The president of the union representing TTC workers slammed the TTC’s new 12-point plan to improve road safety, saying it places unnecessary blame on bus and streetcar operators.
The plan was presented to the TTC board at Wednesday’s meeting at the North York Civic Centre and includes recommendations for installing dash cameras and GPS devices on transit vehicles.
The report comes after a number of operators were caught on camera running red lights, incidents TTC union head Bob Kinnear blames on the strict schedules he says drivers must follow.
“(TTC operators) are inundated in the work locations, constantly counseled about the importance of on-time performance,” Kinnear said.
“Our employees want to do a job out there, they want to reflect what the employer wants. When you have that continuous inundation of that message it leads to issues like that when an operator is feeling the pressure and the stress of not maintaining schedule.”
TTC CEO Andy Byford said that during a round of town halls last year, he told drivers that they need to put safety before the schedule.
“We are not blaming operators here but what we are saying is we have a responsibility as the management of this company, ultimately I have the responsibility as the CEO. If I know that there are things out there that could make the TTC safer than it is absolutely my responsibility to take that action,” Byford said.
“It is called exercising due diligence.”
Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong also spoke out about Kinnear’s comments Wednesday, saying drivers have no excuse for running red lights.
“Any bus driver who says I have to run a red light to get to the bus station on time, he has got to shake his head and get his priorities straight,” Minnan-Wong said.
The TTC report also comes on the heels of a tragic accident where a 14-year-old girl was struck and killed by a TTC bus in Scarborough.
Amaria Diljohn was struck by a bus as she was crossing the street at the intersection of Neilson Road and Finch Avenue East on Dec. 19. The driver left the scene of the collision but it is not clear if they were aware that someone had been struck. An investigation is ongoing and no charges have been laid.
“The overwhelming majority of journeys are completely without incident and operators cover literally hundreds of millions of miles a year against without incident,” Byford said.
“Having said that, there have been instances where vehicles have been seen to run red lights, there have been tragic accidents and there have been accidents where we have been found not to be at fault. My view is the public rightly expect the TTC to take the lead on safety.”
