Expenditure down, quality assurance up

The revenues of the cash-strapped Transport Board continue to face severe pressure, but improvements are being made in the management and operations of the state entity, Chief Executive Officer Fabian Wharton has reported.

He gave the assessment while disclosing that between 60 and 100 Transport Board buses are now in operation at any point, and the ideal fleet would be between 160 and 170 buses.

Wharton made the comments as he gave testimony on Monday during the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing in Parliament.

He revealed that even when bus fare increased by 75 per cent in April last year, that did not result in increased revenue.

“It is a situation where you have a declining ridership . . . overall in the market; the market is contracting a bit. Even when the bus fares went up to $3.50 where people were expecting this huge increase in revenue across the sector, that did not happen because some people opted to walk, some people opted to drive, some people then thought it was financially better for them to go and get a loan and buy a car. So, the actual market shrunk a little,” he explained.

“Then, with COVID-19 now, the market and the way how the economy is . . . the revenues are under pressure. That is why we are spending so much time on the expense side, because we know the revenues are under severe pressure.”

Wharton acknowledged that the Transport Board was also getting stiff competition from privately-owned public service vehicle operators, but said they were making sure they were capitalising on revenues during the times of the day “when the competition disappears”.

Despite the revenue challenges, Wharton said he was satisfied that steps were now being taken to improve the finances and image of the Transport Board.

He said the Transport Board had increased its use of the Barbados Government Information Service and social media to improve its image and get its messages out.

Wharton, who took up the CEO position at the beginning of September last year, said at the start of his tenure he was surprised at the lack of processes and procedures and the issue of double invoicing as highlighted in the contents of the Auditor General’s Special Report.

However, he gave the assurance that reviews have since been carried out and better quality assurance processes were being implemented.

“We have done purchasing, we have started to fix the asset register to make sure we know where the assets are. So, it is a case where in some instances there were policies there, but they were dated and we had to review them; and in other cases, the polices weren’t followed. On the IT side, the system had some deficiencies, so we had to get upgrades done and patches done to fix some of those deficiencies as well,” Wharton explained.

The CEO added that in relation to how parts are now being obtained, “we are now taking the dealer recommended parts”.

Wharton added that the process for disposal of assets, particularly buses, was now being examined and documented, “so you compare the cost to repair versus the benefits you can get from that bus”.

He also gave assurance that lengthy processes of checks and balances are now in place for settling invoices to try and “stop all these holes and kind of minimise and eliminate all of these issues that can occur with double invoicing”.

He also shared that the Transport Board had started to employ practices to help it cut back on expenditure.

“Especially given the COVID-19 time with the fall in revenues, we have gotten more efficient with a lot of operational things we did in terms of how we utilise our staffing [and] our security. So, the board has managed to reduce its losses, inclusive of the government subsidies, down to $8.3 million in the last financial year. So, it is a work in progress,” he said, while pointing out that many of the recommendations from the Auditor General were taken on board.

“What we have also done is place a huge emphasis on physical security, installation of cameras to ensure there is no revenue leakages, including access to diesel or diesel pumps. So, what we are seeing is a gradual decline in the expenses.”

In relation to the maintenance of the buses, Wharton said the cost was also being reduced.

Responding to questions from the PAC members, the Transport Board boss said the current fleet of buses was between 60 and 70, adding that it was “fluid” on any given day.

“So, we may say 60 today and it could be 90 [tomorrow], and say Wednesday, 100. So, we are looking somewhere between a fleet of 60 to 100 buses that are workable. And then we may have a major defect of about 20 buses that may need a major engine repair or major transmission work,” he explained.

Adding that the model was not about getting to “250 buses per se”, Wharton reminded officials that the current fleet was being “subsidised” by the Transport Augmentation Programme (TAP) which currently has a fleet of 71 buses.

He explained that what was being done before was “trying to keep 180 old buses on the road” and “the cost was astronomical”.

“So now you cut that in half, basically, and you retrofit some of them, you get the savings from doing that, you buy 33 electric buses and you have TAP. Therefore, you have a fleet that is going to cost you less,” he said.

Asked if there was an ideal fleet in mind to adequately service the commuting public, Wharton responded, “probably about 160 or 170”, adding that this was “based on the routes currently that we would service, as well as the other needs in terms of where we are having some issues with cross-country routing”. (marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)