A senior TTC executive has left the agency after just over one year on the job.

According to a memo distributed to the transit agency’s staff Tuesday, “effective immediately” former chief financial officer Dan Wright is “no longer working at the TTC.”

The message from TTC CEO Rick Leary didn’t explain the circumstances of Wright’s departure, and a spokesperson for the transit agency declined to comment to the Star, saying the TTC has a policy of not commenting on personnel matters. She wouldn’t say whether Wright left the position voluntarily or was dismissed.

Wright couldn’t be reached for comment.

According to sources, Leary provided few details on the issue at a closed-door session of the TTC board Wednesday.

However, the memo suggests Wright left the agency relatively suddenly, with no immediate succession plan. The memo said it would “take some time” to find a new CFO, and in the meantime Josie La Vita, the City of Toronto’s executive director of financial planning, had been seconded to the TTC to take over the role of acting CFO for a period expected to last between 12 and 24 months.

Read more:

The TTC needs $33.5 billion to keep the system functional — roughly two-thirds of which are unfunded, report says

TTC suspends transit officers’ collecting of personal data when issuing warnings

Province could absorb skilled TTC staff if subway upload goes through, Toronto’s city manager says

Wright had been with the agency since April 2018 and had a reputation among some commissioners for being refreshingly candid.

He was in charge of drafting a major report released in January that sounded the alarm about the TTC’s long-term capital needs. The report determined the agency would require $33.5 billion in investment over the next 15 years just to keep existing levels of service, and of that work $23.7 billion was not funded.

The report was hailed by some board members as the most realistic accounting of the agency’s financial needs in years.

However, according to sources, others on the board felt Wright overstepped his role, because civil servants are generally expected to steer clear of making statements that could be construed as controversial.

At a board meeting last month, Wright didn’t hesitate to speak frankly about the politically charged issue of the Ontario Progressive Conservative government cancelling plans to increase the city’s proceeds of the provincial gas tax, a decision expected to cost the TTC $1.1 billion over the next 10 years.

Wright said setting the TTC’s capital budget this year had made him feel “ill” because so many important items were unfunded, and he told the board the gas tax claw back would only make things worse.

“It’s not a good situation ... There is no way you can take $1.1 billion out of our 10-year program and not have an impact on the efficient and effective running of the system. There’s just no way,” he told the board at the time.

Prior to joining the TTC, Wright was CFO of Ornge, the province’s air ambulance service. According to the Ontario government’s public sector salary disclosure, he made $191,368 last year, plus benefits.

TTC warns Metrolinx of dispute resolution process if Presto issues aren’t fixed

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

The TTC board has put Metrolinx on notice over shortcomings with the Presto fare card system, and will consider triggering a formal dispute resolution process if solutions aren’t found by this summer.

At a meeting of the agency’s board on Wednesday, commissioners voted unanimously to have TTC staff report back in September on the status of ongoing talks with Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency that owns the fare card system, regarding financial claims and performance concerns the TTC has raised. If those issues aren’t resolved, the board will give “full consideration” to taking Metrolinx through dispute resolution.

The decision followed discussion of a TTC report in which agency staff claimed Metrolinx is failing to live up to the provisions of the agreement the two parties signed in 2012 to implement Presto on Toronto’s transit network.

The report identified gaps in the fare card program, highlighting that promised features such as open payment — which would allow riders to pay their fare by tapping their credit or debit card on a Presto machine — and distributing Presto tickets on buses and streetcars haven’t been delivered.

It also flagged the below-target reliability of fare card devices, and warned that Metrolinx’s exclusive deal to sell Presto through Shoppers Drug Mart has left residents in parts of the city without access to a convenient place to purchase fare cards.

The TTC says it can’t set a date to phase out tickets and tokens and complete the switch to Presto until some of the outstanding issues are resolved.

“We need to be able to sell and collect fares. Period,” said TTC chair Jaye Robinson, who moved the motion. “And that (ability) is being disrupted.”

The dispute resolution process has several stages but could eventually land the Presto disagreements in formal arbitration, the outcome of which would be enforced by the courts.

Annalise Czerny, Metrolinx’s vice-president for Presto, said it was in both organizations’ interest not to go that route.

“It costs money, quite frankly tax money, if you get lots of lawyers involved, and I’m not sure that’s the best way to move forward,” she said.

Czerny described the TTC report as “unbalanced” and said both the TTC and Metrolinx share responsibility for implementing the fare card system. She argued the TTC’s decision to introduce features such as the two-hour transfer on Presto had pushed back other elements of the program.

She said “in the spirit of partnership” the two sides shouldn’t frame the issue as one of “Presto vs. the TTC,” but should instead focus on “what needs to be fixed and knocking these things out of the park.”

Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr

Read more about: