Agreed, it's a very interesting read; not especially time consuming.
For those of you who want a very brief summary of the audit, I took screen caps of Appendix A and B.
The report doesn't show tragically poor mismanagement:
Overtime hours decreased 29% overall between 2007-2011 (pg.47)
Executive team has decreased from 34 members in 2009 to 17 members currently, resulting in a 31% savings in compensation. (pg.44)
CMBC has maintained growth in the hourly cost of service at the rate of inflation.
Translink's real estate portfolio has a net book value of approximately $528 million but a much higher actual value. The management plan is becoming more sophisticated and strategic with a focus of maximizing revenue. Translink is rezoning surplus properties prior to sale to increase value. (pg.15)
Some interesting points:
Total operating expenditures were $1.36 Billion in 2011 (57% higher than 2007), however the report finds this spending reasonable in relation to service expansion.
Translink maintains a $500 million LOC, which it paid $400,000 to maintain in 2011 and $225,000 in 2012; it has never accessed these funds.
Translink manages an asset portfolio valued in excess of $10 billion.
Replacement of all 500 CMBC diesel buses with CNG would generate an annual savings of $12.7 million, BUT it would cost $70 million resulting in a 5-6 years payback period. (pg.26)
Definite inefficiencies:
HandyDart costs are 18% higher than the Canadian average. A restructuring of the service to include a greater utilization supplemental taxi services could save $1 million. (pg.27)
Since 2007 CMBC's fleet maintenance staffing level has increased by 30%, this is due to a significant hiring upswing to reflect increased service levels during the Olympics. Post-Olympics however, the staffing levels were never decreased to reflect the current needs. A 10% reduction in fleet maintenance would save $3.7 million. (pg.27)
Driver absenteeism costs $12.1 million per year; the average driver takes 14 sick days per year.
Better management of driver scheduling to increase split shifts could save up to $1 million per year.
8 of the 22 lowest performing routes are still operated using conventional buses, a conversion to community shuttles would save $500,000 per year without service reduction. (pg.22)
Reducing frequency of Skytrain service during non-peak hours could save $1.57 million. (pg.18)