Issue with automated bus stop announcements costing city
Posted Mar 13, 2018 09:09:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The City of Ottawa will pay a $25,000 fine to the Canadian Transportation Agency after stops failed to be called out by its Next Stop Announcement System.
It happened during three trips back on November 14.
The city explained that in one case, the bus had started prior to its scheduled start time. The automated system is triggered based on start times and locations of scheduled trips, so the announcements of the first few stops were not properly issued. In another case, a technical issue was identified and has since been resolved. And in the final instance, staff found that the system functioned as intended, but some of the internal speakers within the bus were not working properly. Those speakers have since been replaced.
OC Transpo said it has a number of ongoing processes in place to monitor the performance of the NSAS to ensure that the service is accessible to all customers and is functioning in compliance with City policy as well as the CTA orders. This includes updating the system to align with the quarterly service changes, monitoring customer and staff feedback, monthly service checks, regular maintenance cycles, and providing consistent operator training and communications.
As additional quality control measures, the city said staff have increased maintenance inspections of all buses, and have begun random spot checks of system performance by on-street supervisors.
