It’s not my real name in life and I use it to protect my identity and dignity.

I was a SkyShuttle driver for several months until this company decided to lay-off a couple of drivers early February 2010, me included and after entering a new policy and directive about the “Going Green” bullshit.
I totally agree with the testimony of this person above, and I don’t blame him for mentioning how SkyShuttle really works, because it’s the truth. In my country of origin, we say “All truth is good to say!”

Before they changed the routing and pretending they weren’t running on schedule anymore (starting January 2010), it worked just “okay”. I picked up my customers at the main hotels on the three different routes (University, Downtown and West End).
Personally I never understood the way why they didn’t add another shuttle from the airport when there was more than 10 persons going on the same route all at once, especially on University or Downtown routes which are the busiest ones.

After they adopted the new routing, the “Going Green” stuff (which was supposed to be effective in July 2009 and finally been introduced in January 2010), that was a real mess and I don’t count the number of persons I heard complaining about the “new” service, those users were regular customers. Do you think acceptable strating the moment a first customer arrives at the SkyShuttle ticket desk at the airport they have to wait 45 minutes to board and leave, after maybe being tired of a long trip by plane, who knows? Does that make sense??
I’m explain more clearly… If someone arrives and ask “I would like to go to the Ramada (Kingsway)” and nobody before came to ask for this route, then he is the first passenger for this very route and has to wait 30, 45mn or eventually ONE hour depending the route (West End stops are the ones the less served on all SkyShuttle stops! so customers were forced to wait 1 hour)… at that stage I would definitely prefer taking a taxicab or a limo, even if it’s more expensive (but if you’re a few you can share the ride and it’s still cheap), I would arrive faster especially if I am tired and directly at home.

The drivers have to wait sometimes long hours on parking lots of Oliver Square or Mayfield Common before being called by the dispatch to take a run. I’m not joking… go there and see! They all wait there to be dispatched. I experienced it many times, sometimes 3 hours waiting! And in winter with the engine idling… that’s really GOING GREEN!!
Plus with that you add the number of prank calls the dispatch receive or customers who decide to not board and didn’t call to advise, and we had to stop for some “ghosts” customers very often…

The main problem above all is the dispatch, and I am not surprised the author mentioned the lack of apologies from it. There’s a young girl who’s dispatching on afternoons and early evening on weekdays and who is completely unaware about the traffic patterns and the delays it can occur if there are construction zones, bad weather, accidents or rush hour traffic. I dropped once a customer at the Westin Downtown (100 St and Jasper Ave) just before 6:00pm and she wanted me to pick-up a customer who booked the service at the Fantasyland Hotel at the West Edmonton Mall on 178 Street / 87 Ave at… 6:15pm! She also had the stupid tendency to ask me to return backwards to pick-up a customer at a place I stopped on my run, because the previous driver was delayed (mainly while a snow storm jammed the traffic). That’s a total lack of respect for the passengers already on-board looking to catch their flight on-time!

The rates now… when you purchase your tickets at the airport desk, it’s still $15 one-way and $25 return, not that cheap but fair. Now… if you board for the first time FROM the city centre TO the airport, the drivers aren’t able or even authorized to sell the same, they don’t even have the return tickets handy on-board. It’s still $15 one-way, and $30 round trip, which is completely unfair. I’m calling this ripping off, pardon me the expression. Why a rate which is in application in one way cannot be the same both ways? It’s the way it works in every cities of the world where an airport shuttle service exists. I traveled quite a lot around the world to be sure of what I’m saying.

As employees, we had to keep passengers tickets in an enveloppe we dropped at the end of the day at the office when we finished the shift. The number of tickets “in hands” has to match the same number of tickets sold on the trip sheet. If one or a few tickets were missing, the company reserved the right to deduct $15 per lost tickets on the driver’s pay! But customers already paid and the amount of money cash or credit is matching with the trip sheet, the same if the customer bought the ticket at the airport… the airport desk has received the right amount of money! Once again… it’s ripping off and making unfair profit.

When the ETS will operate this route between Century Park and EIA, that will completely screw SkyShuttle. Look what happened in Vancouver when they opened the Canada Line in 2009 and offered a stop directly at YVR Vancouver Int’l Airport.
Customers want two things on a service between a city centre and its airport :

– A prompt and efficient service
– A cheap way to ride

… and it’s what ETS will offer anytime soon! I encourage everybody to ride this service.