Waste Of The Day Awards
Operational Oopsie
SkyTrain shutdown reviewer notes that SkyTrain employees haven’t been keeping manuals or any paperwork on SkyTrain operational issues – meaning when an employee retires, all their knowledge is lost. “The document trail has not kept up with changes.”
Reseller Romp
TransLink loses $15 to $20 million a year in U-Pass fraud, as students who don’t need the transit passes they are forced to pay for sell them to others.
Explosive Entanglement
A Transit Police officer lost an explosive during a dog training exercise on a Air Canada passenger jetliner in 2011 and did not notice the missing explosive for two full days. In the meantime, the plane returned to active service, and Air Canada had it inspected 14 times when they finally learned of the snafu.
Rocky Ridership
From 2000 to 2010, TransLink’s total revenue jumped 161%, but ridership only grew 64%.
Overtime Ordeals
Transit Police overtime cost taxpayers $6,900 per officer in 2009 – much higher than VPD’s $3,700 per officer cost. “The difference is significant because Transit Police incurs more overtime on a per officer basis even though it is a supplemental police agency and has limited involvement in major crime investigations which are key overtime drivers,” said an audit of the Transit Police.
Bad News For Bus Stops
Six months after upgrading several bus stops along 248th St. in Langley’s Salmon River neighbourhood with new poles and new asphalt pads, TransLink cancelled the route there. TransLink staff came back, replaced signs, tore down poles, and put up orange warning tape to let people know not to trip over sawed-off poles.
Fizzling Flatfoots
Transit Police took a victory lap in 2012, claiming that their work led to a crime drop of 6.8% on the transit system. One problem: the overall crime rate across the Lower Mainland dropped 13.9% that year – the transit cops weren’t even half as successful.
Fare Evasion Foofaraw
Until CKNW Radio and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation kicked up a fuss, TransLink collected fines from only 7,500 of more than 50,000 fare evasion tickets issued. TransLink blamed the B.C. government for a lack of legislation to pursue deadbeats, but hardly pushed Victoria for any changes. Once CKNW and the CTF jumped in, the government changed the rules within a month.
Parking Tax Payola
When TransLink discovered it was overcharging a company for its 21% parking tax, it didn’t refund the $90,000 extra it had collected. Instead, TransLink went to court, lost the judgment, lost the $90,000, and had to pay the company’s legal fees.