Complaints Up and Service Down At TransLink
Nothing new here as TransLink fumbles along trying to operate the Transit system.
The important question is: “Should we pay more taxes for more of the same?”
The problem with Translink is that transit operation is not provided on a sound economic model, rather the hocus-pocus model of SkyTrain and densification. Vancouver is unique in not providing adequate transit on high demand routes and operates scores of buses on politically inspired routes, which cater to the very, very few. Broadway is a good example; if ridership is down, why is there overcrowding and daily pass-ups on the 99-B Line route, while the 609 (Wally-Wagon) in South Delta, operates a daily hourly service that carries less than 20 passengers a day? This is example is compounded by the fact there are two other bus services in South Delta that carry less then 20 passengers a day!
TransLink’s real problem is management, or the lack of and throwing more money at this grandiose bureaucracy is just like flushing money down a toilet.
TransLink got 31,595 complaints about transit service in 2013
Last year, Metro Vancouver’s transportation authority received a total of 36,390 complaints, up from 32,617 in 2012.
The number of transit-related complaints went up about 10 percent, to 31,595 in 2013 from 28,408 in the previous year.
TransLink released today (April 3) its 2013 statutory annual report, which contains a complaints summary.
The report notes that the ratio of complaints per 1,000,000 boarded passengers rose to 88.9 from 78.2.
Why? “Some of the key reasons for this increase include: changes to the Fare Tariff policy that saw elimination of longstanding fare programs (WCE monthly and weekly passes, Employer Pass Program), a technical issue for SkyTrain in October that caused significant delays for customers, service optimization changes and a controversial advertising campaign that ran on the TransLink system,” the report states.
Transit service and ridership both decreased in 2013. Service hours were tightened to 6.792 million from 6.927 million. Boarded passengers declined to 355.2 million from 363.2 million.
By the way, of the transit-related complaints, 28,494 pertained to the Coast Mountain Bus Company, 1,526 to HandyDART, 599 to the West Coast Express, 551 to the Expo and Millenium lines, and 425 to the Canada Line. (CMBCAi??operates the SeaBus.)
Regarding the Coast Mountain Bus Company, a little more than half of complaints related to staff and a third to service.
As for TransLink’s customer service performance ratings, this is what the report says about the transit system: “In 2013, six out of ten transit riders, or 60 per cent, gave the system good-to-excellent scores of 8, 9 or 10 out of 10 for overall service. This is down from 2012 (63 per cent) suggesting that overall perceptions of service quality have declined.
“Similar to 2012, the transit system service attributes that customers are most critical of include: the amount of transit information available at stops and stations and on-board buses; as well as the number of bus shelters available throughout the region. Less than half of customers consistently rate these aspects of transit service as being good to excellent (8 or higher out of 10). In addition, less than half (44 per cent) of TransLinkai??i??s customers feel they are getting good-to-excellent value for the money they spend on transit, this also is down slightly from 2012 (48 per cent).”
TransLink can look forward to more complaints in 2014 with the delayed rollout of the Compass card system.
Thanks for sharing my post about TransLink’s 2013 complaints. Here’s a link to the original post:
http://www.straight.com/blogra/620276/translink-got-31595-complaints-about-transit-service-2013
Apparently Compass purported to be necessary to curb massive losses from fare evasion is a bust. TransLink created the fare evasion hysteria to divert attention away from the Shirocca Consulting report which showed TransLink to be the worst run (by a huge margin) transit organization in Canada.
http://www.caw111.com/TranslinkEfficiencyReview-Mar2012.pdf
After the fact, the morons who run TransLink realized that, geez whiz, if people have to swipe the Compass card to get on and off: transit will grind to a halt and it will take too long for people to board transit. So, the idiots at TransLink are stalling the implementation of Compass after spending $200 million on Compass, which get this, is flawed and does not work, making the morons at TransLink look, well, more moronic.
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2014/04/10/compass-card-operator-faces-three-us-lawsuits
These jerks figure that they have the perfect scam: use reporters such as Kelly “the stooge” Sinoski at the “Vancouver Sun” to spread propaganda and censor the truth. Pretend that skytrain is reducing road congestion (anyone who drives knows different) and carbon emissions (the opposite is true) – then create a multi-billion dollar annual budget where the swindlers who do nothing all day at TransLink can skim $113 million annually to fill their pockets with cash from the taxation of drivers.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/TransLink+unveils+first+faregate/7083956/story.html
I don’t care which monkey at TransLink goes to jail over this: Ian Jerkvis, Brian Mills, Doug Kelsey… Mike Madill. One of these monkeys is going to be facing jail time. If the puppeteers who run TransLink (at the Ministry of Transportation) get in the way, they’ll be in the jail cells next to these bums.
In addition to my last comment, TransLink is “unconcerned about the cost overruns” of Compass (VP of Compass, Mike Madill). To avoid people asking for blood, the CBC is not allowing commenting on this story:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/translink-compass-card-system-facing-questions-over-cost-1.2607759
Umm, what exactly does the VP of Compass at TransLink, actually do for his $250,000 or whatever? Looking out my window today at the extra express buses (99 B-Line) running beside the virtually empty trolleybuses, I’m starting to fume at the audacity of the looters at TransLink. How much longer do the fruitcakes at TransLink think that they are going to get away with this crap? Not long.
TransLink by the way has no business operating any diesel buses along side trolleybuses. Diesel buses are noisy and harmful. TransLink is doing so because diesel buses are cheaper to purchase than trolleybuses. TransLink has to rob the trolleybus budget to pay for things like Compass and sky (stupid) train losing TransLink hundreds of millions of dollars annually, or at least increasing transit costs by hundreds of millions dollars annually, same thing.
Stupid train employs 537 staff to operate just the Expo Line and Millennium Line – even though stupid train is touted as “not requiring a driver” and cheap to operate. Really, what do these 537 TransLink employees do, then? In truth, sky train merely shifts stupid train drivers to the bus system which has to employ added drivers to bus transit users to the stupid train.
Moreover…
Stupid train is now being credited for the increased urban sprawl in Metro Vancouver. Clueless Councillor Geoff Meggs of Vancouver doesn’t understand the reason for this and is suggesting that Burnaby, unlike Vancouver, can’t keep rental costs “low” – forcing anyone on a limited income to live far from stupid train in Burnaby.
Is Geoff for real? Renting in Vancouver is less expensive than renting in Burnaby; therefore, Mayor Corrigan of Burnaby is to blame for the urban sprawl? Here is the reason for the urban sprawl and it is due to the Marchetti effect: if you double the speed of transit, you double the distance which can be travelled in 30 minutes (threshold time for commuters).
http://www.railforthevalley.com/latest-news/zweisystem/eric-chriss-study-not-having-transit-is-more-environmentally-sustainable-than-having-transit-in-vancouver/
After the developers build the pricey condos near the stupid train, who is going to move into the pricey condos – drivers with good jobs or poor transit users (seniors and young families) making minimum wage or no wage? Drivers move into the distant condos and clog the road network. This is what you see in Delta and Surrey on Highway 91 if you work in Vancouver and live in Delta or Surrey.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Pricey+housing+near+transit+pushing+young+families+seniors/9730786/story.html
Hasta la vista, good bye, Mike Madill and TransLink. You’re finished.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q73gUUr8Zlw
JB = TL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBCzkFYpWbI