One of the buses in the Saint John Transit fleet. (Staff photo)
An operational audit of Saint John’s transit service will get underway in the coming months, with consulting firm Stantec at the helm.
The audit will aim to find $2 million of efficiencies in the transit operation as part of the city’s plan to balance its finances.
The project will cost the city $99,895, which will likely be funded through leftover financial assistance money from the province.
Transit Commission chair Patricia Ellsworth says the audit will take a ‘holistic view’ of the entire operation.
“Everything from looking at looking at all our routes, who’s using the routes, where is the demand for transit, and engaging the stakeholders throughout this process to understand transit ridership, and see where we can find efficiencies,” she said.
“They’d also be looking at how we’re operationally structured, and should transit continue to be a hands-off approach from the city as a commission, or should it be absorbed as a department.”
Ellsworth says one of the things the audit will focus on is route optimization and sustainability.
Ellsworth ensures that the public is a top priority, and they don’t want to make changes that will affect them negatively.
“Ensuring that we’re minimizing the impact on the service and looking to improve what we do have. We’re not looking at this and saying ‘let’s just cut a whole bunch of things.’ That’s really not our intention at all with this,” she said.
Ellsworth says Stantec’s audit will offer a fresh set of eyes on the transit system.
“Are there any innovative approaches to how we can deliver transit services? My expectation is that they’re going to bring some ideas and some thoughts that maybe we haven’t thought of before, or we haven’t been able to explore deeply,” she said.
She also adds a number of public consultation meetings will be held in the coming months to gather feedback.
Ellsworth says they are required to have stakeholder engagement throughout the process.
“It will not be something that is done in isolation,” she said.
She also adds a number of public consultation meetings will be held in the coming months to gather feedback.
Ellsworth expects the audit to be completed by November, and they’ll start implementing new initiatives soon after.
