The Official Translink Thread

[Alby]

protrans bc is also hiring STA full time/part time. protrans bc run the canada line.

[TypeRNammer]

Originally Posted by Alby

protrans bc is also hiring STA full time/part time. protrans bc run the canada line.

About time...last time they had positions opened for STA was last year during summer time.

[subordinate]

Originally Posted by TypeRNammer

About time...last time they had positions opened for STA was last year during summer time.

Tops out at 25/hr??

[TypeRNammer]

Originally Posted by subordinate

Tops out at 25/hr??

Starts off at 23 ish during training and probation and then 25 ish afterwards.

Don't remember the numbers off the top of my head but it's on the protrans BC website

[Alby]

last i heard from an STA they make close to 30 an hour. 25 ish is after the probation and probably on the first step. after years you work your way up and should top up around 30

[hotjoint]

TypeR, did you get hired by cmbc?

[TypeRNammer]

Originally Posted by hotjoint

TypeR, did you get hired by cmbc?

Nope not yet, applied for multiple positions as well as the Canada Line station attendant

[SoNaRWaVe]

IIRC, canada line STA starts training at 25/h. once you done training, it goes up to 30/h

[TypeRNammer]

Originally Posted by TypeRNammer

Positions just opened up for the Community Shuttle.

Head over to the TransLink website and go to the careers section.

Also Sky train attendant positions are available also. Must have a level one first aid before applying for the job.

Posting for the Community Shuttle has expired as of today.

I did get short listed for the position, but unfortunately it has not been at least 6 months since I did the last video test.

[pastarocket]

FYI: The results of the Transportation plebiscite are to be released this Thursday, July 2nd at 10am.

-not thinking that this is a coincidence that the voting results are announced after Canada Day. Many people would be out of town such that less people would find out about the outcome of the vote. If, and that's big IF, the result is "YES", there's less people that would pissed off at Translink this week for wasting even more tax dollars.

Metro Vancouver Transportation and Transit Plebiscite results on Thursday (July 2) | Indo-Canadian Voice

CHIEF Electoral Officer, Keith Archer will issue the voting results for the 2015 Metro Vancouver Transportation and Transit Plebiscite at 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 2, Elections BC announced on Tuesday.

Following the filing of voting results with the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, a news release will be distributed province-wide and the voting results will be posted online at:

Results - Metro Vancouver Transportation and Transit Plebiscite.

Final voting results will be reported by each of the 23 voting municipalities, and a total for Metro Vancouver.

[MG1]

No by quite a margin


Vancouver was close to voting yes. Every other municipality rejected the sales tax shopping list. Some as high as 75% no.


A big "Fuck You" to Translink, I guess.

[Ch28]

The plebiscite isn't legally binding, though. They can technically still table and pass it without the public's support.

[pastarocket]

Originally Posted by Ch28

The plebiscite isn't legally binding, though. They can technically still table and pass it without the public's support.

If Translink makes that dick move to pass the congestion improvement tax, voters will be so angry at those idiots.

Although Crusty Clark and the Liberals distanced themselves from this plebiscite vote, I would think voters would take out their anger towards Translink by NOT voting for the Liberals because Crusty is doing nothing about improving transportation infrastructure in the Lower Mainland

Imagine the political fallout if Translink implements the tax.

[pastarocket]

It's about time that TransLink did something right to make it into a fiscally responsible organization.

Two executives got fired today.

TransLink makes changes at the top - NEWS 1130

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Some big changes have been made at TransLink today, with the firing of two top-level executives.

Doug Kelsey, who is the man in charge of the Expo and Millennium line SkyTrains, is no longer there.

Executive VP Bob Paddon has also been let go; his position has been eliminated entirely.

Jordan Bateman, who led the “no” campaign in the transportation tax plebiscite, believes the firings are all because the public sent a message that they wanted change.

“This is an organization that’s now going through a major house cleaning, thanks to voters telling them to fix TransLink. We came in with a completely full executive suite of people who would run TransLink for several years. Now, at the end of the vote, most of them are gone,” says Bateman.

“I’m hoping that new people come in and do things differently. Clearly, you can’t teach these old dogs new tricks. The public was demanding something of them that they weren’t prepared to — or able to — deliver for whatever reason. Now’s the time to change the corporate culture,” he adds.

Interim CEO Doug Allen’s contract is up in August; when that’s done, CFO Cathy McLay will take over until a permanent hire is made. She will also continue in her current role and responsibilities as the executive sponsor for Compass.

Mike Richard has been named acting president and general manager of BC Rapid Transit Company.

[melloman]

It's a start, let's look at numbers:

"As of 2013, Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning and Stakeholder Relations position Bill Paddon made a salary of $307,857, President and GM Doug Kelsey made $377,054 and CFO Cathy McLay made $330,753, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation."

So realistically they just cleared up $684,911/annually by letting go of those 2 people, and in August they will stop saying the interim CEO Doug Allen $33,000/month.

I'm 100% sure each of the 3 people who are taking over the positions will be getting a raise for the added responsibilities, but they still need to cut so much more.

