When he took over as interim CEO of TransLink two months ago, Doug Allen started riding the region’s buses and trains to get to know the workers behind the massive transit system.

What he found was that despite working for an organization that is highly respected on the world stage, many of his 6,700 employees are ashamed to tell people what they do for a living.

“When the dislike in an organization runs really high, they’re not very comfortable going home and talking about what they’re doing,” Allen told The Vancouver Sun’s editorial board earlier this week. “How do you motivate them? We didn’t have a lot of stakeholders standing up and saying: ‘This is a pretty good organization.’”

Allen, who took over as interim CEO in the middle of a controversial transportation plebiscite campaign, knows he is facing a tough challenge.

The ballot asks Metro Vancouver residents to support a 0.5-per-cent sales tax increase to fund transportation — including more buses, a subway for Vancouver, and light rail for Surrey.

But the No side has been leading in the polls since almost the beginning of the campaign. And much of the criticism has been targeted directly at TransLink, with opponents arguing the transportation authority should not be trusted with more public money because of its high executive salaries, delays with the Compass Card system, and its costly Transit Police force.

Polls also suggest that even some of the Yes voters have reservations about the transportation authority.

Allen acknowledges the organization has been vilified by the public, and maintains that is partly because it has not been as open or engaging with the public as it should have been.

Allen has been holding internal town hall meetings, during which he has presented TransLink’s ratings compared to similar transit authorities around the world, as well as public satisfaction surveys and what is being done in terms of audits, police issues and service improvements.

He also brought in Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore, spokesman for the mayor’s council, to explain the council’s proposed 10-year plan, the 0.5-per-cent sales tax increase, and the TransLink governance structure.

Allen will ask the board if there is a possibility of opening up TransLink board meetings.

“We have to be more engaging at every level,” he said. “If you’re working in a business and you go home and people have anecdotal evidence saying ‘You’re not doing a good job,’ it’s not easy to deal with.”

Allen would not speculate on the results of the plebiscite, which are expected to be released in June. Metro Vancouver residents have until May 29 to mail in their ballots.

ksinoski@vancouversun.com

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