By Staff
April 18th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The city claims it has found the person who is going to clear up the mess over at Burlington Transit.
In a media release the city announced that “After an extensive search and evaluation of highly qualified candidates, the City of Burlington is appointing Sue Connor as the new Director of Burlington Transit.
Let’s hope the right choice has been made – the staff over at Transit have been thirsting for a solid, experienced innovative transit leader. Transit users would dearly like to see some innovation and consistency to the service and city hall will certainly want to see the ridership numbers climb up rather than continue the current slide.
Sue Connors – newly appointed Director of Transit – she will take her fist bus out for a test run May 23rd.
Connor began her career in 1976 working for Canada Post, moving quickly through the ranks of the government agency over her 12 year career in a series of managerial posts. In 1988 she made the move to the transit industry working for Mississauga Transit in a number of positions in their Operations department and finally leading that department.
Currently, Connor is the General Manager, Transit for the City of Brampton the ninth largest city in Canada, a position she has held since 2003. Connor is currently the Chair of the Canadian Urban Transit Association and Chair of Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium.
Connor’s first day with Burlington Transit is May 23, 2017.
James Ridge, City Manager says he is “… delighted to have Sue as part of our team. She brings a wealth of information and experience and is coming to us at a critical time as we are in the beginning stages of our Integrated Transit Master Plan which will shape the direction of our public transit for years to come.
Ridge thanked Jeff Black for his interim leadership of the Department. “He has not just been a caretaker leader, but has initiated a range of important work, including the beginnings of the Integrated Master Transit Plan.”
The city wants to keep an eye on Black – if there is going to be a deputy director – he is your man.
Just searched Google Maps for Burlington Transit head office. They have a parking lot! There are cars parked in this lot! I also just went for a walk around downtown and noticed City of Burlington Parking lots all full of….Yes you’ve guessed it Cars!.
In fact more cars than you can shake a stick at. I really am starting to wonder whether the only ones causing traffic problems and pollution in this city especially downtown are our elected officials and their minions.
I can honestly say that in over thirty years of living in Burlington I have never travelled anywhere on a bus of any kind. Am I supposed to feel guilty? As if I should go somewhere on one of these busses! The weekly shop would have to be daily due to the weight of the bags. Picking up materials from the Depot to repair my fence also would be difficult, even the Beer store would be a challenge. If I could see any benefit to using the transit system other than some kind of expensive carnival ride for aging hippies in safari hats I certainly would.
Can any one else think of somewhere I could go….apart from going away and stop being stupid that is.
Does James Ridge use transit – has been on a Burlington Transit bus – how can one comment and not even use the service.
We have a council the says they support transit but refuse to use it – they implement road diets to gain awards but do not take responsibilities for the aftermath.
I wish here luck but my however my advise is – last one out – lock the doors and turn the lights out.
Burlington for Accessible, Sustainable Transit (BFAST) welcomes today’s announcement that Sue Connor, general manager of Brampton Transit, has been appointed as Director of Burlington Transit. She has impressive credentials and has been involved in some interesting initiatives to improve service and increase ridership in Brampton. Congratulations to both her and the city.
Under Connor’s direction, Brampton Transit introduced Züm, a rapid-transit route that features plush seats, heated shelters and laptop plugins. Last year, it became one of eight Ontario communities to participate in a trial of zero-emission, electric buses. And ridership in Brampton has risen the most of any community in the GTA over the past few years.
Her new approaches will be welcome in Burlington. But her biggest challenge will be to get anything done with a city council that has been extremely hostile to transit. Brampton Transit’s $1.00 senior fares, for example, would hit a brick wall at Burlington’c city council, which recently refused to experiment with free off-peak fares for over-65s. And she’ll have a tough row to hoe in trying to restore the provincial money that council took from transit to “shave and pave” residential streets (a move premised on highly suspect long-term savings).
While Brampton’s transit ridership has increased some 15% over the past three years, Burlington’s has plummeted by about the same amount. Ms. Connor will have the challenge of her career to restore Burlington’s transit system.
BFAST also wishes to thank Jeff Black, who brought a breath of fresh air as Burlington Transit’s Acting Director over the past few months. Jeff was open to new ideas and to meeting with transit users. We appreciated his attendance at this year’s Transit Users’ Forum and his commitment to Burlington Transit during his short tenure. We wish him well in future.
We at BFAST will look forward to working with Ms. Connor for better transit in Burlington
I certainly wish Sue Connor well.
She comes from a system that has achieved large ridership gains – over 15% increase in Brampton Transit ridership in the last three years.
There are really big challenges ahead for transit in Burlington. I hope the City gives her and Burlington Transit the additional resources needed to improve and grow. (Burlington spends less than one half per capita than the average of GTA municipalities on transit).