City to appoint ‘transit czar’ to oversee expansion

Thestar.com
November 9, 2018
Ben Spurr

The city is appointing its first “transit czar” in what Mayor John Tory says is a bid to ensure new lines are built as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The new transit expansion office, which Tory announced Thursday morning at city hall, will be headed by an executive director who the mayor said would be responsible for identifying roadblocks to getting transit built within city government, and serve as a point of contact between city divisions, the TTC, Metrolinx, and other orders of government working on new lines.

Mayor John Tory on Thursday announced the city is creating a “transit czar” position focused on building new lines quickly and efficiently.

“I felt we needed somebody who was going to be the point person, who was going to clear away obstacles, and was going to make sure we moved ahead as quickly as we possibly could with every single one of the projects in the city-approved transit plan,” Tory said at a news conference.

“If one department or area of the city government is delaying progress, they will have a light shone on them with my full support and that delay will be brought to an end,” Tory continued.

“You need somebody that quite frankly -- I hate to put it in the vernacular -- that’s going to kick some butt.”

Tory, who in the run-up to last month’s election had repeatedly said he was already doing everything possible to get projects like the relief line built quickly, said the city would begin the search for the director of the new office immediately.

A city spokesperson said the salary range for the position is $196,596 to $221,166.

The preliminary budget for the office is estimated at $2 million a year, the spokesperson said, which includes salaries for a staff of 12 to 15 employees. The spokesperson said the budget would initially come from money council had already earmarked to support transit projects.

Councillor Gord Perks (Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park) called the idea of appointing a transit czar “absurd.”

“It won’t accomplish anything,” said Perks, who is a frequent critic of the mayor’s transit plans, in an interview. He argued it was insufficient funding and the politicization of the planning process that has delayed the delivery of new transit, not lack of coordination by the city bureaucracy.

“The problem with transit is that a) we don’t spend enough money on it, and b) we make terrible political decisions on it,” he said.

The chair of the TTC board and the CEO of the TTC have traditionally played the leading role in carrying out the city’s transit expansion plans. But Tory said in recent years the landscape has changed in part because of the increasing involvement of Metrolinx, the provincial Crown corporation in charge of regional transportation.

Metrolinx is currently overseeing the construction of the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRTs in Toronto, which are fully funded by the province.

“I think the TTC’s principal job is to operate a transit system,” Tory said.

In a memo sent to transit employees Thursday, TTC CEO Rick Leary called the creation of the expansion office “positive news,” but reassured staff they would still have a role to play.

“I want to be clear: this new office does not relieve the TTC of its responsibilities around expansion,” he wrote. “Our expertise and competency in design, engineering, and project management remains an invaluable asset to Toronto.”

A Metrolinx spokesperson declined to comment on the announcement.

The city is partnering with the provincial and federal governments to build its council-approved transit network, which includes the relief line subway, Eglinton East LRT, Waterfront LRT network, Scarborough subway extension, and Tory’s SmartTrack plan.

Although all three governments have pledged money to build the network, which would cost at least $20 billion, there are no firm funding agreements for some of the projects. When and if the lines go ahead is largely dependent on decisions made at the provincial and federal levels of government, and the influence of the city’s transit expansion office on those decisions would likely be limited.

Premier Doug Ford has said he intends to make changes to the plans council has approved, including replacing the one-stop, $3.35-billion Scarborough extension with a three-stop version, and extending the Line 4 (Sheppard) subway. Those alterations would add costs and delays to the city’s plans, and could also put other elements of the approved network in jeopardy by eating up available funding.

Ford’s proposal to upload ownership of the TTC subway system to the province would also complicate the city’s plan, as the move would give Queen’s Park even greater control over which new lines are built.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for newly appointed Transportation Minister Jeff Yurek expressed little enthusiasm for the idea of a city transit czar.

“Toronto council has been unable to get shovels in the ground fast enough to get people moving. The province is better positioned to implement a more efficient regional transit system, reduce costs and build transit faster,” wrote Justine Lewkowicz.

The province has appointed a special adviser to guide the government on the upload plan, but Tory cautioned Thursday giving ownership of the subway to Queen’s Park is far from a done deal.

“I’ve made it very clear that it’s not just going to happen just because somebody else says so,” Tory said.

“We have to have a good deal that is going to be good for employees, riders, taxpayers, and we’ve seen nothing by way of any indication of what kind of deal that would be.”