A few months ago a “freedom of information” request to Translink requesting any internal correspondence about CKNW’s Waste Patrol series came back mostly blacked out.
The request was made because Translink refused to participate in our Waste Patrol series and we wanted to know why.
An appeal was then filed and what’s come back may cause some embarassment at Translink.
Some previously blacked out emails between Translink Board Chair Nancy Olewiler and Former Communications person Erin Dermer have now been released.
In an email Olewiler refuses a CKNW interview request noting to Dermer, “this is why you’re in charge and not me! I’ll decline on the grounds I can’t be there due to my job.”
Dermer replies, “we participated in the Waste Patrol series in November on executive compensation and found it to be a very negative experience.”
At first Olewiler was willing to go on the radio saying “I don’t mind being a sacrificial pig to the cause.”
There’s also a chain of emails among Dermer and other Translink P-R people Ken Hardie and Drew Snider commenting about some of Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts’ criticisms of people being paid to do Translink surveys.
Snider says “we’re talking six-thousand-dollars – chump change.”
He goes on to say “how I wish we had an external claque that could phone in at times like this.”
Finally there’s an email chain trying to figure out who the anonymous bus driver was on CKNW who claimed Translink was losing millions every year due to fare evasion.
Coast Mountain Bus Company’s Don Rice claims “it’s a myopic view, there are a few routes within an eight mile radius of downtown that may experience a higher rate of evasion due to the homeless or drug culture on certain days or times.”
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