It was after hours of debate in February of 2012 that the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the third largest public transit system in North America, voted to fire general manager Gary Webster, who had joined TTC in 1975. He had been appointed general manager in 2006, leading the agency through a time of turmoil, including a wave of customer complaints and heated debate over how TTC should expand, whether underground or light rail.
By the numbers TTC
Passengers by Mode
Bus 240,582,571
Subway 229,617,058
Streetcar 64,020,105
Scarborough RT Trains 3,375,067
Appointed to the interim role of leading TTC was Andy Byford, who had just joined the agency three months earlier. “With no notice, my learning curve went absolutely through the roof,” he said.
Three months later, he was confirmed into the role of chief executive officer.
Byforod said at the time there was a difficult relationship with the city councilors and with stakeholders. While a lot of it he felt was unfair criticism, some of it was warranted.
“It bugs a few people when I say it, but it’s true, I felt there were pockets of management style at this company when I started that were Neanderthal,” said Byford. “The way the managers spoke to staff, it’s no wonder they weren’t particularly motivated so you have to break that cycle.”
The first priority was to stabilize the organization given that it had gone through a dramatic shift having its 37-year boss removed and second was to develop and deliver a new vision for the organization.
He said they made fundamental changes to the management team and changed the management philosophy. They promoted quality people from within and brought in additional talent, including Richard Leary as chief service officer, Joan Taylor as chief of staff, and Mike Palmer as deputy chief operating officer.
Change can be challenging and while employees were initially skeptical of the new approach, they did 83 employee town halls across the property at varying times, day and night, to launch the plan and gave employees the opportunity to ask questions. “You just can’t impose change,” said Byford. “You’ve got to bring the staff with you.”
In 2013 they launched a corporate plan which describes how they are modernizing the TTC from top to bottom in five years. It’s anchored around 7 strategic objectives and includes 5 mega projects: new streetcars, Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE), resignalling of the Yonge-University-Spadina (YUS) subway line, the Presto card and improving customer service.
Building the TYSSE
By the numbers TYSSE
5.3 mile extension
$3.18 billion estimated cost
6 stations
The Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE) project is a 5.3 mile extension of the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line, bringing the line into the municipality of York. The TYSSE initially was to open in 2015 but is now scheduled to open in 2017.
The estimated cost of the project is $3.18 billion. The government of Canada has committed $697 million, the province of Ontario has provided $974 million, and the city of Toronto and the regional municipality of York have committed to fund one-third of the total project costs; Toronto will contribute $907 million and York region will contribute $606 million.
The project has proved to be a challenge, Byford stated, and with the extended timeline is also an increase in cost. He cited delays at the start, problems initially with getting the funding. There was deliberation with station designs, eventually going to a more grand design, harsh winters, some issues with contractor performance and a fatality at one of the stations which shut work down for six months. He said they made some mistakes, but he’s confident they’ll meet the 2017 date.
“We took a decision that was pretty radical,” Byford said. “We brought in a third part to help us finish the job off.” TTC brought on Bechtel in April 2015 and Keith Sibley with Bechtel is the project director.
When Bechtel came onboard, Sibley said they did a project reset; they re-base-lined the schedule to make sure they had a schedule that all of the contractors were committed to deliver to and could deliver to.
Sibley said it’s been a challenging project as it’s a deep subway -- around 65 to 80 feet down. The six stations are deep box stations, being built in the cut and cover technique. Each of the stations has a ground-level entrance building, a main concourse another level down, and then a deep level down for the platform. “They are complex structures with the civil engineering required to build these,” he said.
The stations have iconic designs with atrium spaces and light windows and the project also involves four new power substations, the signaling and communication systems, purchasing new rolling stock and there are intermodal connections. Three stations have commuter parking lots, one has a direct connection to Go Transit and one has a direct connection to a bus rapid transit line.
Working on a large project with multiple stakeholders, Sibley said understanding that a collaborative approach is far more productive, as everyone has their own interests. “They all have to be dealt with openly and fairly to get everyone aligned and pushing in the same direction.”
A key element in these types of projects, said Sibley, is recognizing the need to collaborate more with the contractors, as they are the hands actually delivering the work. He stressed, “The best thing you can do managing a project is to work hard to stay out of your contractor’s way. Get the answers they need, approve the submittals that come in, get the permits you’re responsible for … those kinds of things.”
Currently, the six stations are substantially completed structurally and work continues on all of the building systems and architectural finishes. They recently finished laying tracks in the twin tunnels and also a pocket track for storing trains, and are now working on the rail systems.
