Bad Day for Transit - Kelowna

[polelady]

I can not believe this letter , from a senior that needs the bus service...
https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story--10-.htm

If anyone can comment , and advise ,if this is the real case... with the transit private company ... please do so...
AND , if the person in charge of this type of service is accountable to anyone with balls ! opps to do something ... and send him down the road NOW...

I understand a Saturday maybe a slow day.. but really " 3 buses didn’t even leave the yard!" oh well maybe the green party and Hogan /Kelowna are saving greenhouse gas emissions and all is who cares..
ONLY IN KELOWNA... !!!

[kgcayenne]

That is what happens when public services are turned over to private corporations.

[AlienSoldier]

Kelowna's bus service is indeed private. What is in their contract I do not know and it would be interesting to see. Especially the KPI's and contract items that they are paid for.

[CapitalB]

I've heard nothing good about them from bus drivers I've spoken too.

Also I would be curious to know how much they rake in by using the buses as big billboards, from what I've heard thats some of the most expensive ad space you can buy.

[Mark1111]

I would think the company involved bid on a contract to acquire this bus service business. If so the person from City Hall who was responsible for the terms of the contract should have enforced provisions to accommodate standby drivers when other drivers inevitably get sick. And if they did include those provisions then there should be financial penalties against this company for the poor performance described.
Kelowna has had a reputation for lousy public transportation since forever. We are now drastically reducing downtown parking with new builds on existing lots and the caveat from City Hall that its ok because the bus service will be available and improved.

Doesn’t look like it does it?

[kgcayenne]

I've heard nothing good about them from bus drivers I've spoken too.
...

Well-paid, equitably-treated employees provide better service than employees who are unhappy.

[Atomoa]

oh well maybe the green party and Hogan /Kelowna are saving greenhouse gas emissions and all is who cares..
ONLY IN KELOWNA... !!!

The Green Party and NDP have nothing to do with the abysmal public transit services in Kelowna.

We currently have a city council that is owned by developers. Who takes the bus in that social circle? Not a soul.

We had 15 years of the BC liberals siphoning off public funds to give tax breaks to multi millionaires while letting transit systems decay. Do you think Christy Clarks son took the city bus to private school?

This is the result of years of neoliberalism. Public services handed over to private companies, and then the companies grinding the services down to the bone while collecting every tax credit and penny possible. Buses are for the peasants paying the sunshine tax. We all know that our local elected officials are too busy fighting for Alberta secondary homeowners to care about a Grandma waiting 2 hours for a bus.

[CapitalB]

Well-paid, equitably-treated employees provide better service than employees who are unhappy.

But well paid employees that want to keep their job for the long term are bad for profits.

[kgcayenne]

but taxes..... public transit owned and run by the public cost taxes.... [/sarcasm off]

[zerograv]

Kelowna Transit is garbage. I use it regularly as it should be a simple, easy, and green mode of transportation instead paying a ton of money for my vehicle sit in the parking lot at work for 10 hours a day. The amount of time buses show up super late, or leave early or just don't show up at all is unacceptable. Literally happens to me a handful of times a week.

Just yesterday as a matter of fact. I was waiting for a connecting bus at the boucherie stop. bus is ten minutes late and i'm starting to get *bleep* off because i now only have 20 minutes to get home so my wife can get to work. Another ten minutes and no bus. I then go to another bus that is waiting and ask him if he can find out where my bus is, he says "i don't know"......so i ask him if we can radio dispatch to find out...he says "i can but what would it change?" then he closes the door and drives off......

What would it change? Hey *bleep* considering the next one doesn't come for an HOUR me and the 5 other people waiting for it would like to know if it is even coming at all or should we start hoofing it....to make a long story short, bus never came came, wife had to come get me and she was late for work.....and this crap happens all the damn time.

[AlienSoldier]

Kelowna = road/car country.

Having transit outsourced or government run is not the problem (both ways the money comes from taxes). Its how the contracts are written, what customer service and KPI's are embedded in the contract and how well the City holds them accountable to the contract.

I bet if it was more reliable, more people would use it, thus cut down on congestion and pollution while also benefiting from helping low, middle and mid-high income groups in the City.

Having a sufficient transit system also helps people afford homes as their transportation costs can be reduced by not having a car. Thus freeing up additional funds for housing.

[CapitalB]

I think the problem with the public vs private thing is that its often a way to sneakily provide worse service for a thing. Private is usually brought in as a cost saving method, realistically the only way it would cut costs against a similar public service is by cutting corners. It usually seems like the government is happy enough to not bother requiring or enforcing decent standards in these private companies providing public services. Plus since its a private business they have to show year on year profit increases, since the companies managing public transit have no real way to increase ridership in the short term corner cutting becomes their only way to increase profits. Which only really harms the service long term since the more corners get cut the fewer people want to use it.

[Jflem1983]

I think the problem with the public vs private thing is that its often a way to sneakily provide worse service for a thing. Private is usually brought in as a cost saving method, realistically the only way it would cut costs against a similar public service is by cutting corners. It usually seems like the government is happy enough to not bother requiring or enforcing decent standards in these private companies providing public services. Plus since its a private business they have to show year on year profit increases, since the companies managing public transit have no real way to increase ridership in the short term corner cutting becomes their only way to increase profits. Which only really harms the service long term since the more corners get cut the fewer people want to use it.

Public employees are paid too much for the jobs they work. Or at least that is perception. So it will always be popular to privatize. I tend to agree though that transit is not gonna be something to benefit from cost cutting. Raise fares if transit needs money

[Symbonite]

We could also invite the Transit Authority from Vancouver.....but we would have to add another 0.17 cents to the gas prices... and if we did that then our gas prices would be pushing past 1.60 a liter.

[AlienSoldier]

I think the problem with the public vs private thing is that its often a way to sneakily provide worse service for a thing. Private is usually brought in as a cost saving method, realistically the only way it would cut costs against a similar public service is by cutting corners. It usually seems like the government is happy enough to not bother requiring or enforcing decent standards in these private companies providing public services. Plus since its a private business they have to show year on year profit increases, since the companies managing public transit have no real way to increase ridership in the short term corner cutting becomes their only way to increase profits. Which only really harms the service long term since the more corners get cut the fewer people want to use it.

Public employees are paid too much for the jobs they work. Or at least that is perception. So it will always be popular to privatize. I tend to agree though that transit is not gonna be something to benefit from cost cutting. Raise fares if transit needs money

Privatizing transit ends up costing more for governments but it has two benefits for them.
1. Long term stable projections of costs (the cost per year remains relatively the same).
2. Allocation of future funds today. Private companies will pay today in hopes of seeing returns through the duration of the contract (usually already built in).

Transit should be run by the public for the public. I've seen and been part of the outsourcing of a transit agency and employees get paid more when they are outsourced due to them losing their pension. That in-return pushes these companies to cut costs, or look at creative ways to make more money from the contract (usually through special projects and amendments where their is no cap on profit margins).