Commissions Expense: ($35,014)

Transit Windsor ended 2019 with a ($35,014) deficit in the Commissions Expense account. As Transit earns greater revenues, additional commissions are required to be paid out to vendors as commissions are a percentage of sales. Transit has increased this budget in the 2020 budget to an appropriate percentage of revenues sold by internal and external vendors.

Other Prof Services-External: ($44,236)

Transit Windsor ended 2019 with a ($44,236) deficit in the Other Professional Services- External account. This deficit was due to the over usage for the Short Message Service (SMS) provided through Transit's Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). The service allows passengers to receive text messages by using the SMS stop prediction feature. This tool integrates location, route and bus information with schedules and maps to provide passengers with the most accurate arrival predictions possible. Due to the high usage of this service, additional costs, over and above the annual SMS text allowance, were incurred. These higher ITS costs are a result of increased ridership which leads to higher usage of the SMS service.

Transit is working on a solution to avoid incurring these additional costs.

Program Supplies: ($45,232)

Transit Windsor ended 2019 with a ($45,232) deficit in the Program Supplies account. As Transit has transitioned to Smart Cards for all bus passes this year, earlier in the year, two forms of passes, Smart Card and Magnetic Strip were required to be purchased and held in inventory for sale. In order to provide the required passes, Transit was required to purchase both forms of passes, therefore increasing the costs for passes. As all bus passes have now shifted to Smart Cards, the requirement to purchase both forms of passes is no longer a factor. This account is anticipated to normalize in the upcoming year.

Facility Operations-Labour Internal: ($62,234)

Transit Windsor closed 2019 with a ($62,234) deficit in the Facility Operations- Labour Internal account. The City of Windsor's Facilities department completes maintenance and cleaning work needed throughout the year at the Windsor International Transit Terminal (WITT) and Transit is then charged for the work completed. The maintenance and cleaning required during previous years has increased and the trend continued for 2019. This budget has been increased for 2020 in order to provide proper funding for the necessary maintenance expenses required to maintain the WITT location.

Workers Compensation. – Admin: ($90,181)

Transit Windsor ended 2019 with a ($90,181) deficit in the Workers Compensation account. This deficit was due to a Workers Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) appeal which covered a number of years and was paid out during 2019.

Clothing – Uniforms: ($117,174)

Transit Windsor ended 2019 with a ($117,174) deficit in the Clothing-Uniforms accounts. This was due to a required lump sum payment to employees for a contractual annual payment which had been underpaid for a number of years. Transit will review this account during 2020 to determine if additional funding is required in order to meet contractual obligations.

Scrap Inventory: ($166,838)

During 2019, Transit Windsor was required to write off obsolete inventory which lead to a deficit in the scrap inventory account of ($166,838).

Annually, Transit assesses all assets recorded in inventory and determines if a write off is required due to inventory being obsolete and no longer useable. In 2019, the fleet department identified over 469 various parts, including two engines which were no longer useable, as well as parts for buses that are no longer included in the Transit fleet. Obsolete parts are listed on GovDeals for sale in order to attempt to recover some of the costs however, if sold, the recovery trends to be very minimal. Transit continues to look for ways to keep the ordering of inventory efficient and on an as needed basis however due to the time required for parts to be delivered, and the importance of having parts readily available to mitigate downtime of buses in repair, Inventory must be kept on site.