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Metrolinx: Other Items (catch all)

RFP-2019-PROC-148 - RFP-2019-PROC-148: Supply and Delivery of Batteries for Transit Vehicles

DESCRIPTION
Request for Proposals

Proposal No. RFP-2019-PROC-148

Proposals for Supply and Delivery of Batteries for Transit Vehicles

Metrolinx’s Transit Procurement Initiative division (TPI) is accepting Proposals for Supply and Delivery of Batteries for Transit Vehicles

Metrolinx’s TPI is issuing this Request for Proposals on behalf of various Ontario municipalities under its mandate to act as the central procurement agency for the joint procurement of local transit system vehicles and the goods and services that support transit bus operations.
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Next townhall:

Join our senior management team from 7:00 to 8:30 PM on November 14, 2019 at Northwood Community Centre, 15 Clubhouse Crt, Toronto.

Metrolinx Town Halls are an opportunity to ask our leadership about services, transit planning and anything top of mind. While we field your questions at the event, questions can also be submitted online in advance, or during the event via livestream.

Submit a question

Register for the event

Thank you,

Metrolinx Engage team
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Can someone update this article. It's from July, 2019. From link.

Government will stop funding subsidy for discounted GTA transit fares

The Ontario government will be cutting a subsidy that provides discounted fares for riders using GO Transit and Toronto's transit system in the same trip, leaving the two agencies to come up with a way to keep the popular program running.

Regional transit agency Metrolinx - which runs GO trains and buses through the Greater Toronto and Hamilton region - said it hopes to work with the Toronto Transit Commission to sustain the program when the provincial funds run out next year.

The so-called Discounted Double Fare was created by the previous Liberal government in 2017 and offers riders using both systems, as well as the Union-Pearson Express to Toronto's airport, a $1.50 discount for a single trip when using a Presto fare card.

The province paid $18.5 million a year to offset the cost of the discount for both transit agencies, but the current Progressive Conservatives say the funding was designed to be temporary. A three-year agreement on the subsidy is set to expire in March 2020.

Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster said in a June 18 letter to the TTC that a new cost-sharing agreement is needed for next year, when the provincial funding ends.

“Metrolinx proposes a sustainable strategy for continuation of this fare integration initiative, one that does not use a subsidy from the provincial government,” he wrote. “A new agreement and strategy is needed for next year and beyond.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation said Metrolinx's proposed strategy - where it and the TTC share the cost of providing the discount - would allow both agencies to “mutually benefit from the revenue generated through increased ridership.”
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The program has become so popular that it exceeded the provincial subsidy in 2018-2019 by $2.5 million and is on track to exceed it again, this time by $10 million, in the fall, Verster said in his letter to the TTC.

He said a new agreement to save the program is needed by October.

“Metrolinx intends to adopt the aforementioned discount to GO fares even if the City of Toronto and TTC decide not to match the transfer discount on the TTC fare,” he wrote.

TTC spokesman Stuart Green said Tuesday that nothing had been finalized but noted that Metrolinx had advised the agency of “potential changes to this popular program.”

“We have not yet responded as we need to understand the unanticipated cost pressures on our operating budget and report those to our board,” he said in a statement.

In a report to the agency's board ahead of a meeting Wednesday, TTC CEO Rick Leary said a detailed cost-benefit analysis will be conducted before a decision is made in September.

“If the TTC continues with the program, there could be unanticipated budget pressures for the remainder of 2019 and all of 2020 due to the loss of the provincial subsidy,” Leary wrote.

NDP transit critic Jessica Bell criticized the government for cutting the subsidy, saying it should be promoting fare integration across transit systems in the region.

“Forcing commuters to dig into their pockets for an extra $1.50 per round-trip is going to hurt the monthly bottom-line for already-squeezed working people,” she said in a statement.
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Allandale25 said:
Next townhall:
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What I would like is a joint Metrolinx TTC Town Hall where attendees can ask questions regarding topics that affect both Metrolinx and the TTC. This would be great at sometimes people complain about stuff to Metrolinx regarding the TTC that they don’t have control over and vice versa. This would give the heads an idea of how much overlap they actually have and the input would be great. Also, this could be the first step for the representation that the TTC wants on the Metrolinx board.
 
What a lot of bozos! See https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...nt-allowed-to-fine-you-for-evading-fares.html

Since the Union Pearson Express opened in 2015, Metrolinx hasn’t fined a single customer on the airport rail link for fare evasion.

That’s not because people who take UP Express are extraordinarily law-abiding. In fact, Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency that operates the service, estimates riders who skip out on paying their fare for the airport train cost it about $400,000 annually in lost revenue.

The dearth of tickets is instead a result of a legal loophole Metrolinx has known about for years but has yet to close: the UP Express has never been covered by the agency’s bylaws, which means the organization has no authority to impose rules specific to the service and fine riders who break them.


Metrolinx hasn’t publicized the loophole, but the agency’s lack of bylaw authority over the UP Express was revealed in internal documents the Star obtained through a freedom of information request.

The documents included a summary of a review conducted in April 2018 that flagged multiple challenges to collecting fares on the UP Express, and warned riders were taking advantage of them.

“One customer stated that he did not purchase, nor did he intend to purchase a fare,” the summary said.

It's only taxpayers' money!
 
I hope the public exploits this to the fullest extent, Metrolinx deserves it for their ineptitude. How can a problem as significant as this exist since the opening of UPX and it hasn't been rectified?

When people say the government is slow to react to everything, this is Exhibit A. If it was the private sector, this would be rectified in a month tops. But 5 years...are you kidding me?
 
Amare said:
I hope the public exploits this to the fullest extent, Metrolinx deserves it for their ineptitude. How can a problem as significant as this exist since the opening of UPX and it hasn't been rectified?

When people say the government is slow to react to everything, this is Exhibit A. If it was the private sector, this would be rectified in a month tops. But 5 years...are you kidding me?
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this is what happens when you have an secretive, unaccountable and nepotistic PR agency calling the shots
 
Amare said:
If it was the private sector, this would be rectified in a month tops.
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That assertion isn't really backed up by my personal experiences. Customer service in the North America gives away gobs of free stuff simply to not make a commotion in their store (chasing down shoplifters for example); and caving to irrational customer demands increases where marginal cost is negligible (cost is incurred whether you take non-paying customer or not). Crappy customers with good publicity might get you good customers.

This type of "shrinkage" for Metrolinx is incredibly cheap; they don't get revenue but they also don't incur any expenses. Compared to the Wholefoods cheese table (a well-known shrinkage item from grocery stores) they're down right lucky.

It should be fixed because it's government. Canadian retail raised prices 20 years ago and looks the other way.

I have numerous stories for Internet firms too since I spent a fair amount of time working on financial databases for a career (billing systems). Branding was often considered far more important than increasing revenue or preventing losses.
 
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