Transit Commission

Minutes

Meeting #:

6

Date:

Thursday, June 29, 2023

Time:

9:30 A.m. - 10:30 A.m.

Location:

Champlain Room, 110 Laurier Avenue West, and by electronic participation

Present:

• Chair Glen Gower, 
• Vice-Chair Cathy Curry, 
• Councillor Riley Brockington, 
• Councillor Marty Carr, 
• Councillor David Hill, 
• Councillor Jeff Leiper, 
• Councillor Wilson Lo, 
• Councillor Shawn Menard, 
• and Councillor Tim Tierney 

---

1.

Notices and meeting information for meeting participants and the public

Notices and meeting information are attached to the agenda and minutes, including: availability of simultaneous interpretation and accessibility accommodations; in camera meeting procedures; information items not subject to discussion; personal information disclaimer for correspondents and public speakers; notices regarding minutes; and hybrid participation details.

Accessible formats and communication supports are available, upon request.

Except where otherwise indicated, reports requiring Council consideration will be presented to Council on July 12, 2023 in Transit Commission Report 6.

The deadline to register by phone to speak, or submit written comments or visual presentations is 4 pm on June 28, 2023, and the deadline to register to speak by email is 8:30 am on June 29, 2023.

2.

Declarations of Interest

No Declarations of Interest were filed.

3.

Confirmation of Minutes

3.1

TTC Minutes 5 – May 11, 2023

• Carried

3.2

AC-TTC Minutes 1 – June 9, 2023

• Carried

3.3

AC-TTC Confidential Minutes 1 – June 9, 2023

• Carried

4.

Presentations

4.1

OC Transpo Update – Rail, Bus, and Para Transpo

Renée Amilcar, General Manager, Transit Services Department, Olivia McGuinty, Program Manager, Transit Employee Management Support, Paul Treboutat, Chief Safety Officer, Pat Scrimgeour, Director, Transit Customer Systems and Planning, Troy Charter, Director, Transit Service Delivery and Rail Operations, and Claire O'Donnell, Program Manager, Service Strategy, provided an update on this item and answered questions from the Commission.  A copy of the slide presentation is filed with the Office of the City Clerk.

Richard Holder, Director, Engineering Services, also answered questions.

David Jeanes (Transport Action) spoke before the Commission on this item. No correspondence was received on this item.

5.

Finance and Corporate Services Department

5.1

Capital Adjustments and Closing of Projects – Transit Commission

File No.: ACS2023-FCS-FSP-0009 - City Wide

Pat Scrimgeour, Director, Transit Customer Systems and Planning, Troy Charter, Director, Transit Service Delivery and Rail Operations, and Cyril Rogers, Chief Financial Officer, answered questions on this item.

There were no public submissions.

Following discussions, Commission considered the report recommendations:

• Report Recommendations

  That the Transit Commission recommend that Council:

  1. Authorize the closing of capital projects listed in Document 1;
  2. Approve the budget adjustments as detailed in Document 2;
  3. Return to source or (fund) the following balances and eliminate debt authority resulting from the closing of projects and budget adjustments:
     
     • Transit Capital Supported Reserve: $5,325,087
     • Debt Authority: $2,597,880
  4. Permit those projects in Document 3 that qualify for closure, to remain open;
  5. Receive the budget adjustments in Document 4 undertaken in accordance with the Delegation of Authority By-law 2023-067, as amended, as they pertain to capital works; and
  6. Authorize staff to perform the necessary financial adjustments as detailed in Documents 1 and 2.
  Carried

5.2

Delegation of Authority – Contracts awarded for the period July 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022 for Transit Commission

File No.: ACS2023-FCS-PRO-0003 - City Wide

• Report Recommendation

  That the Transit Commission and Council receive this report for information.

  Received

6.

Transit Services Department

6.1

Customer Marketing and Readiness Campaign for Stage 2 O-Train Extensions

File No.: ACS2023-TSD-SCER-0007 – City-wide

Renée Amilcar, General Manager, Transit Services Department, Lisa Bishop-Spencer, Director, Strategic Communications and External Relations, and Amanda Thompson, Program Manager, Transit Communications and Outreach, presented an overview of the report recommendations and answered questions from the Commission.  A copy of the slide presentation is filed with the Office of the City Clerk.

Pat Scrimgeour, Director, Transit Customer Systems and Planning, also answered questions from Commission.

There were no public submissions on this item.

• Report recommendation

  That the Transit Commission receive this report for information.

  Received

6.2

Transit Services 5-Year Roadmap

File No.: ACS2023-TSD-TS-0011 – City-wide

Renée Amilcar, General Manager, Transit Services Department, presented an overview of the report recommendations and answered questions from the Commission.  A copy of the slide presentation is filed with the Office of the City Clerk. Pat Scrimgeour, Director, Transit Customer Systems and Planning, also answered questions from Commission.

Sam Hersh spoke before the Commission on this item. No correspondence was received.

• Report Recommendation

  That Transit Commission receive for information the Transit Services 5-Year Roadmap, attached as Document 1. 

  Received

7.

Office of the City Clerk

7.1

CUTA Spring Summit 2023

File No.: ACS2023-OCC-CCS-0083 - City Wide 

• Report Recommendation

  That the Transit Commission receive this report for information. 

  Received

8.

In Camera Items

There were no in camera items.

9.

Notices of Motions (For Consideration at Subsequent Meeting)

There were no Notices of Motion.

10.

Inquiries

10.1

TTC-2023-06 - Fraud and Waste Hotline complaints alleging Highway Traffic Act and standard operating procedures non-compliance by OC Transpo operators

Submitted by Councillor W. Lo:

In the 2022 Report on the Fraud and Waste Hotline shared with the audit committee on 9 June 2023, the Auditor General notes 1,187 additional reports of a similar nature that were submitted, all related to alleged non-compliance with the Highway Traffic Act (HTA) by OC Transpo operators.

As a result of these numerous reports and allegations, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) conducted a limited review of OC Transpo bus operator compliance with regulations which was tabled at Audit Committee in June 2022. The OAG have since been working with OC Transpo management to obtain status updates on how they are addressing the issues raised in the report.

Questions:

1. Please describe the policies and procedures, including training programmes, in place to ensure OC Transpo operators (including maintenance employees who need to operate transit vehicles when required) comply with the Highway Traffic Act as well as standard operating procedures (SOPs).
2. Please describe compliance surveillance programmes or procedures OC Transpo has to ensure compliance with the HTA and its SOPs.
3. What challenges are there to ensuring adequate monitoring?
4. How often does OC Transpo review its SOPs and training programmes to help ensure employees comply with the HTA?
5. What actions has OC Transpo undertaken so far in response to the OAG’s limited review of OC Transpo bus operator compliance with regulations?
6. What tools do passengers and the general public have to report HTA and SOP non-compliance by OC Transpo employees?
7. What tools do employees have to report HTA and SOP non-compliance by other employees?
8. Has the increase in fraud and waste hotline calls resulted in a decrease in passengers, the general public, or employees using those other tools mentioned in questions six and seven?

11.

Other Business

There was no other business.

12.

Adjournment

Next Meeting: September 14, 2023

The meeting adjourned at 12:49 am.