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City Council endorsed the following items during its General Committee meeting on Monday, September 11, 2023:
- A presentation by Peterborough County-City Paramedics on the service's annual key performance indicators;
- An update on the Peterborough Transit service, including moving forward with short-term recommendations by the Transit Liaison Committee within available budgets, including 6 additional new transit staff positions in the Draft 2024 Budget, discontinuing the On-Demand Pilot service, and using $941,000 from the Transit Capital Reserve to fund the budgetary shortfall for Transit in 2023;
- A Notice of Motion by Councillor Kevin Duguay regarding a Cost Apportionment Agreement related to Otonabee Region Conservation Authority;
- Report of Closed Session - That council direct staff to proceed as recommended in closed session report of the Chief Administrative Officer respecting the collective bargaining process; and
- Report of Closed Session - That staff be authorized to proceed as outlined in closed session report of the Commissioner of Corporate and Legislative Services respecting sponsorship.
Items endorsed by General Committee on Monday, September 11, 2023 will go to the regular Council session on Monday, September 25 to be considered for approval.
To register as a delegation for a City Council meeting, individuals must complete the online form at peterborough.ca/delegations or phone 705-742-777 ext. 1820 by 11 a.m. on the day of the meeting.
Video recordings of Council meetings are posted at peterborough.ca/agendas following the meeting.
Peterborough Transit service update and budget
Council endorsed an update on the Peterborough Transit service, including moving forward with short-term recommendations by the Transit Liaison Committee within available budgets, including 6 additional new transit staff positions in the Draft 2024 Budget, discontinuing the On-Demand Pilot service, and using $941,000 from the Transit Capital Reserve to fund the budgetary shortfall for Transit in 2023.
During budget deliberations in January 2023, Council approved a reduction in the 2023 Operating budget proposed by staff of a net $941,000, effectively freezing the budget at 2022 levels.
In May, Council considered service level reductions that would be required to meet the approved 2023 operating budget. The increase to the 2023 operating budget proposed during 2023 budget deliberations was required to maintain service levels and was driven by inflationary pressures – primarily increases in costs for fuel, insurance, and wages. Council deferred a decision on service level changes until the newly constituted Peterborough Transit Liaison Committee could be consulted.
The Liaison committee, which includes transit service riders as well as representatives from various advisory committees and community groups such as Age Friendly Peterborough and the Council for Persons with Disabilities, reviewed the substantial background information related to the Transit service levels.
The Liaison committee recommended the following short-term improvements:
- The return of paper transit route maps; these can be printed and made available as a resource for transit passengers. Timeline: October 2023.
- Route maps are to be placed in the holders located in bus shelters. Timeline: October 2023.
- Visitor and new student welcome packages; these can be assembled once maps are printed and documents to be included are identified. Timeline: October 2023.
- Bus frequency/route information to be posted at bus stops. Timeline: October 2023.
- “Ride With Me” training promotion – contingent on filling vacant Supervisory positions. Timeline: October/November 2023.
- Destination sign information: for route clarity, the route number and name be added to the primary information on the destination sign and the end point(s) be identified below that information. Timeline: September 2023.
- Route realignment: Realigning Routes 4 “Weller”, 6 “Sherbrooke” and 9 “Parkhill” plus adjusting the path of Route 5 “Parkway” and 8 “Monaghan” for better service. Timeline: September 2023.
- Reinstate the former “Collison” Route during weekdays between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm with a 40-minute frequency. Timeline: November 2023 dependent on staffing.
- Implement an East City loop pilot to service the area of East City, south of Parkhill Road. Timeline: November 2023 dependent on staffing.
- Improve/standardize communications; requires time to develop a policy and educate all staff. Timeline: November/December 2023.
- Replace On-Demand Service with regular routing; On-Demand Pilot program contract expires at the end of October 2023. Timeline: can return to regular routing for November board period.
At this point in the year, to meet the 2022 budget level set by Council for 2023 for Transit by adjusting services for the remainder of the year, all Transit service would need to be cancelled all Transit staff would need to be put on temporary layoff, and the City would be in violation of its contractual obligations with key stakeholders. Recognizing this is an untenable option, the only way to address the 2023 operating budget shortfall is to draw uncommitted funds from the Transit Capital Reserve.
Transit achieved 70% of pre-pandemic ridership levels by the end of 2022, short of the 85% target, but consistent with slower than expected rates of recovery for transit across the province.
In July 2021, Council approved a new route network to support the growth and expansion of Peterborough Transit for the future. A soft launch of the system began in May 2022, with optimism that workforce and supply chain issues that had been disrupted through the height of the pandemic, would improve by fall 2022.
Ongoing workforce challenges and labour shortages – primarily absences due to a resurgence of COVID-19 combined with other illnesses circulating in the community – resulted in a large number of daily uncovered trips. In addition, inadequate recruitment and training rates resulted in rolling trip cancellations that created an extremely unreliable service for customers and a significant revenue shortfall from uncollected fares. Customers were profoundly impacted by the result of these challenges through September/October 2022.
Transit took steps to mitigate the disruption to customers. The effect of these measures was reflected in a decline of the trip cancellation rate to less than 1% during the January/February 2023 service period. Overall, the data between September 2022 and February 2023 demonstrates that service reliability (trip cancellations) was the key concern for customers.
In 2023, transit ridership has shown strong signs of recovery with an approximately 53% increase from August 2022 year-to-date to August 2023 year-to-date (1,134,478 to 1,731,627).
Notice of Motion
Council endorsed a Notice of Motion by Councillor Kevin Duguay regarding a Cost Apportionment Agreement related to Otonabee Region Conservation Authority.
The Notice of Motion states:
Whereas the City desires to continue receiving Category 3 services from ORCA under a Cost Apportioning Agreement.
And Whereas ORCA’s Category 3 Services are certain local water monitoring programs, climate change initiatives and land stewardship services, which are more specifically set out in the Program Descriptions for the Cost Apportioning Agreement.
And Whereas the Province of Ontario has required all Conservations Authorities to report back no later than 9 October 2023 on the City’s decision to continue receiving these Category 3 Services.
And Whereas the City will be assessed and then pay an apportionment of the costs for the Category 3 Programs and Services in accordance with the following formula:
three percent (3%) of the apportioned value the City is required to pay ORCA for general operating expenses and Category 1 expenses as defined in Ontario Regulation 402/22 under the Conservation Authorities Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.27.
And Whereas the City’s annual cost for Category 3 Programs and Services has historically been a part of the annual levy and is now required to be broken out as per Ontario Regulation 402/22 and is already contained in the annual budget for Infrastructure and Planning Services.
Now, be it resolved that the Council for the City of Peterborough authorizes its Chief Administrative Officer and City Clerk to execute a Cost Apportionment Agreement, in a form acceptable to the City Solicitor, in order for the City to continue to receive ORCA’s Category 3 Services.
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