http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/tra...tc-chair-i-just-want-our-damn-streetcars.html
TTC chair: "I just want our damn streetcars"
By: Jennifer Pagliaro City Hall reporter, Published on Wed Jul 29 2015
A revised schedule for the delivery of 204 new streetcars puts the roll-out at least a year behind schedule.
Manufacturer Bombardier is re-committing to have all vehicles delivered by the end of 2019, according to a statement sent Wednesday morning. But after delays, TTC and city officials maintain the delivery of cars to-date has been unacceptable.
“I’m kind of sick of their excuses at this point,” said TTC chair Josh Colle (open Josh Colle's policard) at a hastily scheduled press conference at city hall after Bombardier announced the new schedule commitments Wednesday morning. “I don’t want anymore excuses I just want our damn streetcars.”
The TTC board will debate financial penalties and blocking the company from further city contracts at meeting today.
To date, there are only six streetcars in service when Bombardier should have delivered 50 cars by now, said TTC CEO Andy Byford. According to the new schedule, Byford said there will be 23 cars delivered and 20 in service by the end of the year.
That falls below what the TTC had proposed as a new schedule of 30 cars by the end of the year.
But the original timeline should have seen 70 cars delivered in that time. Instead, Byford said they now expect 70 cars to be delivered by the end of next year.
“That’s nowhere near where we should be. We’re not happy about that,” Byford told reporters. “But the key thing has always been, we want quality vehicles — vehicles that work out of the box.”
Byford said they are confident with the quality and reliability of the vehicles they have now — “We just want more of them.”
Colle said he expects some board members will be seeking “drastic” measures to penalize Bombardier’s performance, saying they have grown tired of the “shifting goal post.”
While Bombardier has re-committed to the full order of cars by original date, the new schedule would put them behind their contracted milestones, which includes 60 streetcars delivered by late August.
The TTC’s contract with Bombardier allows for damages of up to 5 per cent of the total $1.2 billion cost if the 60th streetcar is late.
Officials have not yet put a price on the delay.
Colle said he’s always been more concerned with meeting the milestones and the cost of delays in keeping an aging streetcar fleet in operation.
“I’m certainly pleased to see that they’re finally publicly committing to something, at the same time the number that they had earlier committed to us several times is much lower than we had anticipated,” Colle said. “The true test would be when that next car arrives and what shape it’s in — that’s when I’ll believe this delivery schedule.”
“I think our riders deserve better from Bombardier.”
Earlier this year, officials visited Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant, where Colle said the main demand was just to provide a revised schedule.
Bombardier said Wednesday they are “ramping up” their production rate to meet the four cars per month schedule they’ve now set out, which they provided the TTC earlier this week.
“Bombardier assures that all of the vehicles will be of the utmost quality, like all those that are in service today, performing at an industry-leading 98 per cent availability rate,” a statement from the company said.
Spokesperson Marc-André Lefebvre said they would not comment on potential penalties as the TTC board meets today.
It’s not clear how the late deliveries could impact the need for more streetcars on city streets.
Byford has said the city will need to order 60 additional streetcars to keep up with growing demand on transit in the next decade.
While the city hasn’t budgeted for the estimated $53 million needed to secure the cars as part of the current Bombardier order, Byford said they won’t be making that request now.
“The priority absolutely is to hold Bombardier to deliver on their present contract. We’re not in a rush to give them extra orders until they can prove that they can deliver on the base order,” Byford said.
However, the option to order new vehicles at the existing price disappears after Bombardier delivers the 60th streetcar from the current order.
“I would say the commission would be very reluctant to do that at this point based on the delivery,” Colle said of tacking on a new order. He said he hopes the TTC will be in a position to make that call next year.
