HRM budget committee approves Halifax Transit operating budget

Halifax Regional Municipality’s (HRM) budget committee approved a more than $38.6-million proposed budget and business plan for Halifax Transit on Wednesday.

The decision comes just days after temporary reductions to service went into effect across the city.

“We have new employees come in, they’ve been working 60-hour weeks, burning out and leaving,” Halifax Transit executive director Dave Reage told the committee. “So in order for us to get over this hump, we have to bear a bit of this pain of reduced service.”

Reage says the schedule changes are about reducing forced overtime in an effort to retain employees — something local transit union president Shane O’Leary says isn’t the only problem.

Safety is a big concern for the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 508 leader, especially with changes to Halifax Transit’s use of the Protection of Property Act.

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“Where you could use the Protection of Property Act to remove somebody from the bus … now they’re saying you cannot do that anymore,” says O’Leary. “So, you could be banned from this building, but you can’t be banned from my workplace. So, you can literally assault somebody and get on another bus the next day.”

It’s a fact some councillors were surprised to learn during the meeting.

“If I had realized that this shortcoming was there, I probably would have been pushed a lot faster for this bylaw,” says HRM Coun. Tim Outhit.

In an effort to address safety concerns, the budget committee will consider an increase of $379,000 to hire four service supervisors, tasked with engaging staff, building relationships with the public and de-escalating situations.

“The wheels turn so slow; we need safety now,” O’Leary says in reaction to the meeting. “We had a couple of bus drivers attacked over the weekend. It’s time to do something now, not with the slow bureaucratic red tape that Halifax Transit and council uses. We’re people, we need safety.”

A 25 cent rate increase for service and a permanent reduction of service by five per cent were listed as options to consider by Halifax Transit, but were not brought to the table at the meeting.

Another option to cancel the final network changes of the Moving Forward Together Plan was discussed, then voted down.