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Big number: $366 million, the portion of Toronto city hall’s $845 million projected year-end COVID-related budget shortfall caused by the TTC. Getting more riders back on transit would help Mayor Olivia Chow deal with the budget crisis.
As part of Mayor Olivia Chow’s municipal makeover, Toronto city council this week will consider a new slate of appointees to the various boards and committees that oversee things at city hall — including the powerful TTC board.
The names of those recommended for TTC board appointment are not yet public, though several councillors have expressed interest. For Chow, getting capable people onto the TTC board will be critical.
Because, while much has been written about Chow’s need to get the provincial and federal governments to provide money to cover the city’s budget gap, there’s another way she can tackle her fiscal problem. About $366 million of the $845 million the city is looking for to cover what it’s been calling COVID-related costs this year is actually related to revenue from TTC fares.
Before the pandemic, the TTC could count on more than ten million paying customer trips most weeks. These days, it’s less than eight million. Getting those two-million-plus weekly fares back could help solve a significant part of city hall’s budget problem.
Growing ridership won’t be easy, though. So I thought it might be useful to lay out the complex series of qualifications I’ve developed to be considered for the role of TTC chair or board member.
Ready? Here we go. To serve on the TTC board, city councillors must meet the following criteria: use the TTC.
That’s it. Just use the darn system. Nothing else is as important. If you want to oversee the TTC, you should ride the TTC. Daily, ideally, like lots of Torontonians do.
I’m not really interested in any other type of qualification. Don’t offer us platitudes about how you believe in the importance of public transit while driving to work every day. Instead, show us your Presto card transaction history.
Only the day-to-day experience of riding Toronto transit can prepare someone for making critical decisions as a TTC board member.
There wasn’t enough of that day-to-day experience under former mayor John Tory as the transit system dealt with a cavalcade of problems related to issues like passenger and employee safety, critical system maintenance and declining ridership.
Tory, to his credit, was a regular subway rider for his short commute from his downtown condo to city hall. But expense records indicate he also made frequent use of a car from the city’s fleet of vehicles to get to events. His staff also racked up hefty Uber and Lyft bills while getting around the city.
Meanwhile, Tory’s hand-picked TTC board chair for this term, North York Coun. Jon Burnside, proved to be a bit of a road warrior. Between December and April, Burnside billed taxpayers for 224 kilometres of trips in his car to various meetings at the set rate of 68 cents per kilometre. He also expensed $46.25 worth of parking. So far this council term, his vehicle-related expenses were higher than all but three others on city council.
In addition, Burnside, like all but one of the councillors on the TTC board constituted under Tory, opted to accept a Green P parking pass, entitling him to free parking both on-street and in city-owned parking lots.
I don’t get why that free parking perk exists for any politician, but it should be forfeited by TTC board members. They should also have little use for their designated parking spot at Toronto city hall. Their workplace is literally located within easy walking distance of two subway stations, after all.
If prospective appointees find the idea of giving up these privileges and relying on the TTC to get to work to be frustrating, I’ve got good news for them: as TTC board members, they’ll have the power to make it less frustrating, by working to improve service, address customer service issues, and hold the executives at the TTC accountable.
The need for accountability is especially important. TTC CEO Rick Leary has seen his salary balloon from about $361,000 in 2019 to about $473,000 last year. But under his tenure, the percentage of Torontonians who say they are proud of the TTC has dropped from 70 per cent to 58 per cent, according to Leary’s most recent CEO report.
With dismal numbers like that, the politicians set to join the TTC board this week should come prepared with a long list of tough questions to ask about Leary’s record. Those questions are bound to be tougher — and smarter — if they’ve got real experience riding the system.
Matt Elliott is a Toronto-based freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GraphicMatt