Flood of complaints about bus drivers disrupting city auditor's work

Every day "including weekends" staff handling the City of Ottawa's anonymous fraud hotline receive five to 10 complaints about bad behaviour on the roads by OC Transpo drivers, saysauditor Nathalie Gougeon.

These calls accounted for the vast majority of the nearly 1,400 tips received in 2022, and the onslaught is becoming such a drain on the office's resources that it says it canno longer investigate them.

"I believe that the number of cases which continue to be received by the office has actually become an abuse of the fraud and waste hotline," Gougeon told members of the audit committee.

"I can no longer continue to commit significant resources to such daily cases for an issue for which, firstly, we have already conducted an investigation on and, secondly, for which management is taking steps to address."

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Gougeon's office investigatedconcerns about bus drivers breaking traffic rules in 2021 and found evidence of operators failing to signal properly when pulling away from bus stops andidling their vehicle while running into a fast food restaurant.

'Refresh training' planned for drivers

Recent complaints outline the exact same issues: "bus drivers not signalling, not stopping, perhaps maybe parking themselves and heading into a Tim Hortons or McDonald's for a coffee."

Gougeon did not downplay the importance of these calls, but said there are "better ways" to report them without being a "very big strain" on her office's resources.

Rene Amilcar, the general manager for transit services, acknowledged the "bad behaviour" of some drivers on the city's payroll including some she's personally witnessed.

After the auditor's 2022 report on the issue,Amilcar says her department created and distributed documents reminding drivers to follow the rules of the road but didn't seeimprovement. The next moveis "refresh training."

"That step will be a little bit hard for sure, but I want you to reduce or eliminate those bad behaviours," she told councillors.

Repeat calls a potential concern

Given the anonymous nature of the calls, Gougeon said she could not comment on how many individuals are responsible for the massive influx.

But councillors seemed to suggestit could come down to some repeat complainers.

"I can see that, you know, there's repetition. We have people who write us every single day with the same complaint," said Bay ward Coun.Theresa Kavanagh, who suggested the city come up with direction for staff to ensure calls are redirected to other channels when the fraud line is not appropriate.

Cumberland ward Coun.CatherineKitts said staff in councillor offices are likewise dealing with a higher-than-ever volume of calls: "Sometimes it is the same thing over and over and people aren't satisfied with the response."

Auditor requests extra staff

Gougeonnevertheless underscored the importance of the fraud hotline, which has led to the uncovering of employee misconductand the misuse of city resources.

She said that it will help if residents with multiple issues express all their concerns in a single call.

"I don't want this being seen as us discouraging anybody," she said."Wewant to encourage those that see instances and fraud and waste to come forward."

The same staff who document and investigate tips to the fraud hotline also work on audits, which has strained the department's ability to complete tasks on time.

Because staff are focused on "triaging all of these cases," she said work to examine Lansdowne 2.0a$332-millionplan to revamp the area has been delayed.

"We are in a position where we are even struggling to have staff to be able to create a request for proposals to bring on the consultants that we need in order to conduct that work," she told councillors, explaining that her office is facing the same challenges to attract and retain qualified staff that many city departments are grappling with.

"If council would like us to continue to look at these large transformation projects that the city is continuing to undergo and they see the benefit," she said,"we're going to be continuously in a position where we're looking for additional funding."