I agree with what your saying, GO/ML have always been very secretive about service increases and I think the reason for that is because they or rather the province has a very tight leash on the operational budget. Though to be honest I'm not really sure at what level the numbers get determined and who has the final say so I can't say for sure who's to blame, the general lack of transparency sure doesn't help in that regard. They've always had a
just in time approach to getting new crews trained for additional service. I get that the province isn't in the best position financially right now. But when this approach has repeatedly backfired several times over by delaying new service(i.e. the 1/2hr service on the Lakeshore for example, although they would never admit that publicly) then maybe its time to do things a little differently perhaps? They use projections for everything, such as the average number of people expected to be on leave, out of service, sick days, when people are expected to finish training, etc, etc. But with how tight they are to their requirements all it takes to delay new service is a few extra people being unavailable for whatever reason or guys not getting qualified on schedule as expected. Which is exactly what has happened several times in the past. No doubt in the end they're left all confused, wondering why is it the numbers are higher than expected? Not realizing or rather not accepting, that reality can't always be projected. Then their left with an egg on their face when they realize that "X" cannot be done by "Y" time as projected. And again its not something that they will ever actually admit to, hence why they wait until the final minute to announce new service these days. But we can tell exactly whats going on. When the contractor has to do things like denying every single vacation or day off request for months on end or by starting to discipline people who are injury at work. Gosh, I love the victim blaming that goes on, "its your damn fault for not noticing that bar was installed to low!"
And by generally telling us that we're the ones who need to get our shit together as a whole. Getting a little bit tired of that crap. But don't get me wrong, I do love the actual job we do and I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it to. But the behind the scenes politics can leave me shaking my head in amazement sometimes. So considering how GO is being run more and more like a corporation each day I seriously doubt they will become more forthcoming or ever learn their lesson and open the purse strings a bit little, which imo, would be more prudent than taking the
just in time approach to everything for a public service.