Councillors demand answers as Saskatoon Transit continues to cancel routes over breakdowns

The City of Saskatoon's transit director says he's doing his best to keep buses on the road as he deals with cold weather and parts shortages.

At a meeting on Monday, councillors grilled transit manager Jim McDonald on why transit continues to cancel bus routes. On Monday morning alone, Saskatoon Transit cancelled 30 routes around the city due to multiple breakdowns.

"Why didn't we prepare appropriately and preventatively to fix these buses so that we would be able to serve our transit customers … especially during these winter months when when we have very, very cold winters?" asked Coun. Bev Dubois.

McDonald said the situation is not simple. In an interview, he said it's very difficult to find spare parts, due to COVID-19-related supply chain issues.

"We have at least six vehicles that are waiting for new engines," he said.

"Depending on the type and age of the bus, we're not getting any engines coming up as available. We've gone as far afield as Portland, Oregon through the vendor to source one of those vehicle engines."

Older buses are regularly cannibalized for spare parts, he said. As well, repair crews take extra time over the summer to make sure as many buses as possible are running before winter hits.

McDonald said cold weather is extremely hard on his fleet. A number of things can go wrong in the cold, from cracked hoses to a buildup of diesel particulate that regularly sets off "check engine" sensors, he said.

As a result, he said it's very difficult to keep up with repairs — even when parts are available.

New buses needed

Meanwhile, a local transit advocacy group said there are too many older buses on the road right now in Saskatoon and something needs to be done about it.

"Saskatoon Transit released an annual asset management plan and it was very clear that if there was not some cash put into the system for new bus purchases, service was going to deteriorate," said Robert Clipperton, a steering committee member for the group Bus Riders of Saskatoon.

"It shouldn't be a surprise."

Clipperton said he would like to see money coming from the federal government's Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program given to the city to buy new buses. The program, administered by the provincial government, has a funding stream for public transit, but it has not formally opened applications.

"It's just like when you drive a car," he said. "The older your car is, the more maintenance troubles you're going to have."

The city said it continues to talk with the provincial government about large projects, including the proposed bus rapid transit project, which would require a new fleet of buses.

Clipperton said the cancellations are very frustrating. He said reports of serious delays date back to before Christmas, and he regularly hears about people waiting in extremely cold temperatures.

"Reliability is the key to a successful bus service," he said. 

"If you don't know that your bus is going to come when you need it, you are going to miss your appointment, you're going to be late for work, you're going to have problems getting your kids to the child care centre."

Meanwhile, McDonald said Saskatoon Transit is doing its best to alert riders to any route problems as quickly as possible. Right now, alerts are generally sent out in the early morning over social media.