TTC: Other Items (catch all)

[Northern Light]

Maybe I’m being optimistic, but I hope the TTC poaches someone internationally. Or we get the return of Adam Giambrone.

Not out the question

That's my beef with the TTC.

They think local on the basis we are a world class city with world class people.

If the TTC wants to excel they need the best of the best, not the best available in the GTA.

Was Andy Byford 'local'? How about David Gunn? Two of the last five or 40% CEOs (previously 'General Managers) were international imports.

They were, admittedly the best two we've had in a very long time.

But I think that's a higher rate of international recruiting that most City agencies/depts.

For further clarity, the decision on how widely to search for a new CEO will come directly from the Mayor's office.

 

[Amare]

Hallelujah!

Getting back from work to read this fantastic news of Leary hitting the door is Christmas in summer. It's about time the clown who helped degrade the TTC to the mess that it's devolved into is finally gone.

Now hopefully the city has learned their lesson from selecting bottom of the barrel scrap heap, with beyond questionable and concerning employment records as CEO of an organization.

Leave the city Rick, and dont let the door hit you on the way out.

 

[drum118]

Major delays continue for multiple downtown streetcar routes ahead of afternoon rush hour, TTC says​

Only took TTC to resume service as some overhead came down as well

 

[drum118]

Hallelujah!

Getting back from work to read this fantastic news of Leary hitting the door is Christmas in summer. It's about time the clown who helped degrade the TTC to the mess that it's devolved into is finally gone.

Now hopefully the city has learned their lesson from selecting bottom of the barrel scrap heap, with beyond questionable and concerning employment records as CEO of an organization.

Leave the city Rick, and dont let the door hit you on the way out.

The city did not originally hired Rich, as it was Andy who brought him in as his COO and may had some input for becoming CEO after he left TTC.

Not that easy for some to come over here as they have to think of their family first, what happens after their time is up at TTC and dealing with the city.

 

[Amare]

The city did not originally hired Rich, as it was Andy who brought him in as his COO and may had some input for becoming CEO after he left TTC.

Not that easy for some to come over here as they have to think of their family first, what happens after their time is up at TTC and dealing with the city.

Yes i'm aware. The TTC board appointed him as CEO, but let's not forget who the mayor was at the time of the appointment.

 

[Northern Light]

The city did not originally hired Rich, as it was Andy who brought him in as his COO and may had some input for becoming CEO after he left TTC.

That's certainly what Rick claims..........

 

[allengeorge]

That's certainly what Rick claims..........

?

 

[Northern Light]

?

Sorry, LOL, that's all ya get.

 

[evandyk]

Jamaal does not look impressed with the resignation speech!

 

[rbt]

Paired with “I was also in charge of the Capital State of Good Repair program to address the replacement and upgrades of track, power, facilities and vehicles.” I can’t help but laugh.

Personally, I can't imagine how difficult that task must be as they only receive enough money from the city to repair about half the things on the list. How do you choose which half of the soon-to-be-broken things to repair? SRT components definitely were not at the top of the list.

 

[Northern Light]

Personally, I can't imagine how difficult that task must be as they only receive enough money from the city to repair about half the things on the list. How do you choose which half of the soon-to-be-broken things to repair? SRT components definitely were not at the top of the list.

I think there would be a couple of counter arguments to that.

1) Stand up to the politicians and tell them they can't have the 'nice to haves' because you have to ensure safety and that is your highest priority.

2) If you go and read the investigative reports into what happened with the SRT, its clear that many people performing the inspection of track/systems did not know what to look for (loose bolt on reaction rail) and didn't understand the relative importance when they did find it, not catergorizing it as the highest priority of repair.

Steve Munro listed off the issues from the reports in a post here:

The Scarborough RT Derailment Technical Reports

Back in September 2023, TTC management presented an overview of the investigation into the July 24, 2023 accident that marked the end of the SRT’s life. See also my article Line 3 SRT Replace…

stevemunro.ca

From that post:

None of the above are really 'insufficient budget to replace a bolt'.

 

[crs1026]

So, now that we have done a little venting, what's the balanced view? Leary's top five successes? His top five failures?

- Paul

 

[turini2]

So, now that we have done a little venting, what's the balanced view? Leary's top five successes? His top five failures?

- Paul

+ve - his part in not letting the TTC completely collapse in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not solely his responsibility I'm sure, but certainly a challenging time to run a transit organisation.
-ve - Poor communication from the top of the organisation - the radio silence about the ATC mishap, as one example.

Personally, any googling of Leary before hiring him would have shown some scarlet red flags - to quote Steve Munro:

In Boston, a serious collision on the Green Line (the streetcar subway which has been a major part of the City’s transit system for over a century) led to a Nation Transportation Safety Board condemnation of the safety culture at the transit agency (then the MBTA). Leary was supposed to address the report at an MBTA Board meeting, but never showed up, and retired shortly afterward.

 

[rbt]

I think there would be a couple of counter arguments to that.

1) Stand up to the politicians and tell them they can't have the 'nice to haves' because you have to ensure safety and that is your highest priority.

That would be nice, though we haven't had a TTC CEO successful at reducing the SOGR backlog for a couple decades so I'm inclined to believe this isn't possible for the TTC CEO (or General Manager before that title) to do. Byford achieved more with the same money (by blowing through a warehouse of spare parts; so you can only do that once) but still saw the maintenance deficit grow during his oversight.

Even Miller as mayor struggled to reduce the SOGR gap and that was with larger than typical tax increases and adding significantly to borrowing space (by increasing amortization length; again a one-time option).

2) If you go and read the investigative reports into what happened with the SRT, its clear that many people performing the inspection of track/systems did not know what to look for (loose bolt on reaction rail) and didn't understand the relative importance when they did find it, not catergorizing it as the highest priority of repair.

Indeed. Those come down entirely to funding as well. If it was considered a critical system, we would have been sending inspection and maintenance staff to Vancouver for training.

I don't mean Leary was particularly good at the job. I wanted to point out the job is not as easy or straight forward as it should be. It's less "fix near-broken things" and more "which of the near-broken things matters today and which can be deferred 12 months", and that's on council who take directions from voters (bumping taxes 20% is a non-starter; we'd vote in a Ford equivalent shortly after who reduces them again).

 

[T3G]

So, now that we have done a little venting, what's the balanced view? Leary's top five successes? His top five failures?

- Paul

To be honest, I can't think of anything at all that could qualify as a success. The completion of the historical GM bus was a triumph, and it was done under his watch, but it was not his skill that ensured the project was successfully executed. Can we give him credit for not sending every single CLRV to the junk yard?

Top failures...SRT, ATC near miss, the perpetual slowing of the streetcar network (especially the Flexity doors), come to.mind as a top 3.