Corporate Costs Cataclysm
TransLink corporate costs – even without counting compass card and fare gates – are budgeted to balloon 11.2% from 2012 to 2015, well beyond inflation.
Waste Of The Day Awards
Santa Sadness
A bus driver who had worn a Santa Claus suit at Christmas time for 16 years was ordered by TransLink to park the beard. Public outrage finally forced TransLink to back down, and Santa drove on.
Electrical Panel Plague
The electrical panel which powers the entire SkyTrain system does not have circuits marked. “At home, where one may have each circuit/fuse marked to show which circuit powers the kitchen lights, or the stove, or hot water tank, the panel in the Control Centre Power Room is blank,” said the independent reviewer.
Gas Tax Torment
In 2013, Derek Corrigan and Malcolm Brodie accused TransLink executives of bait-and-switch when it came to spending federal gas tax money. “There doesn’t seem to be any correlation between the original vision and what was sent,” said Brodie.
Losing For A Lifetime
TransLink’s multiple boards of directors have the power to dish out free lifetime passes, much to the chagrin of Mayor Richard Walton: “Quite frankly, the public transportation doesn’t need to subsidize people with free passes.” Yet they do – at least 80 of them, and maybe far more.
Keystone Cops
An independent Edmonton police report found TransLink’s transit police to have “resulted in much confusion and inefficiencies. This type of police service designation will not likely ever be repeated in [B.C.].”
Super-sized Salary Sorrows
In 2012, TransLink executives received massive raises. The number of staff making $100,000 a year grew by 14.6% at TransLink head office alone – a total of 141 employees. “They're supposed to be on an austerity campaign and prove they're doing what they're supposed to be doing, and yet here (they) are spending inordinate amounts of money in order to increase wages for themselves,” said Derek Corrigan.
Auto-restart Affliction
When SkyTrain upgraded its SELTRAC software in the 90's, they decided not to include the available automatic vehicle restart function. Which means when the system goes down - staff have to go drive stations into stations and restart points - wasting money and everyone's time.
FareSaver Failure
TransLink blundered in 2010 when lax security measures allowed two men to allegedly steal 80,000 FareSaver tickets meant to be shredded, but worth $153,000.
Sick Day Scourge
TransLink employees take 60% more sick days than the average private sector worker.