One of [Watson's] campaign promises was to repair the poisoned atmosphere at OC Transpo but so far nothing has been fixed," Aldrich said. "So until we see some changes, or improvements, we'll wait."

Although posturing such as this isn't really uncommon in labour discussions, it's still a little unsettling to hear that issues remain, and that these issues are enough to delay advance negotiations. On the plus side, both sides have said they want to avoid a strike; Aldrich told the CBC that there is "no way the union wants a strike".

2010 Election: Watson on OC Transpo

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with as many mayoral candidates as are available, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

Ask just about anyone in this city, and you'll likely get an idea from them on how OC Transpo could improve their service--and maybe you'd get as many different answers as people you've asked, running the spectrum of feasibility from easily-implemented to downright impossible. And mayoral candidate Jim Watson has some ideas of his own. Obviously, Watson wants to establish a transit commission to manage the utility, but he's also entertained other ideas.

Among the most pressing concerns Watson has is the cool relationship between OC Transpo staff and management. Watson had some critical words for current mayor Larry O'Brien regarding the transit strike, and suggested a change in mayor would--in his opinion--be positive of OC Transpo relations. But he also prescribes a general change in the tone of discourse, from the combative stance that seems to have taken over to a more co-operative one.

I think it starts at the top. I have respect for all the employees, I don’t treat them as subservient or as an irritant, I see them as a vital part of providing a good public service. I think one of the first things that any new mayor is going to have to do is to bridge those relationships on a more positive footing. It’s a very unpleasant environment at OC Transpo, from all the bus drivers and mechanics that I’ve spoken to, even supervisors and management, I think they feel very frustrated, and we still have not resolved all the problems that have emanated from the strike.

But beyond improving staff relations, Watson also wants to improve the efficiency of the service, to avoid rising taxes and rising fares. He thinks the new commission will have its hands full finding ways to do that, but one small suggestion he has made is the use of smaller buses run through lower-density areas to bring riders to the main routes.

I often will go into a suburban neighbourhood where there’s a huge bus going through and there’s two or three people on the bus. Calgary has a feeder-bus system where it’s almost like minivans will go in and pick people up; saves on fuel, saves on overhead costs, makes the system more efficient. So are there things that we can do to make the system more efficient from a creative point of view? I think there are, and I think that’s one of the mandates to give to the transit commission when they conduct their review of this. If there’s ways of saving money and improving service at the same time, then we should keep our minds open to those ideas.

2010 Election: Scharf on OC Transpo

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with as many mayoral candidates as are available, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

Mayoral candidate Jane Scharf has a few different ideas on how to complement OC Transpo bus service, from interprovincial rail service between Ottawa and Gatineau and aerial gondolas to add some spice to Ottawa's transportation infrastructure. But she also has several ideas based on her observations on how to improve bus service itself, which she thinks can help make for a more efficient service.

And there’s other things [I think are worth looking into], like putting more buses on the Transitway. It’s not overly busy, especially coming out this way—I’m in Kanata. It’s really congested--traffic congested--really badly. More buses, and more attention to that process. Like right now, it’s hard to use the Park’n’Ride, there’s not a lot of spaces; they could extend that, that would be cheap. Certainly cheaper than $2.4B. They could do all of that, what I just said, and that would make a huge impact on the congestion issues.

Scharf also thinks that there are big ways the city can change how they deal with the transit union in particular, and unions in general, to make for better relations and, as a result, better service.

I actually think that—this is a personal thing, I don’t even know if it’s something that they’re looking at in general—but personally, I think that the union process could be improved. And not just with OC Transpo, but everywhere, to make it more of a cooperative effort. For example, in Germany, in the 70’s they had a model of unions that was working really well where the government would train union negotiators and place them in a company, and once they’re placed they would be paid by the company, and it would be their job to set up a committee between management and labour—in equal numbers—and it was a requirement by law that all books would be open. And this labour guy just facilitated negotiations, and they had great results with it. Wages could go up, or down, depending on what profits were.

And it’s all open, so there’s not none of this adversarial ‘give us more’, ‘we don’t have any’, ‘give us more’, ‘we don’t have any’, that we have here. I think that you’d see better results, more effective. Doesn’t mean that I want them to change totally like that, but I think that they can go closer to that. For example, they could, say, make all the books open. Leave, by and large, the structure that’s there now, and just open all the books. To just the negotiating committee, not to everyone who works there, but whose ever coming on the negotiating committee.

Public initiatives: Keep the TTC public

My attention was brought to some very well-done videos yesterday (thanks, commenter John G) about privatization of public transit utilities--and the risk that such an action could present. The videos, created by KeepTTCPublic.ca, present a two-part argument against privatization in general, and against privatization of the Toronto Transit Commission in particular.

