TYSSE – A thank you from the CEO

Dear Colleagues,

Yesterday was a truly historic day for the TTC.

The opening of the Line 1 subway extension to Vaughan marked the first addition to our subway network since Line 4 opened in 2002 and the first time subway service has extended beyond city of Toronto boundaries.

This was no ordinary subway extension. It is a world-class, stunning 8.6-kilometre subway that features six beautiful, fully accessible stations, modern, integrated bus interchanges, full PRESTO availability and modern customer amenities, including large passenger information screens and full cell and Wi-Fi service.

Even more impressive, the extension features state-of-the-art, communications-based train control, also known as ATC, the modern signalling system that enables us to run trains safely, closer together and that will be progressively fitted throughout Line 1 by the end of 2019.

These massive projects take years to execute and incredible co-ordination to execute on the big day. We achieved a flawless official opening attended by the Prime Minister on Friday, fun contest winner preview rides on Saturday, and yesterday’s magnificent revenue service opening featuring the Premier, Ontario Minister of Transportation, Mayor Tory and TTC Chair Colle – all without a hitch.

This was the TTC at its absolute best. Virtually every department pulled together to deliver what can only be described as an absolute triumph. We said we would open at the end of 2017 and we did just that.

Everyone should take a bow, but I would like to extend special thanks to:

• Keith Sibley, Joanna Kervin and the TYSSE project team for getting everything finished and licensed by the big day.
• John O’Grady and the Safety team for delivery of our safety case, including Ryan Duggan and Jamie Simpson’s work on fire training and Andrew McKinnon’s delivery of safety audits.
• Mike Palmer, Jim Ross, Raewyn Jackson and the Operations Group team for a superb trial operations program and perfect service execution on the big day.
• Rick Leary, Collie Greenwood, Ellen Stassen and the Service Delivery teams for getting stations and bus services ready.
• Kirsten Watson, Jackie Darwood and the Service Planning and Customer Development teams for preparing schedules and revised bus routes.
• Gemma Piemontese, Paul Maglietta, Andrew Dixon and the training teams for delivering thousands of hours of training to Operators, Maintainers and New Customer Service Agents.
• Megan MacRae, Sean Milloy and Meghan Rogers and the ER team for leading union consultations.
• Bob Hughes, Chris Salvador and the Revenue Operations and PRESTO teams for having us PRESTO ready.
• Pete Tomlin, Leslie Wang and Fort Monaco for our superb ATC rollout.
• Cheryn Thoun, Deb Brown, Derek Stryland and Susan Sperling – the entire communications and special events teams for the great events and eye catching publicity.

Above all, I would like to thank and acknowledge the thousands of unionized transportation and maintenance staff without whom we would not be running service both on the extension and throughout the network.

Great job, everyone. We pulled off the perfect ending to our five-year modernization plan in spectacular fashion. And we did it as one team.

Sincerely,

Andy Byford
Chief Executive Officer
December 18, 2017