Five TTC enforcement officers have been accused of skipping work and falsifying provincial-offence tickets against homeless people, allegations which have resulted in criminal charges and the loss of their jobs.
According to CBC, the investigation was ongoing for over four months and included in these investigations were the Toronto Police.
TTC CEO Andy Byford: workers whose actions damage the reputation of Canada's largest transit system will not be tolerated.
Herein lies the rub. This is not the first scandal over the past few years regarding the professionalism of the employees at the Toronto Transit Commission. We all remember the toll-operator asleep on the job a couple of years ago, as well as the allegations of serious harassment coming from these employees. Furthermore, we who live in Toronto all have our own horror stories with snarky employees, rude behaviour and, at times, recklessness that is bred within the TTC payroll.
Though we have witnessed the ceremonial severing of those "dumb enough to get caught" for the tax-payers/customers, this organization seems to be in public relations damage-control mode. Or at least it ought to be.
Many will thrash the TTC, and it's unions (and management), for not taking public concern seriously. Some will bring up the point of how much tax revenue from the municipality is dumped into the system. Well, here's where it gets interesting: the TTC actually does make around 75% of its cost back from revenue.
As far as public sector goes, that's not the worst I've ever heard.
However, the average payscale is a bit alarming. According to the TTC's recruitment website, the average starting pay for a driver is $23.59 after completion of training... plus benefits.
There's another, slightly more puzzling, table that is on this very page:
It is acceptable for a driver applicant to have two driving offenses and no more than 3 demerit points on their driver abstract.
We all make mistakes in life, this is a truism. However, for one to operate a mass-transit vehicle and take the lives of Toronto's citizens in their hands each day, I would think that a spotless driving record would have to be a bit of a bona-fide occupational requirement. Especially, considering the pay-scale to starting operators.
I know, we're all a little bit bent out of shape about the TTC's massive wages, huge benefits programs and how they seem to link up with a narrative of self-entitlement that breeds bad behaviour. After all, the now ex-TTC Enforcenment Officers were making between $70,000-$90,000 per year.
Despite the considered "efficiency" of 75% self-sufficiency, I can't help but think that number still seems a bit low to prove the TTC is an effective administrator of services on behalf of the public trust. Off the top of my head, I can't think of too many businesses in the world that would allow that level of compensation while, essentially, coming 25% short of target revenue consistently per annum.
Perhaps it's time to look beyond the dollars and cents. Perhaps its time to look at the culture that this kind of treatment, union-shielding and pay scale has produced.
We may dig deep and find that, like these five who defrauded us all (not to mention the use of the homeless in their scheme), there are only a few bad apples in the bunch. That, maybe, the system has been the victim of bad press, overly-negative word-of-mouth and we, the citizens, just plain not being fair with them.
Or, maybe we see that often talked about culture of entitlement, thriving in an industry that is tax-subsidized, might be sorely lacking in leadership and sound planning going forward.
It is time to strip this thing to the bones; see what lies beneath, to view the culture and makeup of this behemoth public institution. Are the leaders leading? What of employee efficiency? Public and employee safety? What would an independent auditor say about the wages/salaries and cost efficiencies?
We owe it to the TTC: an attempt to explain the increasing accusations of substandard service and questionable actions of employees. And they owe it to us to acknowledge anything that is discovered. From there, I'm sure we can reasonably deduce the next course of action.
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