Looking ahead at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games

Colleagues,

In just one year, Toronto will host the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games.

The Pan Am Games are the world’s third largest international multi-sport games, surpassed in size and scope only by the Olympic Summer Games and the Asian Games. Nearly 7,000 athletes from 42 countries in Latin America, South America, the Caribbean and North America will put years of training, perseverance and sacrifice to the test in world-class competition in 36 sports and 15 Parapan Am sports.

The Pan Am Games run from July 10 to 26 and the Parapan Am Games from Aug. 7 to 15.

To give you a sense of the challenge before us, 1.4 million tickets will be available to the public for venues across the GTA and southern Ontario. The TTC’s role will be to ensure both our daily customers, and visitors from around the globe, can move with confidence and speed across the city and region.

Planning began several years ago, and as we get closer to the games, work at the TTC will now accelerate. Critical to our success will be an all-hands-on-deck approach that provides us with the maximum number of TTC employees during those critical weeks next summer.

Experience from other host cities has shown that success depends on having a tremendous staff presence on the ground. It is for this reason that, over the course of the games, employees who normally do not work on the front line, will be required to help play host and ensure people get to where they need to go with the helpfulness Toronto is known for world over. The need for that staff presence means, unless there are extraordinary reasons, vacations will not be granted during the Pan Am Games. Furthermore we will continue the discussion with our Union partners to ensure that we can provide a reliable and robust bus, streetcar and subway system that is capable of carrying the extra customers over the Games period.

As the plan begins to take shape over the coming months, regular updates about each of our roles and the commitments required will be shared. A job call for a Pan Am/Parapan Am Co-ordinator, reporting directly to me, will be posted in the coming weeks. This person will take the lead in fully developing our commitments and ensuring we successfully support these Toronto games.

With your commitment, professionalism and dedication to the TTC and the city we serve, we will, indeed, be a transit system that makes Toronto proud.

Thanks all,

Chris Upfold
Deputy CEO/Chief Customer Officer
July 23, 2014