Since school started, I’ve been tremendously swamped with work. I haven’t been busier, but my classes and involvement in school have never been more, well, involving and fun. Grades have sadly taken a dip, however.

One morning a few weeks ago, I hopped onto the feeder bus near my house to go to school. The bus went on its way once I got on, but 2 stops later, the driver stopped next to a small neighbourhood mall, stopped the bus engine, and sat reading a newspaper for a good 15 minutes. The driver only gingerly started the engine and continued driving us on our route when an annoyed woman told him off because she was going to be late due to his tardiness. In this way, what should’ve been a mere 10-minute bus ride took nearly half an hour. Ironically, this was the first day the 15 cent hike was implemented - which left me wondering, “Is this what I’m paying for?”

Upset by this incident, I started noticing ways in which the Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) policies are currently lacking, and must be dealt with if TTC management has any serious intent on improving its service and bettering its relationship with its commuters. The humble recommendations of a 3rd-year commerce student follow:

1. Improving Employee Safety:
Forget about installing protective plastic barriers. A year has passed since the 2006 wildcat strike, and employee safety remains a top employee concern. Putting a movable plastic barrier up to protect TTC employees is not only ridiculous, it is also a stupidly shortsighted stopgap measure. Instead, why doesn’t TTC management try to give commuters less reason to be frustrated at TTC employees?

Even absolute numbskulls (for lack of a better word) often need some sort of provocation to be set off and become violent. The numerous inconsistencies in TTC service quality - the frequent delays and breakdowns, the poorly maintained stations, the list goes on - give these potentially violent commuters ample excuses to unfairly vent their frustrations on poor TTC employees. Instead of posturing and making a misguided attempt at a lame preventive measure, the TTC has to look at the harsh truth that is the source of the problem: customer dissatisfaction, the direct result of a poor product.

TTC employees are, for the most part, extremely polite and courteous men and women. In my experience - I take the TTC nearly every day - they are generally helpful and patient with commuters, and smile a lot. It is therefore very, very unfortunate that the shortsightedness of management - translating to angry and dissatisfied customers - has in turn led to ground-level employees’ suffering.

2. Better Employee Management
The same article states: “Another unresolved item is the lack of a job description for drivers. Vehicle operator duties have never been formally defined, though the two sides agreed more than five years ago to do so.” Therefore, there is a lack of proper internal control procedures in place to govern TTC employees’ performance of their duties - which to begin with, aren’t clearly defined.

What does this translate to? Non-value added activities, downtime and most annoying of all, irregular service and frequent delays, which tick commuters off, leading us back to our first point about employee safety. Commuters are generally pretty understanding if TTC vehicles are slightly late, but the pervasive irregularity of the bus and streetcar services almost makes the transit schedules at TTC stops a farce.

Measures must be put in place to clearly define employee responsibilities, and to ensure that incompatible responsibilities do not lie within a single role. Objective methods to monitoring performance must also be implemented to ensure that personnel follow their roles satisfactorily. The inability to clearly define employee responsibilities, particularly in a company that so strongly depends on its personnel, creates ample opportunity for non-constructive employee behaviour and is a surefire recipe for disaster.

3. Long-Term Cost Savings
To cut a very long story short, the TTC needs more money. It suffered a net operating loss of $319.7 million in 2006 (even worse than 2005’s $260 million figure), and is only staying afloat due to huge operating subsidies.

What then is the TTC’s solution to improving operational cashflows? Yet another stopgap solution: hiking up transit fares by another 15 cents. Is the TTC losing money because it isn’t getting enough revenues from its commuters? No - the TTC is losing money because of its own lack of foresight, and commuters have been made to bear the brunt of the TTC’s rising costs.

In what ways can the TTC most easily improve, instead of making commuters pay more? For one, by investing in better internal control procedures, particularly employee safety measures. How does spending more money translate to cost savings, you may ask? Accident claims cost the TTC $21.5 million in 2006 - a figure which rose by more than $5 million, a significant 34% increase from 2005’s figure of $16 million. By making smart, longsighted investments into safety measures, the TTC can safeguard its employees, while simultaneously saving it millions of dollars in accident claims in the future. Instead, it hikes up its rates.

A second way in which the TTC can improve its cashflow is to make another long-sighted, future-oriented investment: invest in future contracts to hedge its fuel costs. Basically, this means entering pre-agreed purchase agreements in advance in order to safeguard the TTC from being at the mercy of volative fuel prices. To illustrate my point, let’s just look at its income statement: vehicle fuel expenses rose by more than 50% from $36 million in 2005 to $54 million in 2006. Did the TTC expand its routes or its fleet by 50% in 2006? No, but why then did fuel expenses skyrocket? A pure lack of foresight.

Due to its reliance on fuel, the TTC must find better ways of securing this key resource for its vehicles. A quick look at its financial statements reveals no evidence of any attempt to hedge against fuel price risk. Knowing that their operations rely so much on fuel, and that fuel prices are indeed extremely volatile, the TTC cannot continue to ignore hedging contracts as a means of protecting their future cashflows. Instead of exploring such long-term cost-savings options, the TTC merely continues to raise commuter transit fees higher. And higher.

In summary, I believe that the TTC has been too focused on short-term, stopgap solutions to its employee welfare, personnel management and operational cost problems. Worsening working conditions, inconsistent service, customer dissatisfaction and threats to employee safety form a vicious cycle that has resulted from this lack of foresight, which ultimately causes low-level TTC staff and commuters to suffer the most. By even considering my recommendations, I believe that the TTC can at least make an educated step towards improving their operational efficiency, their employee welfare and the strained relationship with their commuters.

Your friend,

Joel Ong