TTC Meeting Preview: May 30, 2012
The Toronto Transit Commission will meet on May 30, 2012.
The scoreboard which begins the CEO’s Report includes the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) about which I have written elsewhere. Subway performance continues to be monitored against schedule ±3 minutes 96% of the time. It remains unclear how a systemic delay — where many trains are one or more headways out of place but service is otherwise well-spaced — affects this metric. Surface routes aim to be within 3 minutes of the scheduled headway 65% of the time for buses and 70% of the time for streetcars. Considering the headway on which all major routes operate, 3 minutes represents close to if not more than one headway, and much service will easily hit that target even though the rider sees disorganized bunching service with many short turns. I will address this problem in separate articles looking in detail at specific routes’ behaviour.
Riding is up relative both to actual results in 2011 and to budget in 2012 (see following section on additional service to handle growth), and the offpeak increase is running ahead of peak as it has for some years.
The top source of complaints continues to be “Other” with “Surface Delays” and “Discourtesy” coming next in that order. The TTC has initiated a rolling survey of customer satisfaction, but it has not yet accumulated enough data to produce a metric that shows a trend over time. One big challenge of “customer service” is that some initiatives have an effect at limited points — clean and well-maintained washrooms may be appreciated by those who use them, but they don’t make any difference to overall service for most riders. Pervasive changes — more frequent and regularly spaced buses, improved station cleaning and escalator/elevator maintenance — require changes in how the system thinks about its operation as a whole, not in discrete chunks that are easily targeted.
Operator wages drive an increase in costs:
Operator Wage Rates: $2 million increase. An arbitration decision earlier this year related to the collective agreement provision that TTC Operators will receive 5¢ more on an hourly basis than the highest paid property in the GTA will increase labour expenses by $2 million.
Although the declaration of the TTC as an “Essential Service” has prevented labour interruptions, the arbitration award described here leaves TTC wages tied to rates GTA-wide.
The first prototype of the new Low Floor Light Rail Vehicle (LFLRV) for the streetcar system is expected to arrive in September 2012 with two more by year-end. Production deliveries will start in September 2013. The Ashbridges Bay Maintenance Facility and its connection track to Queen via Leslie should be available by fall 2014.
Although few details have emerged into public sessions, there appear to be serious problems with construction of the north end of the line. Some info about this is in the CEO’s Report, but there is no indication of whether the completion date for the project is threatened.
Additional Resources to Accommodate Ridership Growth
This report recommends that the Commission request Council’s approval for an increase to the 2012 Operating Budget of $2.1-million to pay for additional service beginning in Fall 2012. Ridership is running well ahead of 2011 actual (500m) and 2012 budget (503m). This is no surprise considering that the budget low-balled ridership, service and workforce needs suiting the agenda of a Commission dominated by Ford’s budget hacking minions. The total for 2012 is expected to be 512-million rides rising to 520m in 2013. Even this seems conservative considering that riding has grown at 3% annually, and an 8m bump is half of that rate.
Council policies require any “in year” changes to budgets to be approved at Council even though an agency like the TTC may “find” revenues to pay for them. This is intended to prevent spending changes that would become part of future base budgets but for which revenue may not be available. Ironically, this policy was implemented for the TTC in an attempt by the Miller-era Council to rein in policy initiatives by former Chair Giambrone.
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