A N N U a L Rep Or T 2020
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APPENDIX 1 ANNUAL REPORT 2020 Saskatoon Transit is a public transit provider wholly owned and operated by the City of Saskatoon, with an annual budget of $51.2 million, assets valued at approximately $200 million and over 400 employees. Saskatoon Transit is a significant example of an essential service 2020BY THE NUMBERS the City of Saskatoon provides to citizens. 4.6M RIDES PER YEAR using electronic ridership on fixed-route Transit approximately 7M using formula-based ridership rides per NEARLY 700,000 month bus stops 1,500 276km of streets 41routes terminals6 REFURBISHED 10 BUSES $ Operating 51.7M Budget Fixed-Route Access $45.6M $6.1M 2 SASKATOON TRANSIT 0% -10% 12340’ low-floor -20% Change in demand -30% 62’ low-floor articulated -40% 9 -50% -60% -70% 830’ low-floor -80% -90% FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC All Cities Saskatoon BUSES ON THE ROAD employees DURING PEAK HOURS 417 (DOWN FROM 102 PRE-COVID) 239 OPERATORS 88 OVER OVER 16,000 users subscribed to service 65,000 alerts in the Transit app ACCESS TRANSIT TRIPS (53% DECREASE FROM 2019) 12-Month 12-Month ELECTRIC BUS Pilot CANADA’S SAFEST PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION EMPLOYER Estimated to save ON-DEMAND FINALIST 50.3 tonnes Pilot of carbon dioxide per year, per replacement bus map-marker Concluded bargaining with ATU Local 615 in 3 days! commendations CONTENTS Introduction Introduction 4 Message from the Director 5 107 years ago, Saskatoon Transit Leadership Team 6 embarked on an audacious journey to Operations 7 serve the citizens of Saskatoon. Our Customers 8 Fixed-Route Transit 12 365 days a year Saskatoon Transit provides transportation service Access Transit 14 to our city no matter the weather. Like the popular children’s song states ‘the wheels on the bus go round and round’ but the Maintenance 17 milestones are different every year. The books are closed on 2020 Our People 18 and we are looking at the achievements of the past. Our Finances 19 In 2020, Saskatoon Transit provided more than seven million rides Appendices 22 and operated over 359,000 hours of service. Providing over half a million trips every month during a pandemic is no small feat and it is with a great sense of pride in our staff and thankfulness for our riders that we celebrate that achievement. Saskatoon Transit is made up of a committed team of talented Saskatoon Transit and dedicated employees who work 24/7 to ensure that service is where and when riders expect and need it. Providing service to MISSION an area that is more than 276 km of streets is no small feat and the professional staff make sure the system runs safely and efficiently We connect our community providing frequency and coverage to the city of Saskatoon. by providing professional, Saskatoon Transit employees work hard to provide the citizens of reliable, safe and affordable Saskatoon with a modern, efficient service that provides timely, mobility options. frequent and friendly service to support our great city now and will grow and flourish to serve the needs of citizens in the future. Saskatoon Transit continues to make service adjustments and City of Saskatoon improvements that have real benefits to riders, such as: VALUES \ Technology to show riders bus capacity \ High-frequency corridors Î People Matter \ ClassPass program to provide free transportation to students and teachers during off peak times for class trips Î Respect One Another \ Route 1225 - Jingle Bell Express holiday shopping route Î Act and Communicate with \ Integrity Experience Transit – transit travel training program \ On-demand transit pilot Î Safety in All We Do \ Electric bus pilot Î Trust Makes Us Stronger Î Courage to Move Forward Message from the Director 2020 became a year of heartbreak. Building on the two previous years of ridership growth Saskatoon Transit was hoping to see our best ridership in our 107-year history. Life- and society-changing events can be \ Access Transit adjusted its booking window unwelcome and I would not be going out on a from seven days to three. limb to say that we could have done without the \ Saskatoon Transit engaged Pantonium in an COVID-19 pandemic. When changes needed to On-Demand Transit pilot project. be made to support health and safety protocols, \ Saskatoon Transit reacted quickly and moved Saskatoon Transit continued to engage with forward with actions to keep our employees and many local stakeholders such as the Saskatoon riders safe. Council on Aging and Bus Riders of Saskatoon and the USSU. We initiated back-door loading which meant \ Extensive engagement with the Business suspending fare collection from March to June Improvement Districts, Saskatchewan Hotel along with enhanced cleaning protocols. As the and Hospitality Association, Tourism Saskatoon, full scale of the pandemic became apparent, we City of Saskatoon Arts and Grants and Open adjusted our service to meet Saskatchewan Health Spaces Departments, Prairie Lily, Nutrien Authority (SHA) recommendations, made sure our Playland, Wonderhub, Saskatoon Health schedule supported limited capacity on buses, and Authority, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, we increased frequency along the most heavily Meewasin, Children’s Festival, SaskTel Centre, used routes to allow riders to physically distance. Remai Modern, local marathons and fundraisers Vinyl barriers were installed to protect the etc. to develop a route to serve the demand operators and allow front-door loading and fare in the downtown core in the spring/summer. collection to resume. At the behest of ATU Local Unfortunately, this project was cancelled/ 615 we also recommended the installation of delayed due to COVID-19. However, the process more secure, permanent driver barriers which are of working through the idea with partners was scheduled to be installed in late 2021. extremely valuable. While we had many challenges in 2020, we also had One of the biggest items to celebrate was the many things to celebrate: successful conclusion of bargaining with ATU Local 615, which only took three days in 2020. This \ Saskatoon Transit was nominated and became a bargaining session also highlights the change in the finalist as Canada’s Safest Public Transportation relationship with Local 615, which is something to Employer along with Metrolinx, Voyago celebrate. Regardless of the differences of opinion Transportation and the winner, Jazz Aviation. we are both working to ensure that our employees \ Saskatoon Transit received its first electric are protected, and they return to their families safe battery bus (EBB). and sound at the end of the workday. \ Saskatoon Transit chose a successful mobile James McDonald ticketing partner, Masabi. Director, Saskatoon Transit \ Saskatoon Transit had its first intern from the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School who worked to develop the first part of our Long- Term Fare Strategy. 2020 ANNUAL REPORT 5 Leadership Team James McDonald Michael Moellenbeck Tracey Davis Director Operations Manager Access Transit Manager Paul Bracken Cory Shrigley Allison Gray Maintenance Manager Customer Support & Marketing Consultant Engagement Manager Hidayat Ullah John R. Stevenson Dominik Tomaszewski Accounting Coordinator Occupational Health & Safety Human Resources Senior Superintendent Business Partner 6 SASKATOON TRANSIT Operations 7 MILLION Rides in 2020 Every day, Saskatoon Transit facilitates the movement of thousands of passengers to destinations all over the city. Introduction A fleet of 170 buses: In 2020, COVID-19 restrictions meant that Fixed \ 140 buses serving fixed-route transit services: Route transit had to revise the way it provided Î service. With the University of Saskatchewan 123 low floor 40-foot diesel buses moving to online classes and the disappearance of Î 9 articulating low floor 62-foot diesel buses; morning and afternoon peak hour demand, due to Î 8 low floor 30-foot diesel buses; and many riders working from home, we had to adjust to ensure the frequency being provided allowed \ 30 mid-sized cut away diesel and gas buses riders to travel while remaining physically distanced used by Access Transit. from other passengers. These changes reduced \ A staff complement of 417 employees, working frequency in areas that did not require a high level 365 days a year. of service and moved it to new areas where the \ demand was increasing at different hours of the day Fixed Route service operates 41 bus routes – this has since become the new normal. along approximately 276 kilometers of streets with 1,500 bus stops. During peak hours, there In 2020, ridership was approximately 4.6 Million were 88 buses on various routes throughout based on electronic ridership, and 7.0 Million using the city. formula-based ridership. In addition, there were \ In 2020, as part of the Asset Management over 65,000 trips provided on Access Transit’s Plan – Building Better Transit, Saskatoon Transit demand response system. refurbished 10 buses with an expectation of To provide that level of service Saskatoon Transit extending the life of the buses by 6–9 years. used the following: \ Access Transit is an accessible door-to-door Demand Response service for citizens who, by reason of a disability, are unable to use fixed- Terminals: route Transit with safety and/or dignity. Unlike \ Centre Mall fixed-route Transit, Access Transit does not have predetermined routes so trip booking \ Confederation Mall and scheduling decisions are strategically \ Downtown terminal (23rd Street) made to allow as many trips as possible, while \ Lawson Heights Mall staying within trip time and resource availability parameters. Trip booking requests are on a \ Market Mall first-come-first-served basis and dependent \ Place Riel at the University of Saskatchewan on the present fleet size. Access Transit is (U of S) equipped with 30 wheelchair lift buses. 2020 ANNUAL REPORT 7 Our Customers Throughout 2020, our Customer Support & Engagement team found new opportunities to deliver customer service with excellence.