Reliability is the promise from OC Transpo's new boss

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So we’re going to start talking positive about OC Transpo, and not the negative. This is an incredible organization, incredible people. There’s a passion here.

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One of the areas that I’ve talked about was hiring and building resiliency into our hiring. We want to make sure that we have that resiliency built in many of the areas, whether it’s mechanics or operators or controllers. So that’s the focus here. We’re going to be coming back to the transit committee on June 11 and having a real good discussion about the hiring plan moving forward.

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Noah Vineberg is a very good representative, a good president for this union, and I like the ability to collaborate with him…. I said my focus is on hiring and so I’ve asked him to help me, support me with the hiring process.

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How is your relationship with the union given the allegations of a “toxic workplace” during your tenure with the Toronto Transit Commission?

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Noah Vineberg takes me for how I interact with him and he believes that we’re working well together. So I think I’ll be judged by the work that I do here. I am very collaborative with the union. I spent 10 years in the union myself, I was in the ATU (in Boston). I have a deep respect for frontline employees and I’ve been doing a lot of outreach and talking about the needs of this organization…. I’m working with them hand-in-hand my entire life and I like what I do.

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In Toronto, I was the longest serving CEO in recent history. Not an easy job, it’s a pressure cooker. And when you make change, not everybody’s happy, but it’s a positive change that I like to make.

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OC Transpo GM Rick Leary talks to Postmedia during an interview at OC Transpo headquarters. Photo by TONY CALDWELL /POSTMEDIA

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OC Transpo posted a $52 million deficit in 2025 and another $7.2 million in the first quarter of 2026 due to low ridership. How do you attract riders back and increase revenue?

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I swear by it, as we start improving the reliability of the service and I get out there talking about the reliability of the service, going to each one of the wards, talking to people and telling them about what’s been fixed and what we’re fixing.

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Reliability is going to generate increased growth in ridership, and with that there’ll be revenue generation. Come on back and try us again, give us another shot.

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I don’t think anything’s off the table (but) I’m one that likes to reinvest in the system, reinvest in the vehicles and reinvest in the operations. Make it more reliable. The one-time hit, that’s a great thing, don’t get me wrong, but I’d like to make sure that every penny we have is utilized to improve the reliability of the service, so we can continually talk to the public about how we’ll be there for you and take you where you want to go in the time frame in which we commit to.

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A: Absolutely, we’re working very closely with the City of Ottawa right now, as well as the federal government to address the upcoming challenge. We’ll get the two-car trains running every five minutes. The more reliable buses, we’re assessing the routes right now to look at where we want to put the additional buses when we get them. Everything’s being pieced together now with the options, where we want to put staff and stations to help new customers or welcome back customer. I’ve been going out with councillors, just looking at some of the routes and making sure we don’t leave people in stations. So everything’s on the table and being assessed right now.

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Are you planning any sort of staffing review in light of the auditor general’s critique of hiring practices between 2021 and 2025?

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I’m aware of it and (associate general manager) Troy Charter and I talked about it. The organization has to do a better job documenting why they chose people. We have to do a better job with our postings to make sure it’s clear what we’re actually looking for. When you put a posting out and then deviate from that posting, that can be discouraging to people inside and outside the organization. So I’m really going to focus internally and make sure we have a better idea of what we’re looking for, make sure the posting identifies that, so that when we choose people they meet the needs of the organization.

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