TTC transparency in the spotlight

• Posted on: March 08, 2010
• Submitted by: votetoronto2010 staff

Late last week, the Toronto Transit Commission responded to the Toronto Board of Trade’s call for the City of Toronto’s Auditor General to conduct an audit of the TTC with a letter that made a few headlines.

In his letter to Board President & CEO Carol Wilding, TTC Chief General Manager Gary Webster takes issue with the Board’s emphasis on kilometres of service, pointing out that hours of service have increased by nearly 13 per cent.

Last week in its deputation on the city budget, the Board of Trade expressed concerns about declining productivity at the TTC. “Torontonians don’t feel they are getting value for money from the TTC,” Ms. Wilding told the media following her deputation. The Board believes that making more information available on the TTC’s budget through an impartial audit would spur a more fruitful discussion about where the organization can be more efficient.

In his letter, Mr. Webster correctly points out that the TTC’s subsidy per rider is the lowest in North America. Ironically, this fact might actually be fuelling negative perceptions of the TTC. Because of the lack of subsidy, Toronto transit users pay nearly the full value of the cost of their trip – and as a result, may have higher expectations of customer service than people in other cities who pay a much smaller portion of the value of their fare.

You can read Mr. Webster’s letter in full here. The Board’s submission on the budget is here.

• Tweet this
• VN:RO [1.8.0_1031]
  (+0)(-0)