TTC CEO Andy Byford is defending the agency’s stepped-back role as a partner in Toronto transit planning, calling it “a move to the middle ground.”

In a memo to the TTC’s 14,000 staff Thursday, the system’s chief executive, said the TTC’s role has evolved with the aging system and the booming city.

“Some harken back to another era where the subway was just a few decades old and practically ran itself; where our existing fleet of streetcars still had that new streetcar smell,” wrote Byford in a response to a column by Royson James in Thursday’s Toronto Star.

That column suggested that the TTC’s once-proud international reputation has been reduced to “a small fish in a small pond” sidelined by politics and bureaucracy.

“Transit operators used to beat a path to the offices atop Davisville subway station, intent on picking the brains of the TTC brass,” said James.

“Observers at TTC headquarters hang their head in disbelief at how far the venerable institution has fallen,” he wrote, adding that just when the city needs the TTC’s technical expertise most, the role of planning transit has been ceded to the mayor’s office and that of chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat.

Byford’s two-page memo said he believes “James, in his own way, is sticking up for the TTC.”

Since taking the helm of the system four years ago, Byford said he has “moved the TTC from a position of being totally responsible for transit planning to one where we work with the city as partners. Transit planning must be seen in the context of the city’s Official Plan and it needs to be informed by population and employment projections.”

“In the past, the TTC has been accused of being arrogant and judge and jury of transit planning and I, for one, think there was some truth in that,” he wrote.

In his memo, Byford acknowledged the TTC’s challenges in projects like the late and overbudget Spadina subway extension but, “Our project managers, engineers, designers, contractors and support staff can and must hold their heads high on what they’ve accomplished.”

“We’re all painfully aware of Bombardier’s delays in getting these new streetcars to Toronto. But we’re also immensely proud and very aware of the in-house expertise that has gone into the car’s design, making them accessible and ready for what is arguably one of the world’s great streetcar cities,” said Byford, who was out of town Thursday.

Saying that James’ column “stung the TTC,” chair Josh Colle said, “It just doesn’t reflect the amount of work that is being done by front line people, the executive and the board that is really transformational.”

“It speaks to the civic fixation on (TTC) expansion but even on that front the TTC is involved,” he said, citing a meeting with TTC staff on regional fare integration.

Colle said James is “bitter” about the city’s selection of a subway to connect the Bloor-Danforth line with the Scarborough Town Centre.

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Day-to-day decisions about operations such as getting the Leslie streetcar barns open and pushing to get the new streetcars delivered doesn’t grab headlines in the same way, said Colle.

“My focus is we’ve got to be the best operators in the world and operational excellence should be our business but there has to be an element that works with city planning or Metrolinx on some of the transit planning issues.”