Do you feel the
TTC manages its money reasonably well? How people answer this
question makes a difference, especially now that the commission is
considering fare hikes and cuts to bus service.
Transit
employees and riders regularly send me observations of
inefficiencies and cost-saving suggestions that range from a few
hundred thousand dollars to millions.
It’s a long
list, and still might not yield enough savings to cover proposed
cuts to the TTC -- one estimate claims a hundred million dollars
must be chopped in 2008. Yet there is an impression that enough
money can be found lying around to at least forestall bus route
cancellations.
Both the TTC
and the city of Toronto have not effectively responded to criticism
of wasteful spending. For example, too few people are aware that the
TTC has an extensive team of internal auditors -- and how closely
Toronto’s auditor general Jeffrey Griffiths works with his TTC
counterpart, Dick Beecroft.
This week I
had a chance to discuss cost control with both of them and became
convinced that many of the large and small-ticket items are indeed
being scrutinized and evaluated, and that there are valid -- if
sometimes unexpected -- reasons why apparent waste can in fact be
justified. Often, it’s because the alternative would cost a lot
more.
But riders,
taxpayers or transit employees do not have easy access to answers
about cost questions. Politicians or journalists claiming, “There is
no more fat to cut” is not enough, nor are big, complicated reports.
Show people that credible audits are being done. Publicize a list of
common complaints about waste. If not, too much discussion will
focus on relatively small expenditures and we will ignore the larger
political questions about how to properly fund an overcrowded
transit system.