The TTC board wants to put a kinder, gentler public face on the system’s new team of fare inspectors by dressing them in more “customer friendly” uniforms and testing whether they can do their jobs without batons and handcuffs.

TTC staff was told on Wednesday to design a pilot project on one or two streetcar lines using the new proof-of-payment fare system to test whether those tools are necessary for employees whose job is to ensure customers pay their $3 fare on streetcars.

But TTC chief executive Andy Byford said he is concerned about the safety of officers charged with making riders pay on a system where bus and streetcar drivers regularly face assault and abuse from the public.

“You’ve got to give employees the right tools to do the job. The whole point of fare enforcement is to encourage customers to buy the right fares but also, on occasion, try to enforce that policy,” he said.

Without meaningful fare inspections, Byford said he fears the TTC would lose more revenue to fare evasion. The system estimates it loses about $20 million annually to fare cheaters and fraud.

Byford said agreed with some of the board’s directives, including the change of uniform to make it more distinct from that worn by TTC special constables, who have a broader enforcement role and carry pepper foam in addition to batons and handcuffs.

He also agreed with the decision to search for a third-party agency to provide oversight for how public complaints about fare enforcement are handled and to provide the officers with training to deal with riders who may be mentally ill.

“I really am concerned with any proposal that says we should send fare inspectors out without protective equipment. At the end of the day these people are very professional, they have gone about their job very well,” he said.

TTC statistics show that transit officers have only used their batons on average once a year.

“But there’s always the potential on that job for things to turn nasty,” said Byford.

The TTC has 18 fare inspectors who have been on the job since the summer. But it expects to have a team of 60 by the end of the year. An additional 20 hires have been deferred to 2016. The TTC plans to have a proof of payment fare system on all 11 of its streetcar routes this year.

But Councillor Gord Perks, who brought the issue of “armed” fare inspectors to the TTC board, wasn’t satisfied.

“I don’t think there’s a victory here. The Toronto Transit Commission is going to be sending out armed public servants that don’t have proper oversight and accountability. It’s wrong,” he said.

Police have provincial oversight but there’s nothing similar to that for TTC officers, said Perks.

“If someone gets hit in the head or gets a serious injury I don’t think a human resources officer at the TTC is up to dealing with it,” he said.

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who sits on the TTC board, said the fare enforcement officer should look like authority figures in part to act as a deterrent to cheaters who don’t pay to ride the transit system.

“If you see a fare enforcement officer on a bus or at a subway station on the other side of turnstiles, you’re less likely to try and not pay your fare,” he said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“I’m afraid that if the batons are taken away there will come a time when one of our fare inspectors gets a beating. I don’t want to be responsible for that,” said Minnan-Wong.

At the suggestion of citizen board member Alan Heisey, the TTC is also going to investigate whether fare inspectors could have the authority to issue parking tickets.