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OC Transpo staffers to be honoured for cost-saving idea

 
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kevlaf983



Age: 41
Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 99
Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:37 pm    Post subject: OC Transpo staffers to be honoured for cost-saving idea Reply with quote

Jake Rupert
The Ottawa Citizen

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Five OC Transpo fleet workers were to receive an award on Wednesday for coming up with an idea that saved the municipality $51 million and will continue to save millions more in the coming years.

The men developed a system allowing the city's diesel buses, which are notoriously hard to start in cold weather, to be stored outside over night in the winter without becoming too cold to start or operate in the morning.

The system killed the need to spend $21 million on a new bus garage in the last few years, and reduced by $30 million the cost of a new bus depot to be built by 2009.

That's a savings of about $130 per taxpaying household in the entire city, and Pierre St. Jean, Bob Manion, Allan Lowe, Serge Desnoyers, and Dave McDougall are receiving the city manager's award for excellence, the highest distinction a city employee can get.

Ron Gillespie, the city's fleet director, said he nominated the men for the award simply because they deserve it.

The system works so well, the New Flyer bus company, which supplies the city's 18 metre, articulated buses, liked the system so much, it now sells it as an option for all its buses.
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kevlaf983



Age: 41
Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 99
Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From the Ottawa Sun

Award winners on the money
Transit team feted for saving millions in bus storage costs


By DEREK PUDDICOMBE, CITY HALL BUREAU

Top city employees are being recognized for saving taxpayers millions of dollars and inspiring their co-workers.

In 2001, when Pierre St. Jean was the manager of transit maintenance, he came up with an innovative idea that will, by 2009, save taxpayers $51 million -- and that's after $9 million in start-up costs.

THINKING OUTSIDE

St. Jean wanted to find a way to store diesel-powered buses outside during the sub-zero winter temperatures. The buses are traditionally kept indoors to ensure their engines are warm after being shut down for hours.

With the help of his four-member team -- Dave McDougall, Bob Manion, Serge Desnoyers and Alan Lowe -- he did.

As part of a pilot project, the group modified an OC Transpo bus with a 110-volt plug and reprogrammed the on-board computer to allow the buses' coolant to circulate through the motor and heating system to keep the bus warm.

"It's a pretty simple design," said St. Jean.

It worked so well, they had a 99.95% success rate and after five years, 120 buses have been modified at a cost of only $1,200 each.

Buses that once needed multi-million-dollar storage facilities can now be kept outside on bare asphalt at the department's St. Laurent maintenance property.

The team is being honoured today at the first City Manager's Award of Excellence ceremony at City Hall.
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