[Tapioca]

You could fire the whole management team and replace them with urban planning grads at 50K/year, but that's not going to fix the governance model, nor build and service the infrastructure that's needed.

How many of you are senior managers or executives of large organizations instead of start-ups? What do your managers and directors make and what are their responsibilities? I'd like to see what RS considers as reasonable compensation.

[tonyzoomzoom]

can't wait to see what their severance packages are like

[melloman]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

You could fire the whole management team and replace them with urban planning grads at 50K/year, but that's not going to fix the governance model, nor build and service the infrastructure that's needed.

How many of you are senior managers or executives of large organizations instead of start-ups? What do your managers and directors make and what are their responsibilities? I'd like to see what RS considers as reasonable compensation.

It's not about firing the whole management team. It's that Translink is paying so much money so for many "high ranking" people to be on their staff.

People LOVE facts so I found a 2009 Transportation Governance Report which states how ballooned Translink is.

"The number of executive members within the Translink organization is excessive, at 28. This includes the executives from the divisions of Translink, which have been structured as subsidiaries. The fact the operating companies, Coast Mountain Bus Company and BC Rapid Transit Company, are independent legal entities with their own Boards and CEOs partly contributes to the relatively large number of executives.

The 28 executive members ic concerning when considering the overall value of executive compensation. Even if the subsidiaries are ignored, the number of executives in Translink, at 12, remains relatively large compared to the public transit operators in other Canadian cities mentioned above and the four BC Crown agencies we considered from the BC Business magazines list of top 100 BC private, public, and Crown Corporations. The general range is 8 to 10."

http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/OCG/ias/pdf...governance.pdf

All I'm saying is, when you have that many people making a solid 6 figures, it adds up quick and you wonder why Translink loses money each year. It's nice to see them consolidate staff, but 2 people is a drop in the bucket.

[GLOW]

inb4 mello applies to translink

[Tapioca]

I appreciate the effort, Melloman, but if you're comparing organizations that have different mandates, different clients, and different responsibilities, then those comparisons are hard to make. The only comparable transit systems in Canada are the TTC and the STM (Montreal). With respect to Crown corporations in BC, possibly BC Hydro and ICBC.

It's easy to put a report together which sounds analytical, but the real work is in making apple to apple comparisons.

With that said, would Translink be more efficient if bus operations and Skytrain operations were consolidated? It's hard to say as I don't know why the subsidiaries were created in the first place. Of course, the cynics will say that they were created by the pigs at the trough to perpetuate their privilege. In reality though, there are usually good reasons initially.

[denham]

Originally Posted by hotjoint

I'm very chill and relaxed so nothing bothers me. I just drive and get the passengers from point A to B in a safe manner.

That's the way to be! You can't get stressed about frustrating passengers or being late or whatever.

Things are going really well now I have a regular route. Same hours and routes every day and I know where I'm going and have regular passengers. So much nicer than being casual. And I live in Pitt Meadows so working out of PoCo depot is super nice.

[hotjoint]

Originally Posted by denham

That's the way to be! You can't get stressed about frustrating passengers or being late or whatever.

Things are going really well now I have a regular route. Same hours and routes every day and I know where I'm going and have regular passengers. So much nicer than being casual. And I live in Pitt Meadows so working out of PoCo depot is super nice.

Yeah, I was able to sign this sheet so I have a regular route and set times as well. Hoping to get better work as each new sheet approaches and as my seniority grows. I'm having a blast and loving it!

[denham]

Awesome. I'm a little concerned that if I get full time it'll be out of Oakridge as there are a lot more full time positions there and mostly reduced at Poco. I'd way rather be at Poco of course so I'm not sure what the best thing to do would be. Maybe stay reduced for a while and just pick up extra shifts here and there to get enough money in. Then once I have some seniority try for full time.

You went straight to conventional, right hotjoint? Had you driven anything big before? I found the shuttle bus to be a bit scary on the first day so I can't imagine going straight to conventional having not driven anything larger! I'm trying to decide whether I want to go to conventional, but right now I'm really enjoying shuttle and it's just so easy.

[hotjoint]

Originally Posted by denham

Awesome. I'm a little concerned that if I get full time it'll be out of Oakridge as there are a lot more full time positions there and mostly reduced at Poco. I'd way rather be at Poco of course so I'm not sure what the best thing to do would be. Maybe stay reduced for a while and just pick up extra shifts here and there to get enough money in. Then once I have some seniority try for full time.

You went straight to conventional, right hotjoint? Had you driven anything big before? I found the shuttle bus to be a bit scary on the first day so I can't imagine going straight to conventional having not driven anything larger! I'm trying to decide whether I want to go to conventional, but right now I'm really enjoying shuttle and it's just so easy.

Yeah I went straight to conventional. I've driven the biggest uhaul moving trucks, friends f150's and large suv's, that's my extent of driving big vehicles. I'm a very comfortable driver so when they let us drive day 1 of training, I wasn't scared at all. I just needed to drive the bus a few times before I was used to it, it's a piece of cake.

[TypeRNammer]

Coast Mountain Bus Company is currently hiring Community Shuttle Drivers as well as Conventional Driver positions, head over to the Translink website under the careers section.