Canada

Jokes based on the band REM's hit songs aside, this is yet another exciting failure from a public-private partnership. On the west coast, we're delighted to be learning from the example played out daily by our BCFerries service, tasked with ferrying cars and passengers between our financial hub and our capital city.

Initially it resembled a good partnership, a reliable and reasonably-fast service. But as the old staff cycled out and the partnership was left to stand on its own, it's begun failing repeatedly. Its most blatant recent gaffe was choosing to deploy its relief equipment (spares), normally kept in ready to allow for repairs and business continuity in the face of disasters and surprises, into regular service. Now the smallest upset or failure due to delayed/skipped maintenance can result in 9-12 hours of travel delays. It's so great.