Is Andy Byford, the new TTC GM, the leader we've been waiting for?

[Towered]

If it was me, my four wishes:
1) Below the snowbelt, above the wildfire zone
2) A city with both interest and funding for light railway transit
3) A city without overblown encampments and street junkies (that's just a standard of living thing)
4) A nice urban downtown vide

Which cities qualify with this criteria?

 

[Admiral Beez]

Which cities qualify with this criteria?

None in the US, but a close contender would be Austin, Texas and their new Project Connect.

Project Connect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Transit Enhancement Program | AustinTexas.gov

The Transit Enhancement Program works to improve mobility and access to opportunity by collaborating directly with public transit providers and communities to understand needs and opportunities and enhance areas of the built environment to support transit. Projects developed by this program...

www.austintexas.gov

1) Above the snow belt and away from wildfire zones? check
2) Interest in and funding for LRT? check
3) Few encampments? check. There are 3,000 homeless in Austin. That’s nothing compared to LA, SF or Seattle.
4) Downtown urban vibe? check

Downtown | Visit Austin, TX Entertainment Districts

As hoppin' during the week as it is on the weekends, this bustling area of commerce, cuisine, cocktails and the Capitol is a melting pot of finance and fun, as well as philanthropic conservation. In addition to opportunities for retail therapy, the arts scene is alive and well with galleries and...

www.austintexas.org

 

[DSC]

None in the US, but a close contender would be Austin, Texas and their new Project Connect.

Project Connect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Transit Enhancement Program | AustinTexas.gov

The Transit Enhancement Program works to improve mobility and access to opportunity by collaborating directly with public transit providers and communities to understand needs and opportunities and enhance areas of the built environment to support transit. Projects developed by this program...

www.austintexas.gov

1) Above the snow belt and away from wildfire zones? check
2) Interest in and funding for LRT? check
3) Few encampments? check. There are 3,000 homeless in Austin. That’s nothing compared to LA, SF or Seattle.
4) Downtown urban vibe? check

Downtown | Visit Austin, TX Entertainment Districts

As hoppin' during the week as it is on the weekends, this bustling area of commerce, cuisine, cocktails and the Capitol is a melting pot of finance and fun, as well as philanthropic conservation. In addition to opportunities for retail therapy, the arts scene is alive and well with galleries and...

www.austintexas.org

Why do you think AB has the same criteria as you?

 

[Admiral Beez]

Why do you thing AB has the same criteria as you?

What part of “if it was me” is confusing? We have no idea what’s motivating Byford beyond a statement about returning to his wife in the US.

 

[turini2]

I suspect he's off to Boston, given the chaos there - and the fact their GM has recently resigned.

 

[duffo]

Why on earth from a transit nerd/expert with the clout to go anywhere in the world want to go to Boston? Seems like a peg down from London.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Why on earth from a transit nerd/expert with the clout to go anywhere in the world want to go to Boston? Seems like a peg down from London.

Anywhere in the Anglosphere other than NYC is a step down from London for Byford. I expect Byford to return to NY in some senior transport role now that Cuomo is gone.

 

[DirectionNorth]

I can (for good or for bad) see Byford becoming persona non grata for appointments. Politicians aren't used to appointing people who will defy them, and his constant quitting doesn't help matters ...

 

[Admiral Beez]

I can (for good or for bad) see Byford becoming persona non grata for appointments. Politicians aren't used to appointing people who will defy them, and his constant quitting doesn't help matters ...

He should have stayed in NY and waited out Cuomo. Even with obstruction from Albany, Byford was doing good work in NYC.

 

[felix123]

If it was me, my four wishes:
1) Below the snowbelt, above the wildfire zone
2) A city with both interest and funding for light railway transit
3) A city without overblown encampments and street junkies (that's just a standard of living thing)
4) A nice urban downtown vide

Nothing in North America comes to mind. Maybe Hiroshima would be a good fit?

 

[W. K. Lis]

We must urgently reinvent public transit for the postpandemic world​

With work-from-home here to stay, the entire model of moving people around needs to be rebuilt. Wholesale service reductions are not the solution

From link.

Andy Byford
Contributed to The Globe and Mail

Andy Byford is the former head of Transport for London, New York City Transit and the Toronto Transit Commission.

Throughout the vast majority of my 33 years in public transit, one of the biggest challenges facing my various employers has been how to match insufficient capacity to ever-growing demand.

In my work for transit authorities in Sydney, Toronto and New York, one of our biggest headaches was figuring out how to squeeze ever more people into networks that were limited by fleet size and line capacity during ever-widening peak periods. Off-peak and weekend travel were also booming, fuelled by increasing urbanization, improvements in product offering and a shift away from the private car in an increasingly environmentally conscious world.

This transit renaissance developed over many years, with cities such as London and New York carrying record numbers of riders, enabling them to rely heavily on fare revenue to cover day-to-day expenses. Transport for London (TfL), more specifically the London Underground, was virtually at the point of break-even back in the halcyon days of 2019, a remarkable achievement born of booming ridership, tight cost control and targeted system expansion.

