OC Transpo supports using more trackers to monitor bus driver speeds, inquest hears
Of more than 800 OC Transpo buses, only 4 at a time are equipped with 'Geotab' tech
- The inquest will resume on Friday April 25. Stream it live here.
Last year, OC Transpo started using GPS devices called Geotabs to keep track of speeding, suspected stunt driving and other concerning behaviour among bus operators.
The costly devices can also detect harsh braking and when a driver is not wearing a seatbelt. OC Transpo is typically notified the next day.
But as the coroner's inquest into the fatal OC Transpo bus crash of 2019 has heard, Geotabs are used far less on OC Transpo buses than on other vehicles owned and operated by the City of Ottawa.
At OC Transpo, only four out of 870 buses at a time are equipped with Geotabs on a rotational basis, though buses also feature other types of GPS technology, the city's chief safety officer of fleet services, Shari Nurse, testified earlier in the inquest.
Meanwhile, all of the approximately 700 trucks in the city's non-revenue fleet have Geotabs, she said.
Peter Napier, one of the lawyers leading the inquest, said that disparity is odd when looked at through the lens of public safety.
"It strikes me as unusual that all of the fleet vehicles, including waste removal vehicles [and] snowplows, have Geotab devices, and only four OC Transpo buses that are moving people around have the same safety devices on board," he said while questioning Nurse.
How the data is used
Geotab technology is one of those topics that keeps coming up at the inquest. The public deep dive exploring the circumstances and fallout of the fatal crash is nearing its end.
On Jan. 11, 2019, a packed OC Transpo double-decker slammed into a Transitway bus shelter at Westboro station. Three people — Judy Booth, Bruce Thomlinson and Anja Van Beek — died in the crash and many others were injured.
While the city accepted civil responsibility for the crash, the driver, Aissatou Diallo, was charged with 38 counts of dangerous driving causing death or bodily harm. She was acquitted of all charges in a judge-only trial in 2021.
The speed limit approaching Westboro station was 50 km/hr. When Diallo left the Transitway about 69 metres from the shelter, she was travelling between 58 km/hr and 60 km/hr, according to a narrative of the day.
Napier returned to the subject of Geotabs on Tuesday while questioning the inquests's last scheduled witness, Sabrina Pasian.
As the city's chief safety officer testified on Tuesday, having Geotabs on only four buses at a time makes it "challenging" for the data to inform driver training.
"I think it's clear that only having four units doesn't yield a rich amount of data," Pasian said, adding that she supports a phased expansion of Geotabs on all of the buses in the fleet, though it might come with a "hefty price tag."
In terms of current practice with the four Geotabs OC Transpo does have, drivers don't know their bus is tagged with a Geotab, but if their behaviour gives off a ping, their supervisor can talk to them about it afterward.
If trends occur, that could lead to training, Pasian added.
The city's automated speed enforcement cameras might also detect speeders, she said.
Flagging concerns in real time vs. later
According to another OC Transpo witness who testified earlier in the inquest, Geotabs could be used to a fuller extent, including for real-time monitoring of drivers.
Ken Gordon, OC Transpo's manager of bus operations at the time of the Westboro crash, said many things get reported to the transit agency's control centre, such as if a bus is running late. Safety should also be one of them, he said.
"In my opinion, if a bus is speeding, it should flag something [to] control and that controller or something should happen to rectify that situation, whether it's a call to the operator saying, 'Hey, slow down,'" Gordon said.
Asked about that option on Tuesday, Pasian said that could be done but it's more common for supervisors to get in touch with drivers later because radioing them in real-time would be "another distraction" on the road.
A juror of five people is being asked to make recommendations to prevent future tragedies.
They're expected to hear the inquest's closing submissions later this week.
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