Praise, pans for Transit both up

No single factor for greater public response

 THE city saw a spike in praise and pans for Winnipeg Transit drivers over the previous two months, but officials say they can't pinpoint the reasons for either increase.

Winnipeg Transit received nearly 400 complaints about bus operators this past December, a significant jump over recent years, when complaints for the same month ranged from around 200 to 250.

"There are so many factors that could influence the number of calls that they get, that it's difficult to pinpoint one specific change," said city spokesman Ken Allen, who said Transit can only speak anecdotally about the jump in positive and negative feedback.

Most complaints this year related to how drivers operate the bus and their driving procedures -- issues could include speeding or illegal lane changes -- as well as their conduct with the public, how they approached bus stops and whether buses ran on schedule.

There's a smaller but noticeable increase for January as well, which saw more than 320 complaints from Transit riders this year. Last January, there were fewer than 200 complaints, and over the last three years the high for the month was 270.

Flip side

On the flip side, drivers also saw a boost in positive feedback for both months: 150 commendations for December, nearly triple the number from the year before, and 120 for January, double the amount received last year. Most of the praise was for helpful driver conduct.

Allen said Winnipeg Transit has increased promotion of its Complaints and Commendations phone line, "so people are possibly more aware of the line, and taking advantage of that method of communication."

He also cited weather and an increase in the number of riders as possible factors in the higher numbers.

However, Transit statistics don't show a major spike in December ridership: average weekday ridership for the month went up by a near-identical amount over the past two years, with around 700 more riders each December. Statistics for January aren't yet available.

Part of January's increase in feedback may stem from the city's new policy requiring Transit drivers to announce upcoming bus stops. The measure went into effect Jan. 1, and will be in place until buses are outfitted with automated announcing systems over the next two years.

Allen said the policy initially resulted in around 30 calls per week from people against the policy or upset stops weren't being called out. That's now tapered off to 10 per week, compared to 20 calls weekly in favour of the policy, he said.

There's no obvious weather-related explanation for January's spike either, which was warmer than normal and saw only four cm of snow fall, compared to a normal average of 20 cm.

Environment Canada meteorologist Rob Paola said there were no weather extremes in December: The month was a little colder than normal, but only by 0.7 degrees. Snowfall was above normal, he said, but there were "no record-breaking amounts."

Allen said the city assesses all feedback received on Transit drivers, but would not say whether particular attention will be paid to the most recent figures.

"Every bit of feedback that comes in is looked at and assessed to see if action needs to be taken," he said.