Office of the Chief Executive

Today is my last official day as TTC CEO and so this is my final weekly message to you.

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, and who make every effort to deliver service, as advertised. You are the reason why the TTC is a great place to work.

To accomplish our vision, I felt it imperative to implement more strategic, long-term planning across the organization. We developed our first Capital Investment Plan, which 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.

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.

Other foundational documents followed like the TTC’s first 5-year Service Plan, the 10-Point Action Plan on Diversity and Inclusion, and the Innovation and Sustainability Framework.

Through our service plans, we set out clear, ambitious, and achievable objectives to improve transit across this City and Region. Through our work on diversity, we’ve made the TTC a more inclusive and welcoming place for our employees and customers. Through our innovation and modernization efforts, we’ve made our fleets and facilities greener and cleaner. And we’ve continued to make system accessibility a priority, which will see all subway stations become accessible.

We did all of this as the world and the TTC faced incredible obstacles: increasingly erratic weather, cybersecurity threats, COVID-19, and safety and security concerns on the system. Together, we faced these challenges head on and we came out stronger. It’s often said that the TTC is the lifeblood of Toronto and the Region – that could not be more true.

And so, as I share my last MyTTC | Weekly message, I want to leave you with a big thank you to each of the almost 17,000 incredible employees at the TTC, including the exceptional Executive and Senior Management Teams. Thank you for your ongoing hard work and all you do to keep Toronto moving. I have been incredibly proud to lead this organization with all of you.

Stay safe.

Richard J. Leary
​Chief Executive Officer
​August 30, 2024