The Toronto Transit Commission will continue to be overseen by city councillors, at least until this fall’s municipal election. By January 2011 — around the time we should expect a fare hike — some of the TTC’s board of directors are likely to be citizen appointees.
Most Toronto agencies include both elected and appointed members and, considering recent history, there is little evidence the commission should be different.
Another overdue development is the TTC’s new customer service advisory panel, made up of people with experience in the public and private sectors. They need to swiftly set up a series of public sessions across the city. For now, email them via advisory.panel@ttc.ca.
I’m curious if this group can discern if TTC failures in serving customers are due mostly to a culture of indifference, or to inadequate funding.
Not to be left out, the TTC’s largest union is also in the process of arranging public meetings — these should be very interesting.
Added to this mix is ongoing scrutiny in the media, plus talk of privatization and expense audits from campaigning municipal politicians, as well as a pilot project to include local residents in the operation of subway stations.
From bottom to top, the country’s biggest transit system is about to undergo more examination than it has ever experienced.
Quick Tip: Are you affected by upcoming cuts to GO bus service in York Region? See twitter.com/eddrass for links to details and petitions.
