{"id":8975,"date":"2010-01-25T10:00:28","date_gmt":"2010-01-25T15:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=8975"},"modified":"2013-01-21T13:11:57","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T18:11:57","slug":"john-lorinc-you-snooze-you-lose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/01\/25\/john-lorinc-you-snooze-you-lose\/","title":{"rendered":"JOHN LORINC: You snooze, you lose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2217\/1720474302_8462c520ff.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/images\/feature-graphics\/feature-lorinc.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"85\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For the TTC, it\u2019s been a perfect storm. In under a month, we\u2019ve seen the fare hike, Richard Soberman\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www3.ttc.ca\/About_the_TTC\/Commission_reports_and_information\/Commission_meetings\/2010\/Jan_20_2010\/Reports\/Transit_City_Impleme.pdf\">post mortem<\/a>, Rocco Rossi\u2019s call for a <a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/01\/21\/john-lorinc-rossi-cold-to-transit-city-bike-lanes\/\">Transit City moratorium<\/a>, The <a href=\"http:\/\/torontoist.com\/2010\/01\/snap_of_napping_ttc_collector_causes_kerfuffle.php\">Napping Photo<\/a>, and yesterday\u2019s  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cp24.com\/servlet\/an\/local\/CTVNews\/20100124\/100124_stclair\/20100124\/?hub=CP24Home\">terrible accident<\/a> involving a driver whose car was t-boned as it tried to make an illegal left across the St. Clair right-of-way.<\/p>\n<p>To regular riders, of course, The Photo is merely a variation on the theme \u2013 in league with the guys on the phone, the guys obsessively re-counting the coin, the guys yakking with off-duty colleagues, etc.<\/p>\n<p>More remarkable was Amalgamated Transit Union president Bob Kinnear\u2019s admission, in Saturday\u2019s Globe and Mail, that three-quarters of the collectors are \u201cdown there for medical reasons.\u201d\u00a0Since when did fare collection become the TTC\u2019s de facto worker\u2019s comp strategy? One would think that someone in Kinnear\u2019s position would know enough to keep that nugget under lock and key.<\/p>\n<p>TTC chair Adam Giambrone has ordered up a customer service review, led by outside private sector advisors. But isn\u2019t this a case of slamming the barn door after the horse has bolted? It would have been much better if he\u2019d made that move after he took over as chair in 2006, rather than waiting until the eve of the mayoral race. And he was certainly <a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/06\/06\/collecting-flack\/\">aware of the issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When I spoke to George Smitherman yesterday, he said such \u201chorror stories\u201d are \u201ca symptom of a bigger problem,\u201d which, in his view, is the need for tougher oversight and \u201cexecutive leadership.\u201d \u201cThe mayor must answer to the people of Toronto for the TTC\u2019s performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>He said the TTC needs a \u201cskills-based board\u201d that includes representatives of the riding public, and vowed to replace the councillors on the commission.<\/p>\n<p>As for Transit City, however, Smitherman dismissed as \u201cterribly amateurish\u201d Rossi\u2019s call to put future construction on hold pending a financial review. \u201cThese are projects that have been studied to death and are ready to go,\u201d said Smitherman, who characterized Soberman\u2019s criticisms \u2013 cost overruns, needless delays and problems with the contracting process \u2013 as an indictment of the city\u2019s current leadership. The conclusions, he added, \u201creinforce the lessons that need to be applied going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In terms of the customer service review, what will be interesting to see if whether the panel comes up with the right solution or a merely cosmetic one. Recommendations for better customer service training for fare collectors (\u201cMemo to all staff: no naps\u201d) will miss the mark. This isn\u2019t about a wake-up call.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s needed is for the commission to automate fare collection at all points of contact with riders, as most other transit agencies have done long ago. That Toronto still doesn\u2019t an Oyster card is astonishing, given the volume of riders. Smitherman accuses the TTC of blocking efforts to bring in smart card technology.<\/p>\n<p>In a line that garnered a lot of applause at his speech to the Empire Club on Thursday, Rossi said, \u201cWe have the world\u2019s best 1970s public transit system, but it\u2019s 2010.\u201d Smitherman largely agrees with the sentiment.<\/p>\n<p>While they sharply differ on the future of Transit City, their emerging critique of the TTC\u2019s culture will resonate with Torontonians who rely on the system and can see for themselves that it\u2019s an organization that\u2019s been caught snoozing on the job.<\/p>\n<p><em>photo by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/arcticlamb\/1720474302\/\">David Michael Lamb<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the TTC, it\u2019s been a perfect storm. In under a month, we\u2019ve seen the fare hike, Richard Soberman\u2019s post mortem, Rocco Rossi\u2019s call for a Transit City moratorium, The Napping Photo, and yesterday\u2019s terrible accident involving a driver whose car was t-boned as it tried to make an illegal left across the St. Clair<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/01\/25\/john-lorinc-you-snooze-you-lose\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;JOHN LORINC: You snooze, you lose&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[94,629,2473,2349,976,4498,14143,427,14136,6245,313,1030,426,475,14144,993,10726,14145,19,362],"class_list":["post-8975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-transit","tag-2010-election","tag-adam-giambrone","tag-amalgamated-transit-union","tag-bob-kinnear","tag-chair","tag-david-michael-lamb","tag-de-facto-worker","tag-driver","tag-empire-club","tag-george-smitherman","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-john-lorinc","tag-mayor","tag-president","tag-private-sector-advisors","tag-richard-soberman","tag-rocco-rossi","tag-smart-card-technology","tag-toronto","tag-ttc-chair"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>JOHN LORINC: You snooze, you lose - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/01\/25\/john-lorinc-you-snooze-you-lose\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"JOHN LORINC: You snooze, you lose - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the TTC, it\u2019s been a perfect storm. 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