Halifax Transit buses receive scheduled maintenance thousands of kilometres after due date: report

Halifax Regional Municipality’s auditor general has put the municipality’s transit maintenance under the microscope in a critical report examining maintenance activity within Halifax Transit between April 2016 and May 2018.

Evangeline Colman-Sadd released her auditor’s report on Wednesday.

The report noted that while Halifax Transit has a good system to inform workers when vehicle maintenance is required, transit buses often received their necessary maintenance more than 1,000 kilometres after it was due.

The report also found that two-thirds or more of the scheduled maintenance at the company’s Burnside garage was performed more than 1,000 kilometres after it should have been completed.

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Over the past year, Halifax Transit’s Ragged Lake facility has undergone a drastic change.

In 2017, 87 per cent of maintenance was overdue by at least 1,000 kilometres but by 2018 that number was just two percent.

Colman-Sadd could not explain the sudden drop but is recommending the two facilities implement the same practices to keep things consistent across the transit organization.

“Ragged Lake schedules a little differently from Burnside,” said Colman-Sadd. “They schedule in advance in anticipation that maintenance is coming due. Burnside schedules when maintenance is due so you’re automatically going to be late.”

Late maintenance is currently not having any impact on bus repair warranties, but the report is also recommending Halifax Transit establish clear targets for all key performance indications related to bus maintenance.

“Say the number is 10,000. You’re not going to pull the bus over on the side of the road at 10,000 kilometres,” said Halifax Transit director Dave Reage. “What you’re going to do is try and bring it in within an acceptable range so that’s one of the outcomes of this, is determine an acceptable range.”

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In 2017, a consultant’s report found the Ragged Lake garage was at capacity and the Burnside garage was over capacity.

Management has admitted that Burnside is not expected to meet Halifax Transit’s needs and that a consultant is now looking into options for the maintenance facility, with a decision expected by March.

“Expanding existing facilities, changing interior layouts or building new facilities would be high-level options,” said Reage.

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In addition to maintenance standards, the report is also critical of inventory checks. Currently, Halifax Transit does not maintain an inventory of small equipment used at the facilities, and there is no way to track or identify whether items go missing.

“There were a lot of people who had access to the storerooms that didn’t need it for their jobs,” said Colman-Sadd.

During the audit, there were 296 access cardholders who could gain entry to storerooms. After it was brought to the attention of management, access was limited to the 46 staff who required it.

The audit recommends regular inventory counts and the creation of a process to investigate any discrepancies in inventory.

In total, the auditor general has laid out 10 recommendations. Management has accepted all of the recommendations, and work has already begun to start implementing them. There will be a follow-up review in 18 months to see if improvements have been made.