TransLink CEO grilled over recent SkyTrain outages

CTV Vancouver: TransLink under fire for review TransLink is paying thousands of dollars to review recent SkyTrain outages, and critics say its spending priorities are off the rails.

TransLink’s CEO faced a grilling in front of the Mayors’ Council Tuesday afternoon as elected officials quizzed him about why SkyTrain service went off the rails in two major outages this month.

Ian Jarvis said he hopes a $1,200 per day consultant will dig deep to find the reasons why the train system had two screw-ups so close together – even as some mayors panned the system entirely.

“People have no faith. They’ve had no faith in this for a long time,” said Delta Mayor Lois Jackson, whose daughter was among the SkyTrain riders stuck aboard the trains.

But North Vancouver District Mayor Richard Walton said Jarvis had responded to many of the mayors’ concerns, including promising the review, which will be conducted by former Metrolinx President Gary McNeil and conclude in October.

“There were some tough questions and comments but it was a difficult two weeks,” said Walton. “It’s a challenge. There’s no question the brand of TransLink is tarnished.”

TransLink blamed the first outage on a computer glitch. Last week the agency suspended an electrician they say is responsible for the power failure that caused the second.

On Monday, the CEO apologized and promised they would learn from their mistakes.

“I apologize to the customers who rely on this system every day to get to appointments. It’s not good enough,” Jarvis said.

The review will be pricey, and Canadian Taxpayers Federation spokesman Jordan Bateman argued it’s another unneeded expense that taxpayers will pay for.

“They’re just throwing fuel on the fire at this point,” he said.

While the public transit agency struggles to sort out the problems with its train system, documents disclosed to CTV News show the agency paid its executives $100,000 in vehicle expenses.

Seven executives were paid an average of $14,345.28 each for vehicles – about $3,000 higher than in 2007 – and the expenses were recategorized as a “perquisite allowance,” which literally means “perk.”

However the total paid to all executives dropped about $50,000 since 2006, largely because there are seven fewer executives than there were then.

TransLink cut tens of millions after an efficiency review last year, and finished 2013 with a $36 million surplus.

It also didn’t purchase a backup system for the SkyTrain – valued at about $20 million – and didn’t have a backup electrician working on the panel that failed, causing the major outage, CTV News has learned.

The bus drivers' union wondered if the service disruptions could be blamed on cuts.

“In transit, we’ve heard of ‘optimization’ and that means reduced staff. That could be part of the responsibility here,” Woods said.