Staff Report #4
September 25, 2024
To All Commissioners
Re: 2024 Service Plan Implementation – Specialized Service
Recommendation
The report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
As outlined in Staff Report #7 dated April 24, 2024, subsequent to Municipal Council approval of the multi-year budget and associated growth hours for the specialized service, the 2024 service improvements were planned to be implemented during time periods identified as requiring resources to reduce unmet demand.
Given the manner in which the specialized service operates, service improvements can be made throughout the year and as resources become available as opposed to waiting until September as is the case with the conventional service. As the contractor required time to procure vehicles to increase services during peak period hours of operation, and in an effort to utilize approved funding to immediately improve the service available, effective mid-April, an additional vehicle was added to the service in the weekday evening periods from 6:00pm – 10:00pm, a bus was added on Saturdays from 8:00am – 10:00pm, and two buses were added on Sunday mornings from 8:30am – 2:00pm.
The contractor was able to obtain the additional vehicles required for the peak period upgrades as approved and those remaining service improvements were made effective September 3, 2024 with three additional peak period vehicles added to the service from 8:00am to 6:30pm Monday through Friday.
With the addition of the service hours to the system, average accommodated weekday rides have increased by 50 rides per day with the average accommodated Saturday and Sunday rides increasing by 20 rides per day respectively. Same day cancellations, late cancelations and no shows however continue to be a concern accounting for an average of 110 rides left unable to be re allocated daily.
During the first few weeks of September, the contractor experienced great difficulty with respect to ensuring manpower to staff scheduled vehicles and as such the scheduled service hours have not been delivered in full. This has negatively impacted the ability to accommodate same day trip requests as well as on-time performance as schedules have had to be re-aligned to accommodate the cancelled shifts. This movement of trips impacts schedule reliability as the manifest now becomes very difficult for the driver to maintain.
Through performance review communications, the contractor has committed to prioritizing recruitment, enhancing contingency planning by expanding their on call available drivers to offset lost time and finally to ensure that they are proactive with communication with respect to known shortages so that adjustments to manifests can be made as early as possible so as to mitigate to the extent possible the negative impacts on customers.
Recommended by:
Shawn Wilson, Director of Operations
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager