http://www.burlingtongazette.ca/her-bus-pass-is-being-extended-she-will-be-taking-an-active-part-in-the-transition-to-a-new-transit-director
Her bus pass is being extended; she will be taking an active part in the transition to a new Transit Director.
Cut line revised August 3, 2012By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 25, 2012 Donna Shepherd, Director of Transit, was quite prepared to ride off into the sunset but the city finds they need her skill set and understanding of how the bus system actually works and have asked Ms Shepherd to continue to work, part-time – three days each week, out of City Hall and the Transit Operations Centre for six months on select transit and corporate priority projects to assist the City in achieving its objectives.
Mike Spicer will be acting Director as of August 1st. The city expects a new Director will be in place by year-end.
Donna Shepherd joined the city in 1975 and since that time she has served the City well in leading the City in various roles, her most recent being Director of Transit & Traffic over a 12 year period from 1998 and Director of Transit over the last 2 years.
Just
where was the problems with transit? Senior levels at city hall want
Shepherd to stay and help through the transition to a new Director. Was
the relationship between the Council member (Sharman) and the Director part of
the problem?
Donna’s leadership in excellence in customer service will provide a strong foundation for Burlington Transit going forward.” Sounds like a pretty strong reference letter to me.
What then was the problem at transit that brought Shepherd to the point where she decided she had had enough and was going to pack it in? Sexism is a very distinct possibility, being bullied a bit could go into the mix as well
The senior people at city hall weren’t cheap in their praise: General Manager Scott Stewart said: “On behalf of all staff and Council, I would like to thank Donna for her strong leadership and management in growing and operating the Burlington Transit system. She has provided persistent commitment to keeping Transit at the forefront of our discussions during the last decade as our City has grown almost to its limits. Council and senior staff truly appreciate the contributions that Donna has made over the years.
I think the city is going to have the steering wheel of a bus bronzed and presented to Donna at her retirement party.
You make a very good point Barbara and the errors and inaccuracies have to be addressed.
The “newspaper”is a one man band. I write the vast majority of the material and have been fortunate on several occasions to have people who wanted to write about something that interests them and is relevant to the community.
Many of the city council meetings are in the evening and I tend to go home, relax a bit, watch some television and then get to my keyboard and get as much done before I am totally worked out.
Last Monday I got home spent some time with my wife, watched her drift off into dreamland and then went to my keyboard at around 11 and was still at it at 1:44 am when I packed it in.
As you will by now realize, I am not the world`s best proof reader. My wife does go into the webs site the next day and correct the errors. Often I will put in an xxx to remind me to go back and put in the correct bit of information.
Writing for me is a flow process. I work from my handwritten notes and from the impressions I picked up at a meeting. Al large part of reporting is watching people and the way they behave. I have been watching the seven members of Council for more than 18 months. I have been watching the senior staff for the same length of time and having lived 71 years I am pretty good at reading people.
One of the mistakes I have made is putting a story up before it has been checked by someone else. I have let my haste to get the story out there, get in the way of putting up a piece that has been checked and proof read by someone else. In future In future I will write my story, put the pictures in place, do the layout and then let the story sit as a draft, waiting for the proof reading.
There are people at their desks reading what I`ve written at 7:00 am. And I want to have something on the web site every morning. The traffic to the web site has grown remarkably. However, putting up poorly edited material is something we have to stop doing. So the Missus and I have discussed this and if I bring her a cup of coffee she will get out of bed and proof read each story – and then go back to bed. Let`s see how that works.
In contrast, the Public Information meetings were futile exercises that did not allow for any meaningful input from transit users.
James Smith, a passionate public transit advocate, was also a candidate in Ward 5 during the last municipal election. Paul Sharman is the Council member for Ward 5
It’s funny that even that after that study, perhaps he still was complaining to make the “empty buses” more full or else he’ll get rid of them. He’s done so.
he, along with many others who are making BT look like a puppet performing at a puppet show, is that as long as information about Public Information Centres and any Master Plans to be sent out for public input, poor timing as well as generic response from us transit riders are simple ways to keep ignoring the problems.
I didn’t know about the BFAST coalition until I had seen an article at Inside Halton’s website, through Transit Toronto’s website. Granted, the timing was alot better I guess to get the word out, but it was just in time to get people engaged in discussion and to vent their true feelings of what’s been ailing this system as a whole.
Even though that it wasn’t really bad timing to have this Interim Plan posted and public meetings properly advertised, the people saw the plan (likely online) and decided not to come as they don’t trust council anymore. They had trust in them with The Route Ahead, but lost that trust when that vote for paving roads/parking lots is a hell of alot more important then investing for buses, infrastructure & projects to transit. No wonder there wasn’t very much interest to say that some things were addressed but others can’t because “their business” isn’t working so they had to make the cutss to make the improvements happen.
I am a member of the Burlington Transit Advisory Committee and it seems regardless of any new ideas or anything that can be considered a good idea to convey to council to do for BT, they turn a blind eye (ya, pardon the pun as I’m visually impaired, too) to the voice of the transit riders. Ok,a deaf ear is better, sorry.
Lastly, I would certainly love to join BFAST as it seems like the best chance to have an ultimate, stronger voice that even the non-transit people can’t ignore.
PS: If this Interim Plan goes through minus the cuts, the additional express service (Route 101) and the revamped Employment Corridor routes would require additional buses. The BT fleet, even with the replacement buses still won’t expand. They will be short of buses on the first day of this new service!! What an embarrassment!!!