Mayor Tory and TTC officials appeared to be doing their best to downplay the concern among staff engineers about the breakdown failure rate of the new Bombardier-built streetcars. They are complex machines, said the mayor, and probably some failures can expected. It remains statistically true however the new vehicles are failing after rolling merely 5,530 kilometres. That’s down from an average of 7,372 kilometres travelled before needing repairs in March and 16,431 kilometres in February. according to the TTC’s own numbers, that distance is well short of the 35,000 kilometre threshold for defect-free travel that the TTC’s contract with Bombardier says must be reached, beginning with the delivery of the 60th streetcar. There are just 35 cars in service now.
FOLLY
The news raises again however the bewilderment of many citizens about why the City continues to inflict the cost and complicated operation of streetcars on itself and on taxpayers. Today there were wise discussions about whether the TTC had built tracks correctly. It seems like insanity. Why is anyone discussing tracks at all?