The board of the Toronto Transit Commission may vote to ban Bombardier from bidding on future contracts in the wake of the company’s latest streetcar production delay.
TTC spokesperson Brad Ross confirms to CP24 that after Bombardier said on Oct. 16 that it would only be able to provide the city with 16 working streetcars by the end of 2015, the board decided to bring forward a deferred staff report that includes recourse measures, including legal action, a $50 million late delivery claim, or banning the company from bidding on future procurement contracts.
The board will decide what action to take against Bombardier at its Oct. 28 meeting.
Earlier, the TTC was told it would have 23 streetcars in its possession by Dec. 31, 2015.
Bombardier originally committed to delivering 67 streetcars to the TTC by October 2015. There are only 10 in service today.
Last week, a Bombardier spokesperson said the company was adding a third shift of workers to its plant in Thunder Bay to speed up production.
TTC Chair Josh Colle said the head of Bombardier's rail division told him the company is very sorry for the delay and is working to ramp up production.
"He apologized to Toronto riders and residents, and gave his committment that he's on it personally, but at the same time we've heard a lot of this."
TTC staff also wants the board to seek compensation from Bombardier to cover the cost of using buses to cover under-serviced streetcar routes, and the costs of keeping ageing, soon-to-be-decommissioned streetcars in service longer to cover the backlog.
Colle said he doesn't want the city to take any measure against Bombardier that would slow down production more than it has been already.