To be fair, privatization isn't quite as completely negative as the videos say. For instance, partial privatization--in the form of contracting out services--has worked for Toronto and York, according to an article in the Toronto Star. But putting aside to the standard arguments in favour of privatization--namely, that private owners are more innovative and less bureaucratic, and thus (the reasoning goes) more able to generate cost savings--consider this quote, also presented in the above Star article, from Marie Chapple of the Phoenix Public Transit Department:

“As we reduce service, we will reduce employees. Through the private contractor, it’s easier to expand and reduce staff,” she said.

Emphasis mine. In Ottawa, many of the arguments for privatization of OC Transpo seem to go back to the labour costs for bus operators. And basically, the idea is that the city--for political as well as ethical reasons--isn't as keen on holding a hard-line or hiring 'scabs' to bring down labour costs as a private owner might be.

But is this a good thing? It's certainly idealistic, but it would be a lot better for all involved to reach a mutually acceptable salary structure, instead of contracting out services--which, it could be argued, essentially contracts out the unpalatable responsibility of cutting costs by firing people.

How bad are relations between OC Transpo and its union?

Late last week, a possible deal between OC Transpo and its drivers was rejected by the drivers' union. It was disappointing to see the issue continue to go on unresolved, but the motion seemed to point to one positive fact: Communication between the two sides is ongoing. Given the intense negativity leading up to, during, and since the 2008-09 transit strike, any communication must be a good thing.

Right?

Hopefully. But as David Reevely points out in his latest column at Greater Ottawa, the ATU 279 membership, it appears, is "militant". With that in mind, who knows whether or not the results of these votes are true disagreement with the agreement put forward, or just rejected out of spite? From Reevely's blog:

"The dangerous problem I see isn't that the OC Transpo union members are militant. They were pretty badly put upon at the time of the last strike, by managers who wanted to take away an extremely important element in their contract with apparently no understanding of why it was there in the first place (letting drivers, in particular, have considerable control over their own work schedules was a key move in an effort to detoxify the OC Transpo workplace after the deadly Pierre Lebrun shootings a decade ago). I can see where the militancy comes from, and anyway, tough but skilled managers can deal with a militant union membership in a non-destructive fashion. They did it after the shootings, for example."

Leading up to the vote, on the OC Transpo livejournal, user roadwarrier came out in support of the agreement. Roadwarrier is one of the more vocal operators on the LiveJournal, and he tried to convince his brothers and sisters why it wasn't such a bad deal--or at least to explain why he was voting yes.

"Well gang, I was one of the big naysayers, no at any cost, with a serious vendetta against management. Quite frankly, I walked into the meeting ready to vote this thursday, ready to vote no at any cost, no matter how good the offer was.

"And I've done a 180. The executive has worked very hard to get some strong language and some real goodies for us. Stuff that's going to cost the company a lot of money and that really benefits us. Stuff that wasn't on the table when we walked and stuff that was on the table. At the end of the day, my gut tells me that this is a very good offer and the only reason the offer is so good is that the city knows they can't keep going with the way it is."

Since roadwarrier's post, a series of follow-up threads were posted leading up to the vote: Titles such as "NOT SUCH A GREAT DEAL", "Vague language in Contract - vote NO unless rectified", "VOTE NO! VOTE NO! VOTE NO! VOTE NO! VOTE NO! VOTE NO! VOTE NO! VOTE NO! VOTE NO!", "Vote No", and "Why I've decided to vote no" were all put up. They acknowledged "minor improvements" for drivers, but cautioned union members to "think worst case scenario" [sic]; it seems the relationship is so toxic, the union is assuming managers are trying to pull one over on them, and will be taking a mile for every inch given.

And now, interim union leader Mike Aldrich has taken issue with explanations made by OC Transpo general manager Alain Mercier about service issues. Rather than Mercier's excuses of vacationing drivers, Aldrich said that service problems that have come up through the summer had more to do with these 'scheduling issues' that continue to elude proper, concise explanation.

So we've got a union head who seems open to compromise (Aldrich) standing in for a much more confrontational union leader (Andre Cornellier, who's taken personal leave) in leading a group of militant employees (the ATU 279) to negotiate with a manager who's done little to befriend the union, and a fair bit to irk them (Mercier)--and who, it should be noted, is supported by a mayor who seems enemy number one to the union (Larry O'Brien)--to come to an agreement on issues few, if any, truly understand and may or may not actually materialize into 'operational efficiencies' (scheduling).

Brace yourselves. The end seems far off.

No deal between OC Transpo, union for scheduling amendment

OC Transpo and the City of Ottawa had proposed an amendment to the scheduling agreement reached during their last contract negotiations with the ATU 279 (remember the negotiations that led to a 51-day winter transit strike in 2008-09?), but it was rejected by the union last weekend.

According to a report on 580 CFRA, the proposed amendment would offer operators and eight hours/day minimum (up from the current 7.5 hours/day) as well as six sick days per year (which could be carried forward to a maximumof 12 days in a single year) in exchange for an agreement that scheduling and overtime would not be part of the next round of contract negotiations (which should begin next year).

Both sides, according to quotes in the Ottawa Citizen, are willing to keep communication open and work towards ironing out some issues to get a head-start on the next contract negotiation. Earlier in the week, city council had voted in support of the amendment.

As a transit user, the fact that there seem to be open and reasonable communications between the two sides should be seen as nothing but a positive change. Relations between management and workers came to a head during the winter strike, and haven't seemed to improve much since then. Getting a head start on the next contract, and coming to an agreement on what was the most controversial subject in the last negotiation--namely, scheduling--seems a positive step, and should make users optimistic that a standoff may not be necessary this time around.

2010 Election: Taylor on transit fares

Over the course of the 2010 Mayoral Election campaign, Public Transit in Ottawa will be sitting down with mayoral candidates, discussing their platforms and thoughts on transit in this city, and what they hope to achieve during their mandate, if elected mayor.

Chief among mayoral candidate Charlie Taylor's concerns about the city's transit system are bus fares. Stating that Ottawa has the most expensive transit fares in Canada (note: Ottawa [$3.25] appears to have the second-highest regular cash fares among municipalities in Canada, ahead only of Gatineau [$3.30]), Taylor said there was only one way to address fares: To reduce costs.

"There are ways that we can reduce costs; for one thing, making the system run more efficiently. Right now, we’ve got direct buses going from particular suburbs going to downtown; a lot of them aren’t running at maximum capacity. They are a little more expensive, but on the same note, if you’ve got feeder buses going to a central depot and then you’ve got long-haul buses that are full of commuters. You make people do one transfer, but if you’ve got the buses running on a regular basis it shouldn’t be a significant inconvenience."

But Taylor also said that "you can’t address costs without addressing [bus operator] salaries", and suggested that the city needs to find a way to bring them down in order to find a long-term solution. In a city still tender after a 53-day bus strike, angering the operators' union doesn't seem like it would be a popular idea, but Taylor--a self-described "leftie"--thinks the union has become too powerful, and suggested privatization as a possible way to redress that.

"We want to work with the union. If the union doesn’t want to work with us, we want to privatize. Not privatize the operation; the city would still govern the routes, schedules, own the buses, all that; only the labour aspect would be privatized. Basically, companies would bid on the positions, so they say they could provide you a driver for $50,000 a year; we give them the $50,000 a year, and they would then contract a driver for $40,000 a year.

"It would be regrettable, because nobody’s a big fan of privatization. Well, some people are big fans of privatization, but I’m a big leftie. I believe in labour unions, I believe in the value of unions, and I believe in the values of organized labour. But once the union begins to act more as a special interest group, that’s working for the interests of this particular small, privileged group at the expense of the working class, then you have to re-evaluate what their value is. They’re basically a lobby group now, working for a privileged group of people. They’re not actually a labour union fighting for the working class. So if they don’t want to work with us, then we’re going to work without them. We can’t have everybody in the City of Ottawa held hostage and paying ridiculous transit fees."

Scheduling 'efficiencies' proving elusive

Remember how one of the most contentious issues during the city's winter 2009 transit strike was scheduling, in an effort to reduce overtime and other avoidable labour costs? According to the Amalgamated Transit Union local 279, the new scheduling format isn't really working as well as had been anticipated.

From CTV Ottawa:

The schedule took effect last month, and the transit union says shifts aren't being filled, which is affecting service and driver morale. Scheduling was also the main reason for the 53-day transit strike.

"A lot of guys are refusing overtime because of their frustration, and a way to show their frustration is to stop working overtime," said Mike Aldrich, the transit union vice president.

On the other hand, Transit Committee chair and mayoral candidate Alex Cullen points out that the scheduling is working fine--and that the vast majority of routes are run on time.

From 580 CFRA:

The chair of Ottawa's Transit Committee insists the new scheduling system for OC Transpo operators will allow the city to introduce transit service at a lower cost in the future.

[...]

Cullen says over 99 per cent of OC Transpo's nine-thousand trips a day go as scheduled.

It doesn't seem surprising that a scheduling system isn't working to full effect if certain operators are intentionally obstructing the effectiveness of the scheduling system by not showing up for shifts, which ATU 279 vice-president Aldrich suggests. After the long and unforgiving winter strike, though, it's similarly not surprising that some operators are lashing out against what they see as an inequitable measure.

Still, the key point in the 52-day strike was scheduling, and we have yet to see any proof of those oft-cited 'efficiencies' that were apparently the basis for the City's unrelenting stance. It's to be expected that there will be some adjustment period before the savings start to appear, but until they do, the strike appears more and more like a strikeout for the city.