CEO's Report: August Commentary

This commentary marks my last as CEO of the TTC. As most people know, my last official day on the job is August 30.

Since announcing my resignation in June, I have had a lot of time to reflect on my decade here at the TTC – an organization I have been lucky enough to lead for almost seven of those 10 years. There are many things I will miss about the TTC, but none more than the people. Through the good times and the hard times, I was always impressed by our employees – individuals who take getting our customers to their destination in a safe manner very seriously.

When I became CEO in 2017, I took over an organization built on the solid foundations poured by my predecessors, including Gary Webster and Andy Byford. Like them, I have taken great pride in holding this position. I have also welcomed the chance to expand on their work.

Each of us faced unique situations requiring different solutions and approaches, but we all agreed on the importance of service reliability, customer service excellence, and long-term sustainability. For me, that meant delivering service as advertised, focusing on state-of-good-repair throughout the network, modernizing the TTC’s business model to address new and emerging challenges, and securing funding to maintain our infrastructure and fleets.

To accomplish this vision, I felt it imperative to implement more strategic, long-term planning across the organization. This allowed us to break down silos between groups and departments to ensure more co-ordination in our program and service delivery. It also resulted in a number of firsts for the TTC.

In my time, the TTC developed its first Capital Investment Plan (CIP), Making Headway: Capital Investment to Keep Transit Moving. This Plan laid out, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of what was required to ensure the TTC was keeping pace with the City’s transit needs. The goal was to inform our funding partners about our long-term needs to ensure the system is properly funded. The Plan looked 15 years into the future and highlighted the importance of capital investments in transit and in Toronto.

And our work paid off. We’ve secured close to $8 billion in new funding from sources like Toronto’s City Building Fund and through project-specific partnerships with the Federal, Provincial, and Municipal governments for things like Capacity Expansion at Bloor-Yonge Station, and hundreds of new buses, streetcars, and soon, subway trains.

Following the CIP, we introduced other foundational documents like the TTC’s first 5-year Service Plan, the 10-Point Action Plan on Diversity and Inclusion, and the Innovation and Sustainability Framework.

I am very proud of these plans as they paint a picture for decision-makers and customers alike of the TTC’s needs and how we can address them moving forward. They form a road map toward long-term success and fiscal sustainability.

Through our service plans, we set out clear, ambitious, and achievable objectives to improve transit across this City and Region. This resulted in the creation of a partnership with the City called RapidTO – a planned network of red-painted transit-only lanes across Toronto. Already we have seen some success with this plan along the Eglinton East corridor between Kennedy Station and University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus. I’m optimistic that the success of that first project bodes well for plans we have for other high-ridership corridors like Dufferin, Jane, and others – which are currently being developed.

Through our work on diversity, we’ve made the TTC a more inclusive and welcoming place for our employees and customers. While we still have work to do, we are closer than ever to having a workforce that reflects the City we serve. Our staff speaks more languages, and our gender ratios are improving because of changes we made to our recruitment practices – four in 10 new Operators identify as women. We also introduced new training and accountability measures that ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect. This marked a significant shift in the TTC’s approach and ushered in a significant change in our corporate culture – a change for the better.

Through our innovation and modernization efforts, we have made our fleets and facilities greener and cleaner – taking action to make all TTC vehicles zero-emission by 2040, for example. We’ve also updated our systems, allowing us to use data to better inform our service planning and monitor our operations in real-time. As well, we worked with the Province and other GTA transit agencies to promote more and better fare and service integration.

Beyond these formal documents, we’ve continued to make system accessibility a priority with our Easier Access Program, which will see all subway stations become fully accessible. Our robust Project Management Office and systemic reporting to the TTC Board will keep us on schedule.

Knowing the fiscal constraints the City faces, we also got creative and demonstrated our commitment to service delivery through careful fiscal management and being responsible stewards of the public purse. This allowed us to find approximately $175 million in efficiencies that we were able to re-invest in service.

This is far from an exhaustive list of things we’ve achieved over my almost seven years as CEO, but it does capture some of the highlights.

It’s also worth noting that we did all of this as the world and the TTC faced a number of challenges: increasingly erratic weather, cybersecurity threats, COVID-19, and safety concerns shaped all of our experiences. Like so many, we at the TTC got through these challenges and we came out stronger.

At the end of the day, I believe that, like those who came before me, I leave the TTC better positioned to grow and succeed than when I joined the organization. With the launch of our new strategic plan, I look forward to seeing how the transit agency contributes to the livability of the city. We have always said that the TTC is the lifeblood of Toronto and the Region, which could not be more true. This city has grown around our century-old transit agency. When I look at Toronto’s skyline, I see a city connected by a safe, accessible public transit system – one that includes reliable, upgraded fleets and signals. Of course, traffic conditions still pose challenges when it comes to the environment in which our surface modes operate. But that’s why working with the City to advance initiatives like RapidTO is so important.

I want to thank all the Boards and Chairs I have worked with over the years as well as former Mayor John Tory and Mayor Olivia Chow, for their guidance.

And I want to thank my family for their love and patience.

Most importantly, I want to thank the almost 17,000 incredible employees at the TTC, including the exceptional Executive and Senior Management Team. I have been incredibly proud to lead this organization with you. Your dedication, your hard work, and your compassion should never go unnoticed. Toronto is lucky to have you.

The next scheduled TTC Board meeting will be on Tuesday, September 24. The public meeting will be live-streamed on the Official TTC YouTube Channel.

Stay safe.

Richard J. Leary
​Chief Executive Officer
​August 2024
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​This commentary is published in the CEO’s Report, which can be found on the TTC Intranet and ttc.ca.