Winnipeg Transit electrical worker says he quit over lack of resources

A former Winnipeg Transit technician says he quit last month over frustration withthe lack of maintenance resources.

Steven Petznik, who worked as a wireman for Transit, said he was the only person maintaining and repairing electrical equipment on all city buses for six years.

He resigned on July 29, citing a lack of resources and staffing.

"During my tenure there, I was trying to get a permanent position established so that I can have somebody by my side to proactively maintain these systems," he told CBC News on Thursday.

"When I left in July, they still didn't have a permanent helper position installed. And it's very unfortunate."

On Thursday the City of Winnipeg said itsresponse to the audio announcements issue remains unchanged from Wednesdaythe city acknowledgesthere are problems with the Next Stop system and workers aretesting buses to correct the issues.

Petznik was involved in installing the Next Stop Announcement system, which has come under fire by some visually impaired riders who rely on the audible and visible notifications about upcoming stops and routes.

• Winnipeg Transit buses still not accessible, says man who is blind

Every bus in Winnipeg Transit's fleet is supposed to be equipped with the Next Stop Announcement feature. But passengers like Stephen McKinney, who has had no vision for 22 years, said the announcements sometimes don't play or are too quiet to hear.

The City of Winnipeg, which operates Winnipeg Transit, has acknowledged that there's a problem with the Next Stop Announcement system.

City officials said the buses are supposed to come from the manufacturer equipped with a "pre-set volume feature, which is set at the same level," but some buses do have inconsistent volume levels.

The city says it doesn't know how many buses have volume issues or aren't playing announcements at all, but staff are conducting tests to figure that out.

Problems only checked if reported

Petznik said there are three possible ways the announcements are affected: bus drivers adjusting the levels, volume knobs being bumped by accident while electrical work is being done, and buses not properly receiving schedule updates over Wi-Fi.

We have a program in place that should stop this from happening. This should not have been happening.- StevenPetznik

The Next Stop Announcement equipment is only checked if a bus driver reports problems, he added.

"Because I was the only person doing it, we couldn't do any proactive maintenance on these things," he said.

"We actually had a program in place two years ago where we'd go back into all the buses, adjusting volumes and locking the volume knob in place so it couldn't be adjusted anymore, so it would always be on at that set volume."

However, Petznik said he got to work on the proactive maintance program for only two months.

"There is a program established to actually maintain this and actually go forward and rectify situations like this from occurring. That's what bothered me," he said.

"We have a program in place that should stop this from happening. This should not have been happening."

Petznik said at least six Transit buses a day had some kind of electrical issue that needed fixing, including problems with the Next Stop Announcement system, and he could barely keep up with the amount of maintenance that had to be done.

He added that he had to prioritize his tasks, and the Next Stop Announcement system is not considered critical to keeping buses on the roads.