TTC loads up on consultants
Posted: January 26, 2009, 8:29 AM by Kenny Yum
Filed under: TTC,Transit City
At the rate the TTC is hiring consultants and staff for its $10-billion Transit City megaproject, Toronto had better hope there is something from Ottawa for the plan when the federal budget comes down tomorrow.
Sameh Ghaly, project manager for Transit City -- the plan to criss-cross Toronto with a network of light rail lines -- says that so far, the TTC has spent $30-million on Transit City and budgets to spend another $100-million to $110-million in 2009.
Sitting with me in a boardroom at the TTC's construction office, in a tower above the North York Civic Centre, Mr. Saleh, a tall, confident engineer in a crisp suit, called Transit City a bonanza for consulting companies.
"Probably every major consultant in Canada, at least in Toronto, is working on Transit City. We have all kinds of consultants. It's a big program. They wouldn't let it go."
Mr. Ghaly says the TTC has signed contracts with consultants for project management, controls, and engineering for the new streetcar lines. The consultants will work in all four divisions: planning and environmental assessments, project management, engineering and controls. Last year, a City of Toronto audit criticized the TTC for relying too heavily on consultants in redesigning its computer systems.
From 2001 to 2006 the TTC spent $38.5-million on more than 150 IT consultants, at "significantly higher" costs than doing the work inhouse, Jeff Griffiths, the city's auditor-general, reported, adding, "The current process is informal, inconsistent and subjective."
Mr. Ghaly acknowledged that consultants are not his preference.
"Our preference is to use TTC people," he says. "They are (a) cheaper and (b) we retain corporate knowledge. However, it's a bit naive to say that we can rely on inhouse talent to build Transit City."
Two weeks ago, STV Inc., based in Douglasville, Pa., signed a $125-million, 10-year contract with the TTC. STV says it will "provide the necessary managerial, professional, technical and administrative staffing ... as required by the TTC to plan, assess, direct, control, resolve, oversee and communicate the objectives of the Transit City Light Rail Plan."
All this spending is a bit striking considering that so far, Transit City is relying entirely on city money. David Miller is hopeful the feds will help fund his light rail dream.
In a Jan. 6 letter to Jim Flaherty, the federal Finance Minister, Mr. Miller wrote, "Toronto city council has unanimously agreed to request the Government of Canada to invest $368-million toward streetcar fleet replacement and expansion, and the federal $6-billion share of the Government of Ontario's $17.5-billion Move Ontario 2020 commitment for the Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan. This funding will enable Transit City to proceed quickly, starting with the Sheppard East LRT, Eglinton Crosstown LRT, Finch West LRT and Scarborough RT lines."
The city is also hoping the province will come through with cash. Adam Giambrone, the chairman of the TTC, previously told me that, "None of the money for Transit City will come from the city. The province has committed to the funding through Metrolinx."
Metrolinx, the provincial agency deciding how to spend provincial money on improving transportation in greater Toronto, has asked Queen's Park to give $55-million to Transit City in 2009.
In the meantime, the city is fronting the cash. Mr. Saleh says that, "the city of Toronto has been paying our bills until now and until April. We are spending lots of time and effort with our provincial counterparts and we are confident that we will get the money in the provincial budget in April."
The city is also spending money to rent new space for the light rail project. The other week Mr. Ghaly and his 30 staff packed up their desks in the Construction department of the Toronto Transit Commission, on the 6th floor of a tower at 5160 Yonge St., connected to North York City Centre.
They moved into the 13th floor, "dedicated to delivering Transit City and the Scarborough RT," Mr. Saleh says. (Among its many jobs, his group must decide whether to order new rapid transit trains for the ageing RT line, or convert that line to light rail.)
"We should have 70 or 80 people by the end of 2009," Mr. Saleh says.
"It's going very fast-paced, because we're doing everything concurrently that is normally done sequentially: planning, design and benefits case. It's an unprecedented program, really, at least in Toronto if not in Canada."
When the TTC approved Transit City in March, 2007, the price was $6-billion. "It went from $6-billion to $8-billion because vehicle prices went up and the maintenance and storage yard were not part of the initial estimate," Mr. Saleh says. "Then add to it the Scarborough RT, that's what gets you to $10-billion."
Just to whet the appetites of federal politicians, streetcar builders are flashing some rather sexy photos of the proposed light rail trains of the future; the TTC says it will order up to 368 of them, at about $5-million a pop. Bombardier, the world leader in making light rail, offers its Flexity, which operates in Marseilles, Brussels and Geneva, among other cities.
Siemens, which built the light rail cars for Calgary and Edmonton at its Sacramento, Ca. plant, offers its Combino Plus cars.
The TTC plans to order light rail cars in April.
pkuitenbrouwer@nationalpost.com
(Photo courtesy Bombardier: Light Rail Vehicle is a proposed TTC streetcar from Bombardier.)
