The chair of the TTC says a trip to Thunder Bay to meet with Bombardier officials has left him “confident” about the company’s ability to ramp up production of the city’s new streetcars.
Bombardier was supposed to have delivered 58 new streetcars by now but so far it has only provided the city with eight due to production delays and the TTC’s refusal to accept a number of early models that it deemed were poorly manufactured.
Due to the slow rollout, the TTC and Bombardier agreed to a revised schedule in February that called for 30 of the streetcars to be delivered by the end of 2015, however in order to meet that commitment the company will soon have to ramp up its production from one streetcar every eight days to one streetcar every five days.
“I certainly think us showing up on their doorstep conveyed a sense of urgency but the real proof in the pudding will be the condition of the next car and how ready it is for the road and then how quickly the one after that follows. That is really what we are honing in on,” Colle told reporters at city hall on Wednesday. “I am far less concerned with the back-end of this order; my concern is the front-end. We need vehicles now.”
Colle travelled to Thunder Bay with TTC CEO Andy Byford on Tuesday and while at the plant he said Bombardier officials outlined “fundamental” changes they have made on their production line, in quality assurance and with their suppliers in order to begin meeting delivery targets.
The Ward 15 councillor also said that he took the opportunity to convey to Bombardier just how “pissed off” he is and how unhappy riders are with the delays.
“They have already borne significant financial consequences for this and I think they also realize that the additional order (of 60 more streetcars) is at risk and that is a huge financial risk for them. Most importantly, there is also significant reputational risk,” Colle said. “You know we are limited in the tools we have because of the way the contract was structured but we will use everything at our disposal.”
Colle and Byford's trip to Thunder Bay came one day after the TTC board voted in favour of looking into whether or not it could shut Bombardier out of future bid processes and the TTC chair told reporters on Wednesday that he believes the company is taking the issue seriously.
"The president flew in and many people flew in from around the world, so it did underscore that they are taking this very seriously," Colle noted.
If Bombarider is able to meet its commitment of 30 new streetcars by the end of 2015 it will allow for full coverage on Spadina Avenue and Queen’s Quay and partial coverage along Bathurst Street.
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