Among TTC workers, membership in the province's so-called $100,000 Club jumped by 200 people in 2008. Transit officials say that number will continue to grow as the system expands.

Some 588 TTC staff earned $100,000 or more last year, qualifying them for the province's annual salary disclosure list.

That number includes 62 drivers and 21 station collectors, the people who staff subway fare booths. One driver, Hing Lee – about whom the TTC released no details – was paid $117,922.

Operators and collectors who earn that much do so by working copious amounts of overtime, said TTC spokesperson Brad Ross. Without the overtime, those jobs pay only about $60,000 annually.

The TTC, like many transit systems, budgets for overtime – about $21 million on $934 million in salary and benefits this year.

"We anticipate overtime. Individuals who choose to work overtime do so because they wish to. It saves the system money to pay and budget for overtime (rather than) hire additional bodies and pay those benefits. You wouldn't see those names on this list, necessarily, but it would cost the system more money at the end of the day," said Ross.

Some of the overtime is the result of boosting service. Last year, the TTC put more buses on the road to cope with increasing ridership, and it recently extended the hours of bus operations to match the subway.

This year, the TTC will hire about 950 drivers. Most of those will be replacing retirees, but the number includes 373 new operators, cleaners and other maintenance workers. Also, 175 workers will be hired for a streetcar overhaul and Transit City projects.

"We always have to budget for overtime. There are illnesses, there are unforeseen circumstances where we need to pay overtime, and it really has nothing to do with hiring. ...

"The option is to hire far more people than you actually need at the end of the day, and (that would) cost the system much more money," Ross said.

TTC chair Adam Giambrone said the use of overtime is "a common technique used on any transit property." Growth in overtime hasn't exceeded the growth in wages in recent years, but overall it does grow along with wages and as the system operates more buses, he said.

The going rate for transportation engineers and designers is in the $100,000-and-up range, he added.

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If the so-called "sunshine list," created in 1996, were indexed to 2008 dollars, the equivalent earnings today would be about $130,000.

"That would eliminate every collector and operator," Giambrone said. "If that $100,000 threshold was adjusted, we'd be looking at approximately 60 people on that list today."