In a submission to the City, the board of trade argued that taxpayers would have saved $71 million in 2008 if the TTC had maintained its 2003 productivity level in the years that followed.

While the system expanded by just 6 kilometres between 2002 and 2008, its workforce grew by 12 per cent, according to the board.

However, the TTC’s chief general manager, Gary Webster defends the transit system as both efficient and productive in a letter to Wilding.

The TTC has the lowest per-rider subsidy among comparable North American transit systems, Webster says. And its operating and administrative costs are among the lowest in the world, according to Nova, a transit benchmarking group that compares systems as far afield as Asia, Europe and Australia.

Hours of service — not number of kilometers — are a more appropriate measure, Webster wrote in his letter to Wilding last Friday, March 6.

“One subway train that can carry 1,100 passengers requires only two employees to operate, as compared to about 22 buses which require 22 operators to carry the same volume,” he said.

Between 2002 and 2008, “Hours of service grew by 12.7 per cent while our operating workforce grew by 11.7 per cent — a clear indication of improved productivity.”

The TTC received only 68 cents in government subsidy per ride in 2008, compared with with $2.65 in Vancouver, $4.37 in York Region, $1.84 in New York and $5.14 in Atlanta, wrote Webster.

From the Transit Toronto Newspaper Article Clippings Archives, read:

• Toronto Star article, “Audit TTC, board of trade urges”, here.
• Globe and Mail article, “Auditor should probe TTC, says trade board”, here.
• Toronto Star article, “TTC brass fires back at board of trade”, here.