rfmcdonald | [URBAN NOTE] "TTC boss Andy Byford revels in the chaos" (Reply)

Toronto Star columnist Royson James profiles the highly public TTC boss Andy Byford.

TTC boss Andy Byford frequently walks by the wall at transit headquarters that bears the photos of his predecessors. Below the pictures of Michael Warren, Alf Savage, Al Leach, David Gunn, Rick Ducharme and Gary Webster the caption shows the years of service at the country’s largest transit system. Six years is about the extent of the average bosses’ shelf life.

“It’s uncanny how many of them last about five years,” says Byford. “If you are worried about your job, you are approaching the danger zone at the five year mark.”

Byford, the Brit who arrived after stints with the London Underground, British Rail and the Sydney transit in Australia, became the TTC’s top dog in March 2012. And as he hears the clock ticking he’s using it as a catalyst to improve a system that was, in many respects, in decline from years of under-funding and neglect.
In a job that requires a public face, Byford’s is as public as it gets.

When the trains don’t run, he’s seen among the throngs explaining why they have to be bundled onto buses. If the 60-year-old subway signals fail, he’s huddled with journalists giving updates. If Bombardier screws up the streetcar order, it is Byford who must embody the frustration. And when the Spadina subway extension falls behind schedule and over budget, he falls on the sword.

Toronto’s had public transit defenders, hands-on nuts-and-bolts leaders like Gunn and quiet and steely firebrands like Ducharme who was not afraid to stare down their political masters. The last boss, Webster, got fired for telling Rob Ford that it didn’t make sense to put a subway in every transit route. But none of them have embraced the job in such a public, utterly enthusiastic and totally all-consuming fashion.