Supply chain issues, aging fleet causing Saskatoon Transit mechanical failures: Director

Trying to get a reliable ride on a Saskatoon Transit route has been troublesome for some users over the last couple of months.

On Monday alone, Saskatoon Transit posted a notice at 6:30 a.m., warning users of 27 route cancellations, including three high school routes. According to the City of Saskatoon’s website, the cause for every one of those cancellations was mechanical failure.

During Monday’s council meeting, councillors Bev Dubois and Darren Hill took transit to task over it, asking both Terry Schmidt — the general manager of transportation and construction — and transit director Jim McDonald why so many buses have been consistently out of service over the last couple of months.

“We’ve got angry citizens and quite frankly helpless citizens who cannot go on with their everyday lives to get them to work, to daycare et cetera because they can’t count on their means of transit, which is Saskatoon Transit,” said Dubois.

She asked that if transit managers knew there was a backlog of buses that needed to be fixed long ago, why they didn’t prepare appropriately and preventatively to fix them so there wouldn’t be so many route cancellations over the winter.

“I don’t recall them happening before and quite frankly they’re just not acceptable,” she added.

Schmidt confirmed the cancellations as “service adjustments,” acknowledging the number of buses out of service now hasn’t happened before. A lot of the mechanical failures happened during a prolonged cold spell earlier in the winter.

“We do continue to see service impacts despite the warming up of the temperatures as transit deals with the backlog of mechanical issues,” he said. “The aging fleet is one of the factors we’re starting to see … We’re also seeing difficulty sourcing parts in a timely manner.

“Some of the impacts of supply chains are starting to impact our ability to get parts in a timely manner.”

McDonald also said the bus industry in North America has had problems getting parts needed to service vehicles.

“We are cannibalizing spare parts off of buses that are defective or are not able to be put out into service so that we can continue to keep the buses that are serviceable running,” he said.

“I still don’t understand and the citizens of Saskatoon don’t understand how we can’t have buses on the road,” continued Dubois. “You’re talking about equipment and parts and things. Has that never been an issue before?”

The supply chain issues have been building over the past 18 months, McDonald told councillors. Even one year ago, transit officials would have been able to order most of the replacement parts needed. Now they can’t.

“Our staff are investigating every available option for parts that are available on the market,” McDonald reiterated. “What we would have been able to get out of the parts systems a year ago have been depleted.”

Hill said the public wasn’t being informed about route cancellations or delays in a timely manner.

“I was shocked to see the amount of routes that were being cancelled (Monday) morning,” said Hill. “What is going to happen tomorrow and the days to come with regards to that fleet management?”

McDonald said Saskatoon Transit was trying to source parts.

“When there are no parts available, you cannot overstock on the parts that you’re looking for,” he said.

“What is the go-forward plan to mitigate the impact to citizens so they’re not receiving a notice at 6:30 every morning as to what routes are not going to be running? And how are you going to communicate that plan?” pressed Hill.

McDonald told council transit officials are trying to get more lists of private sector mechanical service providers, and they’ll be working with specific garages that can take and repair 40-foot buses.

As for communication to residents, McDonald said they’ll try to notify residents a week or two in advance of potential slowdowns or route cancellations while buses are being repaired.