The city’s clouded transit vision has become even murkier in the wake of the politically motivated firing Tuesday of TTC chief general manager Gary Webster.

It came the same day the premier signaled his growing impatience with the mayor’s machinations around transit.

Webster, whose dismissal was engineered behind closed doors by Mayor Rob Ford’s loyalists on the Toronto Transit Commission, will be replaced in the short term by Andy Byford, who came here from Australia as TTC chief operating officer only three months ago.

Asked if Webster’s immediate departure will stall city council’s plan to build above-ground light rail, Byford admitted he didn’t know.

“Clearly that needs to be addressed over the next few days. There’s a lot of things for me to think about. My first priority, though, will be performance, customer service and safety. I want to make sure we’re getting the basics right before we open up any other debates,” he said.

Earlier this month, Ford suffered a bruising defeat when council approved an alternative above-ground transit expansion plan for the $8.4 billion that the province has pledged to the city. It defers a recommendation on the kind of transit the city builds on Sheppard to an outside expert panel.

Byford was hired as a possible successor to Webster, who has worked at the TTC for about 37 years and earned more than $282,000 annually in 2010. Webster will remain on the TTC payroll until after his contract expires in July 2013.

The commission exercised a provision in Webster’s contract that allows for his termination without just cause, said TTC chair Karen Stintz. But the terms of his severance will remain confidential, she said.

Although the TTC wants to hire a new chief general manager as soon as possible, the last search took a year and a half, she said.

Behind closed doors, the commissioners who engineered Webster’s firing had planned to immediately name Byford to the top job but were surprised to learn that it wasn’t possible under the conditions of his work visa.

Although the five Ford loyalists sought legal advice from the firm Norton Rose, the cost of that advice is not known, said a Star source.

In a statement to the media, Ford said he supported Webster’s departure based on what he has been told by transit commissioners, city councillors and the public.

“The general public — and subway, streetcar and bus passengers — all tell me it’s time for a change,” said Ford.

“The time is right for a new leader to take the reins at TTC,” he said in the statement.

How Byford will steer clear of politics remains an open question in light of Webster’s firing, a decision one councillor on the transit board called a victory for “toadyism.”

Councillor Maria Augimeri urged the five transit commissioners who called Tuesday’s meeting to change their minds and keep Webster in the top job.

“What message are you sending to the rest of our employees, that professionalism gets kicked out the door and toadyism wins? … This man is a consummate professional. You can rely on him to give you the truth. You can rely on him not to hide reports,” she said, in a pointed reference to a report revealed by the Star last week that Ford hid from the public because it didn’t support his plan to extend the Sheppard subway.

“Today is a clear demonstration of an abuse of power,” said an emotional Augimeri.

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Webster, who didn’t return to the room for the public vote that signaled his dismissal, said it wasn’t how he expected to leave the job “or certainly how I wanted it to end.”

“But clearly the choice has been made to replace me as chief general manager, and I accept that,” he told reporters after the meeting. However, he said, the buses and trains will roll as usual on Wednesday.

“Tomorrow morning, service is going to be out on the street. It’s going to be good. Under Andy’s leadership it’s going to be better. I’m just proud I’ve had this opportunity.”

Although the discussion of Webster’s termination took place in camera, the vote to terminate his leadership was conducted in public in a motion carried by five of the nine transit commissioners, including Frank DiGiorgio, Vince Crisanti, Cesar Palacio, Denzil Minnan-Wong and Norm Kelly.

TTC chair Karen Stintz, vice-chair Peter Milczyn, Augimeri and Councillor John Parker voted against firing Webster.

Among the five Ford loyalists, Di Giorgio praised Webster. But, amid jeers from the public, he said: “Excellence in bureaucracy isn’t defined like excellence in private enterprise … . Excellence in a bureaucracy … is the ability to put forth the positions that are consistent with those adopted by the mayor,” he said.

Stintz had earlier suggested that Webster’s departure would inject instability into the system at a time when the TTC can least afford it.

She insisted she would be staying on to shepherd customer-service initiatives that include new performance indicators intended to transform the TTC’s culture.

Expressing exasperation with Ford’s maneuvering on the TTC, Premier Dalton McGuinty warned Tuesday that “the time for talk is coming close to an end.”

“There was a Plan A under mayor (David) Miller and then there was a Plan B under Mayor Ford and now we’ve been asked to consider a Plan C,” he said, referring to the revival of LRT plans instead of Ford’s subway scheme.

“So I can say that we’re running out of patience,” McGuinty added. “The people of Toronto are running out of patience.”

With files from Paul Moloney, Robert Benzie and Robyn Doolittle

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