Jamaal Myers, TTC Chair, City Councillor, Scarborough North –
Nearly two years ago, I was appointed chair of the Toronto Transit Commission. Growing up in Scarborough, I regularly took the TTC to school, work, and everywhere in between. I even cleaned the trains for three summers as a university student. Serving as chair has been about giving back to an organization that’s given me, and so many others, so much.
Coming out of the pandemic, the TTC faced critical challenges: changing ridership patterns, safety concerns, funding shortfalls and eroding public trust. For me, restoring public trust was key. If customers and employees didn’t trust us, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to improve our performance.
That’s why the board, the mayor and I worked hard to regain the trust of our customers and employees. This meant negotiating agreements with all six of our unions without labour disruptions, not increasing fares, and fully funding the construction of the Scarborough Busway to replace the Scarborough RT, among other initiatives. We still have ways to go, but our organizational culture has shifted towards rebuilding the trust in the TTC brand.
In my second year as chair, safety and customer experience were the priorities. I’ve heard the stories – riders feeling uneasy, operators under pressure – and we’ve responded with expanded mental health support for employees, creating an action plan to combat fare evasion (a $140 million annual problem), hiring more special constables and piloting automatic camera enforcement for streetcars to ensure that customers enter and exit our vehicles safely.
On the customer experience side, we’ve begun rehabilitating subway stations to ensure they look and feel safe, clear and orderly; launched a pilot program to tackle bus bunching (when two or more buses travel together); and will review key performance indicators to ensure they better reflect our customer experiences. We also froze fares for the second year in a row.
There’s still a long road ahead. In a city as big and diverse as Toronto, no single solution fits every neighbourhood. However, as long as I serve as TTC chair, I’ll work to make the TTC safer, more reliable, and more equitable for everyone, and to continue investing and supporting our talented, dedicated, and hardworking employees.
