The TTC

Posted March 3, 2010

Dear Adam Giambrone
Chair of the TTC

It is great to hear that the TTC has formed an Advisory Panel to address the issue of “customer service”. While a noble cause, I hope the political and corporate culture that has created this monster is being brought to task as well. I have not taken the TTC for decades, but I, like so many other Torontonians, do feel we have been taken for a ride via unjustified taxation and government waste.

Let me give you an outsider’s view of what the Advisory Panel should discover:

1.     That a corroded TTC union culture is being propped up by a dysfunctional and ill-qualified political system.

2.     In the absence of an alternative competitive transit supplier, money spent on infrastructure and growth initiatives are being measured by their least possible impact and not on real economic measures and maximum impact.

3.     There are no “consequences and accountability measures” for TTC staff, executives or the political overseers. People must eventually be fired for non-performance. While you may have a union agreement and a policy & procedures manual, you probably have no manifesto on customer service. This should be an integral process in the employee evaluation process and there must be consequences.

4.     Fare pricing is determined via budget shortfalls and future needs (i.e. new infrastructure, investment in new technology, security and so on). This is not significantly different in the wants of privately or publicly held companies competing for consumer dollars. The important difference lies in the concept of “shareholder wealth”. Torontonians are not considered investors or partners, but rather a tax body. Price must reflect value, accountability, sustainability, cost management measures and the analysis of revenue collection processes.

5.     You have no visible mission statement. In your case, the first mission statement should read as follows, “The customer is never wrong”.

6.     With 40,000 annual consumer complaints the TTC obviously has little disregard for the complaint and the manner in which the consumer is addressed. Complaints are a key measure of business success. The receiving, timing, handling and response process is obviously flawed. When you start receiving a multitude of compliments, you then know you are on the right track. Complaints must be dealt with in a timely fashion and empathetically. Finally, recurring and visible mistakes must be eradicated and the change must become a perceptible enhancement to the consumer.

7.     The rail line improvement project on St. Clair Ave had a proposed construction budget of $10 million. The final bill was in excess of $100 million. Corruption and irresponsibility must be dealt with transparency and accountability. If a flawed executive exists then the entire system becomes corrupt. There is simply no way of over-riding this keep natural process. This waste describes a scared, irresponsible and directionless body who continues to knock on the door of an embattled public. I am defining credibility.

8.     Pay plans for direct impact customer satisfaction decision-makers and front line individuals should be driven by key performance indicators – e.g. the number of complaints is a definite indicator.

9.     Training on how to “smile” and say “thank you’ or “sorry” may appear to be an easy task, but a culture that has evolved without their use, may require a leader who is capable of invoking the school of hard-knocks.

10.                        Adam, have customers ever been rewarded for complaining or addressing visible flaws in the system? If not, start doing it!

I have two suggestions Adam. Get back into the mayoral race. It will not matter if you loose. You lost when you pulled out. I am confident that every other candidate has as many skeletons in the closet as you do. We won’t talk about Smitherman. Finally, encourage everyone to privatize the TTC. It is tax glutton. It will be better served by responsible, independent and profit-driven entrepreneurs.

Thank you,
Joseph Pede