City auditor outlines last winter’s issues with Saskatoon Transit in new report

Trying to get a ride on Saskatoon city transit buses became a nightmare for many people who relied on them last winter.

Throughout December 2021 and January 2022, there were dozens of bus breakdowns, route cancellations and vehicles simply out of service for prolonged periods of time.

During a Feb. 28 council meeting, transportation and construction GM Terry Schmidt and transit director Jim McDonald were asked about the reasons behind the difficulties keeping buses on the

Their answer: Supply chain issues for bus parts that had been building up during the pandemic, service adjustments, and a prolonged cold spell.

In April, city council asked for an independent report to be completed on the causes of the route disruptions. The completed report will be presented to councillors during the transportation committee meeting Monday afternoon.

The reasons cited by Schmidt and McDonald don’t appear to entirely align with Auditor Sohail Saleem’s findings.

According to the report: “The main reasons for the service disruptions include ineffective operations of stores in Transit, ineffective governance processes and an ineffective preventative maintenance program.”

Sohail said there were inadequate staffing levels, ineffective inventory management, inadequate management of transit issues, lack of performance indicators for bus repairs, a lack of data-driven decision-making, and ineffective communication processes — among other problems.

Besides those reasons, Sohail also found that during the last two years, 60 per cent of Saskatoon’s transit buses “did not receive timely preventative maintenance,” resulting in more work in the 2021-22 winter season.

In the report, Sohail said the problems were internally based rather than due to external factors like a North American-wide parts supply shortage. He wrote the issues could be avoided in the future, however, “if proper actions are undertaken.”

Some of his recommendations included streamlining inventory management issues, increasing management presence, more accountability, getting timely and accurate data to make decisions, and expediting the Director of Transit recruitment process.

A response report has been prepared by city administration indicating the transit department is working on improvements in several areas, including those outlined by the auditor.

Transit is also expected to ask for money in the next budget for four new supervisors and co-ordinators.