Three senior managers from B.C. Transit travelled to China in late November to check on the assembly of 15 buses, only to be told that work on the first bus had not yet begun.
B.C. Transit representatives also expressed concern over the quality of workmanship.
Those revelations were contained in B.C. Transit management emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Canadian Auto Workers 333 and made public Thursday.
Meribeth Burton, B.C. Transit spokeswoman, declined to comment on the information in the documents.
B.C. Transit signed a $4-million contract with Grande West Transportation of Aldergrove to acquire the new buses, five of which are destined for Victoria.
The initial delivery date for the new buses was late December or early January. The 15 buses finally arrived May 1 in Vancouver, where they are undergoing inspections and licencing, Grande West CEO William Trainer said Thursday.
The 39-passenger Vicinity bus, a new and larger design of a shuttle bus, was the focus of a labour dispute last year that saw B.C. Transit drivers and mechanics refuse to wear uniforms or work overtime.
A three-member team of managers had delayed their trip to the Chinese factory to ensure a Vicinity prototype would be “fundamentally complete,” said Mike Frost, director of fleet asset management for B.C. Transit, in an email dated Dec. 3, 2012.
The aim was to achieve “maximum value from an expensive trip,” Frost said.
B.C. Transit approved the expense of $13,500 to $18,000 for three representatives to fly to China business class. The contract with B.C. Transit called for representatives to carry out a factory inspection and that was to be the purpose of the November trip, said Trainer.
Upon arriving at one factory, the managers asked about prototypes and were told they were at another location. At least one manager flew to the second factory to see the buses and “only then was it confirmed by Grande West that the buses had not been started,” Frost said.
Work on the buses apparently began soon after.
The Dec. 3 email between B.C. Transit managers said “it appears that the buses will be of sufficient quality to last the 10 years. … There are quite a few people working on our buses and some Mercedes chassis came in over the weekend so the factory doesn’t look so bare.”
After the managers returned to Canada, an email sent to the Chinese hosts on Dec. 12, 2012, indicated B.C. Transit still had concerns about quality.
“We look forward to our next visit and seeing continued improvement in quality resulting in the successful delivery of the Vicinity buses,” the email said.
B.C. Transit representatives returned to China in February for a factory inspection, Trainer said.
CAW Local 333 president Ben Williams said the emails confirm the union’s concerns about the Vicinity bus.
“Months late, quality concerns and business-class travel to the wrong production location — what on earth is going on with the Vicinity bus and B.C. Transit?” Williams said in a statement Thursday.
