It was one of Andy Byford’s favourite jobs when he was working his way up the ranks of the London Underground at King’s Cross Station. Now the TTC CEO wants to introduce a similar job category, called group station manager, to Toronto’s transit system.

The idea is to make one person accountable for the TTC’s performance at a group of stations, overseeing every aspect of those facilities — from fare collection and staffing to cleaning and escalators.

There will be six to eight group station managers in the system, helping the TTC meet its goal of delivering better customer service.

The new managers won’t necessarily have transit experience. People with airline or retail experience might qualify. However, Byford said, “They need to excel at customer service and they need to be excellent people managers.”

It’s part of a new-look TTC that is in the process of changing everything, including its staff uniforms — Byford favours dark blue but the colour hasn’t been decided — in a five-year plan to transform the TTC’s culture and modernize the business, Byford told the Toronto Star editorial board Tuesday.

When he arrived in Toronto about a year ago, Byford said the TTC was apologizing for everything, “even though a lot of it wasn’t our fault.”

While he’s no longer willing to apologize for events beyond the TTC’s control, Byford said there will be more accountability for the items that are the system’s responsibility.

Byford said he wants to see “local managers solving local problems — not somehow getting lost in this massive TTC bureaucracy.”

The TTC’s 14 existing station managers will be absorbed into the new station management structure.

The new group managers will liaise with the local community, including city councillors and businesses. Their photo and contact information will be posted in the system for riders to see.

Collectors, who sit in booths, will also play a role in the new station structure.

“In a post-Presto environment there will be no need for tokens, there will be no need for booths. Collectors will progressively be transformed into station supervisors,” said Byford. They would be available to roam the station addressing problems and assisting riders.

The recruitment process for the group station managers has just begun. It’s likely to be about six months before they’re in place. He promised the jobs will come within the existing payroll costs.

The TTC has found about $50 million in operating savings over the past 18 months, according to its CEO. But Byford admitted that money will continue to be tight in North America’s least-subsidized transit system.

To save a little more, he is holding off on hiring a chief of staff to help manage the internal and governmental politics at the TTC, although Byford still believes the position is necessary.

Meantime, he said, it’s time the province and city started debating whether to move up the timeline of a new downtown “relief” line to relieve a pending capacity crisis at Yonge-Bloor station and on the Yonge subway.

It would take eight to 10 years to build another downtown subway if the project were ready to begin now.

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“You’ve got to do your environmental assessments, you’ve got to work out alignments,” said Byford. “The elephant in the room is: How are you going to pay for it?” And on that point, he’s agnostic.

“That’s not my mandate. The politicians will discuss, debate and agree on where funding should come from. What I am clear on, as a transit professional, is we do need to have additional capacity.”