EC&E changes effective immediately

Dear Colleagues,

With four months to go before the Opening Ceremonies of the Pan Am Games, I wanted to take a moment to share with you some of the plans we have to deliver first-class transit to spectators, tourists and of course, our regular customers. With 1.4 million ticketed spectators watching 51 sports at 26 Toronto venues over 26 days, this is an excellent opportunity to create a positive and lasting impression. Events like the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, if done right, are invaluable reputation-builders for organizations like ours.

We have worked out an integrated ticketing system with Pan Am, where event tickets also serve as transit passes for the day of the event. This means that most people travelling to and from events within Toronto will take the TTC. We have proven, over and over, that we know how to handle large crowds travelling to and from major events – we do it all the time for baseball and hockey games, concerts and conventions, and last year, we welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors for World Pride.

And we all must do our part. A special Board Period for the duration of the Pan Am Games (July 10-26) will see us running much more service than we regularly do during the summer months on the many routes that service event venues. Our unionized employees are stepping up to the plate as well by reducing their vacation time during this period.

Staff will also need to help out. During the games, vacation will be granted only in exceptional circumstances. If we are going to be successful we need staff to act as Customer Ambassadors at stations with over 6,000 shifts throughout the three weeks of Pan Am (July 10-26) and Parapan Am (August 7-15). To do this right staff members will need to play their part and volunteer for a minimum of three shifts during the games. Personally, I will be spending the entire period doing frontline customer work, as will Andy and the rest of the Executive. There will be mandatory training for all staff because, as Customer Ambassadors, we will be the face of the TTC and, for many visitors, the face of Toronto. This training will not only help you understand the role we will all play to keep Toronto connected, but also how our customers can move around the wider GTHA and reach all of the venues using public transit.

In early April, you will have access to a website that will allow you to sign up for your shifts. Please note that there will not be overtime for working any of these shifts. You will still work 35 hours in a week, but, depending upon how you select your shifts, those hours may include evening or weekend work.

The eyes of the world are on us. Let’s show them a transit system that makes Toronto proud.

Thank you,

Chris Upfold
Deputy CEO/Chief Customer Officer
March 18, 2015