At its September 22 meeting, the TTC’s Audit & Risk Management Committee passed a revised motion regarding this report. There are two effects:
- A requirement that management report back to the Committee by the end of 2025 on various issues.
- The report will be considered by the TTC Board at its next meeting (October 6, 2025) including a decision on which parts of the detailed UITP report will be made public.
| Original Recommendations | Revised |
|---|---|
| Receive the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) Peer Review report and direct staff to evaluate the feasibility, cost, timing, and alignment of its recommendations with TTC’s mission and vision. | Receive the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) Peer Review report and thank the participants for their assistance. |
| Direct staff to incorporate the recommendations deemed to be a strong strategic fit into the TTC Asset Management Maturity Roadmap. | Direct management to report back to ARMC by the end of 2025 evaluating the importance, feasibility, cost, timing and alignment of the UITP recommendations with TTC’s mission, vision, and current plans, including the TTC Asset Management Maturity Roadmap. This report should prioritize the recommendations, and propose target dates and resource requirements for implementation of all high priority items that management recommends. |
| Authorize that the information in Attachment 2 remain confidential as it contains information related to the security of the property of the TTC. | Forward this report and confidential attachment to the TTC Board. |
| Release Attachment 2 for public review after consideration by the TTC Board, except chapter 8, subject to approval of the Board, which shall remain confidential as it discusses sensitive details of the TTC’s signalling and control system. |
The agenda for the TTC’s Audit & Risk Management Committee meeting of September 22, 2025 includes a report on the peer review of “Subway and Streetcar assets and maintenance programs” conducted by the International Association of Public Transport (UITP). Only a summary of findings has been published.
The original version of the covering report included two recommendations:
- Receive the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) Peer Review report and direct staff to evaluate the feasibility, cost, timing, and alignment of its recommendations with TTC’s mission and vision.
- Direct staff to incorporate the recommendations deemed to be a strong strategic fit into the TTC Asset Management Maturity Roadmap.
I inquired about the full report and was told that it was confidential. Subsequent to my query, a revised report with a third recommendation was posted.
- Authorize that the information in Attachment 2 remain confidential as it contains information related to the security of the property of the TTC.
Looking at the recommendations, it is possible to believe that there may be some issues re security of TTC property, but a blanket of confidentiality thrown over the whole report is dubious. What security interests are affected by a discussion of slow streetcar operations? Of extended subway shutdowns for maintenance? Of improved internal co-ordination between rail departments? Of fleet planning and management? Of metrics to track and report the achievement of policies and goals? Of future subway technology?
The TTC has a long and unfortunate history of being a “good news” organization, and yet the whole idea of a peer review is to identify ways the organization could be improved. If this process is a state secret, how are we supposed to know what might be amiss? The SRT derailment and subway slow orders revealed just how badly maintenance standards fell on the TTC, and the surface network has suffered visibly from this too.
What is the TTC trying to hide? Whose reputation will be undermined by exposing problems that should be fixed? What budget gaps should be filled to restore the system to industry-level performance?
These are all questions the Audit & Risk Management Committee members (Councillor Dianne Saxe, Commissioners Jagdeo, Kim and Osborne), indeed all members of the TTC Board should be asking.
A key word for the new CEO, Mandeep Lali, is “transparency”. The UITP review is a test of that goal.
Steve Munro 
Did Mayor Olivia Chow get a copy of the report, or does she not need to know? If she does get a copy, maybe she should release it, if she is allowed to.
Steve: Typically the Mayor would only get such reports on request or if they were flagged to her by someone at TTC because it’s an agency report, not a “city” report coming through the usual committee channels. A lot would depend on who, if anyone, is minding transit policy issues among her staff. One reason for my publicizing the situation is to broaden the awareness of the issue. What various pols do after that is beyond my control.
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You would expect that even a report with a section on physical security could easily have that section redacted and leave the rest of the report to be published. It’s not that difficult with modern PDF tools to either delete or clear pages, or black out a handful of sensitive parts of the text.
Surely someone at the TTC has the training to do this, or they could ask UITP to provide a non-sensitive version of the report. Unless this thing is hundreds of pages long, it makes no sense.
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Thanks Steve. Hold us public servants and public services accountable! Transparency is key.
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There is clearly something rotten and the TTC is clearly trying to keep it from becoming public. The fact that the third recommendation was added after your inquiry shows they are hiding something.
It absolutely disgraceful that a public agency such as the TTC thinks it’s not beholden to the public or City Hall.
Steve, please continue your amazing in-depth coverage and deep analysis of the TTC. You are probably the only one can hold the feet of the TTC to fire. There are times where I think your analytical reports are something the TTC itself isn’t able to do, does not have the know-how and or the personnel who know how to and comprehend the analytical reports.
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Could it be released if a Freedom of Information request were to be filed at Toronto city council?
Steve: I may go the FOIA request route myself, but hope that someone on the Board will come to their senses and demand a version with only the truly sensitive parts redacted.
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Maybe a “Radio Free Toronto” or a “Radio Free Ontario” (or even a “Radio Free America” for those to the south of us) should set up shop in the “Republic of Rathnelly”.
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Steve, its time for you to step in and stop this madness.
Steve: I am not in a position to “step in” but to raise awareness of what is going on and encourage those in a position to act.
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