TORONTO — The board of the Toronto Transit Commission has decided to take more time to consider how to proceed with the next order for streetcars.
Bombardier Transportation wants the job, but several international competitors have also been identified in a TTC staff report as "good candidates" to submit bids.
At a TTC board meeting Tuesday, a senior Bombardier executive apologized for the latest problem with the current order for streetcars assembled in the company's plant in Thunder Bay.
Most of the streetcars already delivered to Toronto will need preventative repairs at a plant in Quebec, because of improper welding that was done at a Bombardier facility in Mexico.
Bombardier has also significantly improved the production rate in Thunder Bay, and will start up another assembly line in Kingston,Ontario this fall with the aim of delivering all 204 cars in the current order by the agreed-upon deadline of 2019.
The TTC has been considering three scenarios for acquiring 60 additional cars:
- Procure them through contract with Bombardier
- Issue a Request for Proposal from interested suppliers
- Defer a decision on how to proceed until early 2019
The TTC board opted for deferral.
A report to the board from Acting CEO Richard Leary noted that there is currently no approved funding for the additional cars, in any case.
Leary said a deferral would allow TTC staff to conduct a full analysis of the options, and allow more time for funding to be determined through the capital budget process.
A union leader at the Thunder Bay plant has said the facility will be out of work unless it gets a new order in 2020.
