BOW VALLEY – A new study is recommending several changes to the way Roam transit does maintenance as the organization continues to expand.
Depending on the recommendations that move forward, the study indicated it could assist Roam in finding efficiencies and cost savings in the short- and long-term.
“Our intent was to hire an outside consultant, so they could actively look at our current arrangement and our maintenance practices and get a starting point for assessing needs for the future so we can be set up for success,” said Roam CEO Martin Bean. “We wanted to get some recommendations, and then over the next little while, we'll work with the Town of Banff and our commission members and figure out which of the recommendations will be implemented and which will either be put off or not do it all.”
Among the recommendations are creating a strategy to develop and retain mechanics, establishing a preventative maintenance program, having ongoing training for maintenance staff, defining repair standards and making a master service agreement to outline goals, standards and programs to better maintain vehicles.
The study noted Roam has areas for improvement with bus maintenance and fleet maintenance, with rising costs and time to repair vehicles among them.
“The good news is these problems are the result of rapid growth and not the result of deteriorated operational management.”
Completed by Richard Haukka, who has 25 years of experience in transit maintenance, the study estimated a timeline to implement recommendations would be up to 12 months.
Haukka recommended a master service agreement would formalize Roam’s maintenance goals, what it deems to be acceptable state of repair standards, create preventative maintenance programs and improve on the government’s 30-day inspection process.
“It just holds us accountable and holds our maintenance provider accountable, and we all know what to expect,” said Bean of a master service agreement between Roam and Town of Banff.
Haukka also recommended a head of maintenance position be created to have oversight of all maintenance related to Roam buses and facility operations. He noted the Town of Banff should “enhance its internal maintenance management plan” to schedule repairs three to seven days in advance.
“Our arrangement with the Town of Banff has grown from when Roam started, and grown significantly from a four bus operation to what will be over 40 buses next year,” Bean said. “It's a big change. During that time, labour and supply chain challenges have arisen and are really challenging to deal with. We want to work through what the maintenance report recommends as far as who's doing our maintenance, how we're approaching it, what involvement Roam has, and what it should look like in the future, say, 10 years from now.”
The study recommended Roam hire a certified technician to focus on regulatory inspections, safety checks and preventative work. A service person is also recommended to complete small repairs daily.
“You want to be able to manage maintenance and pass/fail inspection at your own standard, which are above minimum standards by law so you have control over what happens to that vehicle,” he told the commission at its Aug. 14 meeting.
Haukka’s study stated Roam doesn’t define the repair standard, but leaves it to be set by Banff staff or the company completing work on a bus.
The study added without specific guidelines or expectations, the quality reached can hit the minimum government standard needed or go above and beyond what’s needed.
“When a third-party vendor performs regulatory government inspections on their behalf, there is a lack of an expressed standard, leaving the results of that inspection to be defined as ‘pass or fail’ based on minimum acceptable/legal standards,” according to the study. “The current arrangement leaves many Roam transit units failing semi-annual inspections and being down for several weeks for repairs twice a year.”
With Roam establishing set standards, “a vehicle should never fail the most basic government inspections because key safety and operational components would be caught in the preventative or monthly inspections and repaired or replaced before reaching the point of being unacceptably worn out.”
The study had Haukka review maintenance data, conduct staff interviews, visit specific sites and look at financial records.
The study was commissioned last summer to identify reasons for climbing maintenance costs and find potential solutions.
Roam is also undergoing a study to review ridership and projected growth to indicate operational and infrastructure requirements for the next decade. Bean said Haukka is assisting Dillon Consulting – the lead on the study – on maintenance aspects.
In June, the transit commission received information maintenance forecasts could be $830,000 more than the $2.42 million budgeted this year. From January to April, Roam was $441,000 over budget for parts, maintenance and vehicle supplies.
Through the first six months, maintenance-related expenses were about $530,000 over budget.
“We expect this amount to be significantly over budget at year-end, but hopefully cost savings in other areas can reduce the annual deficit,” stated a staff report outlining financials for the first six months of 2024.
Roam outsources bus maintenance to the Town of Banff, which has eight transit mechanics and a shop foreman.
Haukka said a system to have more specific details should be created for specific maintenance events and breakdowns, but also outline the next few steps needed for repairs.
“It lacks the detail Roam would benefit from to understand what’s going on in the world of maintenance on its fleet,” he said of the existing system.
He noted buses were getting priority work completed, but if five things were needed the top two would be finished and the bus would “go back on the road … get picked up again and it creates a bit of a cycle” for repairs.
According to the study, an average of 434 hours a year are spent on maintenance per bus. He said an aspect of that is having maintenance staff work on several different types of buses since Roam has six models of buses, but also equipment and part delays.
The study emphasized the difficulty transit services are having across the country in finding mechanical staff and turnover is a “major risk to all organizations requiring this specialized labour.”
In comparison to centres such as Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Whistler and Victoria, Banff had the highest wage for certified mechanics except for Coast Mountain Bus Company in Vancouver.
It noted Banff doesn’t have a formalized structure to retain staff except its apprenticeship program and has seen high turnover due to issues such as housing.
“Hiring technicians with the skills required to do all types of work on a transit bus in Canada is almost impossible,” stated the study. “Important factors to consider are the need to ‘build your own’ technicians by hiring for aptitude, willingness to learn, and the ability to commit to the company long enough to make the investment worthwhile.”
The study outlined a preventative maintenance program would “address transit bus wear items rather than just the base mechanical items that exist” in the government’s required 30-day inspection that looks at vehicle maintenance and quality.
“If the repair operations are managed carefully, additional savings come in the form of reduced maintenance hours per bus per year because planned work is executed more efficiently than reactive repairs,” Haukka’s study outlined.
Roam has 32 buses, but is anticipated to have three more by the end of September. A further six will be added in early 2025 to bring the fleet to 41.
However, the fleet is made up of six different bus types, which “complicates the effort required to perform maintenance efficiently and procure parts and training materials on time.”
The fleet ranges from highway coaches, electric and transit buses and smaller buses on Canmore’s local routes.
The report noted after driver costs, maintenance is typically the most expensive operation cost.
“It's critical,” Bean said. “Maintenance is the backbone of everything we do. If our downtime is too high then we're not able to provide the transit service that we need to provide, so having an effective maintenance program is critical.”