In both Toronto and New York, my focus was on enhancements to system capability across the various modes. Our plans included upgrades to signalling systems to enable trains to run closer together (thereby increasing the number of trains that could be run each hour), procurement of larger vehicles, expansion of vehicle-storage facilities and progressive (and expensive) enlargement of customer facilities such as subway stations, all designed to accommodate what seemed to be a limitless pipeline of new customers. Business cases were compelling and political support was (largely) forthcoming; we’d never had it so good.

Go to the link for the complete article.

And then came COVID-19.

Almost overnight, ridership collapsed as agencies scrambled to implement government directives to restrict transit usage to key workers, and customers stayed home to avoid perceived or actual infection risk.

London’s tube ridership dipped to levels not seen since Victorian times, a situation mirrored on the capital’s previously clogged streets and bridges. The financial impact was calamitous, as the risks of an overreliance on fare revenue became horribly apparent. Where most transit agencies enjoy a fare-box recovery ratio of around 40 per cent to 50 per cent (meaning the proportion of fares paid by riders compared with other sources of funding, such as subsidies), London was exposed to the tune of 72 per cent. That can work in good times, but the pandemic brought realization that such a model cannot withstand a major prolonged economic hit.

The previous challenge of how to match insufficient capacity with excess demand was reversed. Where marketing efforts previously tried to encourage ridership outside the peak, campaigns now need to win riders back. In London, Toronto and New York, ridership is recovering as the pandemic and its associated restrictions recede, but there is still a major shortfall from the previous norm – and some evidence suggests patronage will never get back to its previous highs. The work-from-home genie is proving hard to force back into its bottle.

This all comes at huge cost. One of my main priorities as commissioner of TfL was to secure government support to keep the organization going while we worked on changing the funding model to one that reflected the new reality and reduced exposure to future economic shocks. We successfully secured £6-billion ($9.6-billion) in funding through arduous negotiation with central government, but it came with conditions that honed in on costs and commitment to structural reform. It was never easy to persuade government to support transit, but that job became exponentially harder.

 

[W. K. Lis]

We must urgently reinvent public transit for the postpandemic world​

With work-from-home here to stay, the entire model of moving people around needs to be rebuilt. Wholesale service reductions are not the solution

From link.

Andy Byford
Contributed to The Globe and Mail

Andy Byford is the former head of Transport for London, New York City Transit and the Toronto Transit Commission.



Go to the link for the complete article.

Andy Byford's TTC CEO replacement, Rick Leary, would not say anything like that. We need another Andy Byford or clone, NOW!

 

[W. K. Lis]

Andy Byford to Join Amtrak​

From link.

Former NYC Transit President and beloved “Train Daddy” Andy Byford (and TTC CEO) will join Amtrak next month as an executive vice president, Streetsblog has learned.

Byford, who earned his nickname during his time running the MTA’s city bus and subway system from January 2018 to February 2020, returned to the United States last year after a stint in his native U.K. as the head of Transport for London.

At Amtrak, Byford will oversee the development of high-speed rail, according to an internal company memo. The fast train tech, which is commonplace in Asia and Europe, has historically eluded the U.S.

“Andy is widely respect in the industry and has a wealth of experience leading large transportation systems worldwide,” Amtrak officials said in an email to employees on Thursday. Byford’s first day will be April 10.

The cheery Brit’s tenure in New York was marked by increased on-time subway performance, the approval of $40 billion in proposed spending to modernize city subways and buses, and his very public squabbles and eventual falling out with then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was later forced to resign in a sexual harassment scandal.

Byford, who also served in executive transit roles in Sydney and Toronto, left New York on the eve of the pandemic, saying he had had enough of “interference” from the now-disgraced governor, with whom he sparred over the cancellation of NYCT’s long-planned L train shutdown.

“I needed to be left to run the system,” Byford told CBS New York’s Marcia Kramer shortly after his departure. “It got to a point where it was obvious … I was not going to be allowed to get on with what needed to be done.

“I had to make to my mind up, as a person with very strong principles, can I accept … a situation where I’m in a safety-critical role and the people are being given direction on operational matters behind my back,” he added.

Amtrak’s decision to hire Byford for a critical mission earned plaudits from Lisa Daglian, executive director of the MTA’s in-house Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee.

“Having Andy Byford in that role means the whole nation can benefit from having a ‘Train Daddy’ and his wealth of experience,” Daglian said.

“He’s lived and worked in places where high speed rail actually exists and is in a great position to help bring it here. He’s got excellent relationships within the MTA that will help smooth the way as conversations about a multitude of projects continue. And he understands the complexity of the system and its components — and mostly, how to put riders first.”

 

[W. K. Lis]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1639092233793069062

Note the intrusion into Canada (Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal).

 

[W. K. Lis]