Orleans Weekly Journal
Published: Friday, January 16, 2009 Time to overhaul the transit system My best prediction is that the transit strike will go into February, unfortunately. Union intransigence on the scheduling issue and City’s immovable position as well leads me to this conclusion. But by the end of this month, strike pay won’t be enough for ATU 279 members and commuter frustration will dramatically turn on the Mayor and councilors to get a deal done. As for ATU members who write me and tell me that the City caused the strike. Please, save your keystrokes. You chose to withdraw your services, the City did not lock you out. During the next municipal election campaign in 2010, the governance, structure and operation of OC Transpo needs to become an issue. To start, we need to change the governance model of OC Transpo. Most major cities in North America run their transit systems as separate, or at least, arm’s length companies. By doing so they retain control over policy – service expectations and pricing guidelines – but discard the politics of transit debates and let professional managers run the transit system. It used to be like this in Ottawa, let’s go back to the future. Next up is structure. We need to beef up rush hour routes on our 20 and 30s buses and I suspect the same is true in neighbourhoods like Barrhaven and Kanata. As for non-peak traffic, perhaps smaller buses or innovative and more personalized taxi service arrangements can replace many of the empty buses running our streets during the evening.Finally, candidates for Mayor and Council in 2010 who at least raise the issue of transit privatization should warrant a serious look from voters. This isn’t about union busting since successor rights prevail under labour law whether the City or ABC bus lines is in charge. But cities like Las Vegas, Denver, Boston, and San Francisco along with countless municipalities across Europe and Asia have contracted out parts of their systems from maintenance to full fledged routes and realized – according to dozens of studies which I can cite – significant operational savings and service improvements.Now to be fair to the critics, yes, some savings come from lower labour costs, more flexible scheduling (hmm, sounds like an issue here in Ottawa) and rejigging of certain routes. We need to have this debate. Metropolitan mass transit systems in the 21st century are crucial to the wide income strata of the populations that they serve. As well they meet, or should meet, societal objectives with respect to urban planning and the environment. However, as taxpayers, we have to ask what is the appropriate level of subsidy we are going to provide, 50%, 60% or 70% or more. From my vantage point, a transit system that is two-thirds rider financed and one-third subsidized would be ideal, regardless of its ownership and service structure. The candidates that engage in this debate in 2010, either for or against should be rewarded. Those that cower and shy away from a serious discussion of our transit future should be shown the door. |