The TTC is set to unveil a customer charter Thursday that will outline the public transit agency’s commitment to reliable service, cleanliness, safety and upgrades across the system.
TTC chair Karen Stintz, CEO Andy Byford and chief customer officer Chris Upfold are unveiling the agency’s inaugural charter at a news conference at Bloor-Yonge Station.
Byford explained the charter’s commitments in a column in Thursday’s Toronto Star, saying customers can use the pledges as a way to hold the TTC accountable.
“It commits the TTC to delivering a reliable and punctual service; clearer and more transparent information when there are delays; continued accessibility upgrades across the network; and a cleaner, safer, more secure transit system,” Byford wrote. “The charter states that by the second quarter of this year we will have begun an all-out assault on cleanliness in subway stations — power washing walls, improving lighting and signage, and polishing the floors to a gleam.”
As part of the charter, the TTC is planning to post the performance results of each bus and streetcar route on its website, so people can find out whether the service is as reliable as it should be.
Byford, who is now in his second year as head of the TTC, has called for a five-year modernization of the agency to foster a “culture transformation of its people, processes and equipment.”
By challenging mediocrity, the goal is to help the TTC regain its “once well-deserved reputation for efficiency,” as the agency faces capacity and financial constraints, Byford wrote.
Byford admitted that the TTC has some significant work to do to achieve its goals.
In his op-ed piece in the newspaper, he was critical of the way the organization responds to unplanned subway disruptions, describing its management of such situations as poor.
He said the TTC needs to provide more assistance and information to riders in cases where service is disrupted and customers are forced to wait or cram into shuttle buses.
“During an emergency where there is no subway service on part of a line, the entire response we provide requires a fundamental overhaul,” Byford wrote. “This includes clearer information at station locations where crowds build, better control of those crowds with more on-scene staff to guide, direct and answer questions about things like shuttle buses, and where feasible, providing more precise estimates about when service will resume so people can make immediate decisions about their travel.”