Once complete, trains will run every four to five minutes and as more people use the subway, trains will be added and frequency increased.
TTC’s next-generation subway trains, known as the Toronto Rocket, are being supplied by Bombardier Transportation. The 70 six-car trainsets offer a variety of new features, including open gangways to allow riders to walk from one of the train to the other, increased capacity by 8 percent.
Marc-André Lefebvre, head of communications and public relations – Canada, for Bombardier Transportation said the Toronto Rocket was specifically designed for Toronto. He said there are new elements in terms of heating, air conditioning and regenerative braking, which added efficiencies to the vehicles.
To improve capacity and reliability on the Yonge-University-Spadina (YUS) subway line, TTC is resignalling Line 1, expected to be completed by 2020. The signaling is 60 years old between Union Station and Eglinton Station, which is the original Line 1.
While they could have replaced the fixed-block signaling, they’re instituting a state-of-the art signaling system in phases from next year.
There were a number of contracts that had evolved but Byford said they thought they should reduce the risk by making it from one primary supplier, which is Alstom. He said that system is in service in Mexico City and in Panama, among other places, and it’s a proven product and Alstom has a good reputation on delivery.
The designed headway will be 90 seconds and they will be able to run about 33 trains per hour, compared to about 25 currently.
Presto
TTC is in the process of rolling out its smart card, the Presto card. They moved forward the implementation date from 2017 to the end of 2016. All of the streetcars are fitted with readers, as well as half the stations. The remainder of the stations and the buses have yet to be completed by the end of the year.
Presto can be used on Go Transit, Union Pearson Express, OC Transpo in Ottawa and eight Greater Toronto Area (GTA) transit agencies. Read more about it at MassTransitmag.com/12157200.
Low-Floor Streetcars
New streetcars for TTC are based on Bombardier’s Flexity trams, which combine low-floor technology with conventional wheel-set bogies. The new streetcars hold up to 251 passengers, which is almost double the current capacity.
“It has proved difficult because Bombardier is horrendously late with the deliveries,” Byford said. “We’ve currently got 17 of the 240 streetcars in service. The ones that are in service are fabulous; the customers absolutely love them.”
Lefebvre said there were some design challenges, in that they run on a unique gauge, accessibility features of the vehicle in terms of designing access ramps and an engineering challenge to make sure the bogies created the lowest noise and vibration levels.
He said there were also some manufacturing issues along the way with supply lines and stated, “Building high-quality cars is something that is an absolute for us. We’re not one to deliver a product that didn’t meet our quality standards so we had to reduce the cadence of delivery to our customer.
“This is not something that we have taken lightly,” he stressed. “Our priority was to do our utmost at all times to deliver cars most rapidly but never at the sake of quality and that is something we’ve never wavered on.”
He said they’ve resolved issues along the supply line and have brought on a second Canadian manufacturing plant to provide subassembly components to the sister site in Thunder Bay for final assembly. They will also be adding an additional assembly line and eventually, will be seeing cars coming out of the two manufacturing plants to ensure they increase production to deliver all 204 streetcars by the end of 2019.
To accommodate the new fleet, TTC has built a state-of-the-art streetcar bar on Leslie Street. The $500 million car house was designed by Strasman Architects Inc. and Aecom as the prime consultant for architecture and engineering services. The facility features a storm water management pond and enhanced streetscaping. TTC also had to upgrade the overhead wire and make adjustments to platform islands to accommodate the longer vehicles.
To the Future and Beyond
There is a lot going at TTC with the five megaprojects but, Byford said, “You can do all of that, but it counts for nothing if the customers aren’t delighted by the service.”
Byford said while there are still too many delays, they are headed in the right direction. “For what we’re given, with ancient equipment, 60-year-old signals, 30-year-old streetcars, I think our staff, our TTC employees, are absolute miracle workers.”
He said there is a buzz at TTC because there’s so much going on and they’re making so much progress. While not everything is perfect, “We’re on the sprint to the finish.”
In the next year, Presto will be in place, the TYSSE will open, they will have automatic train control and a brand new signal system along about a third of Line 1, and there will be more streetcars coming in.
“In the face of, I have to say, relentless criticism … there’s a relentless optimism.
“There’s horrendous congestion … and absolute universal agreement across politicians, media and customers, that something has to change,” said Byford.
“It’s a golden age for transit in Toronto and we’re playing our part in that.”
