“They can get the information off the Internet!”
Image from CityNews.ca
In a Toronto Sun article (link) today, Rob Ford is on another tirade against the TTC and its Commissioners for planning to travel to Edmonton, San Francisco, or Austin for annual CUTA (Canadian Urban Transit Association) and APTA (American Public Transit Association) conferences and trade shows. He is questioning the rationale of spending the money to send our professionals and commissioners to these conferences “at a time when they put through a 3.75% tax increase!”. He goes further and claims:
“It’s a racket. We are the customer. We don’t need to go to them.
“If someone has a bus to sell, they can come to us.”
Of course, this is the Toronto Sun, so I’m not surprised they are being sympathetic to Ford’s tirade about any council expenditure… if it was up to him, Councillors would be doing business underneath the Gardiner. But then to bring Bob Kinnear, our dear leader of the TTC Operators union, to have his two cents? Of course he’s going to be negative to management staff going off to conferences when he’s in labour negotiations as he is right now.
All that aside, the CUTA and APTA conferences are large scale trade shows that bring together transit companies from around the continent to discuss common issues and solutions and see the latest in transit technologies. It is similar to what any professional organization would hold annually, but with shiny buses and LRVs to boot. Why, when Toronto is on the cusp on reinvesting in our own system, should we not attend this conference to make sure our money is going to the best possible solutions? Why, when the TTC is experiencing some major challenges and issues, should we not attend this conference to see what other agencies have done to handle common problems, and for them to learn from us?
Ford claims that the TTC “can get information off the Internet”. I don’t know about him, but I wouldn’t want the Commission to make billion-dollar decisions based on what they read on the internet. How do you know how a vehicle feels when it is running or what an interior layout really feels like just from looking at an engineering graphic? Do you buy a car based solely on the marketing booklet PDF you can download off the internet? Hells no. It’s the same as looking at an architectural rendering of a new condo tower in Mississauga with people walking and smiling in front of it. It’s a false reality, and until you’re on the ground and see and feel it yourself, you won’t get the true picture for your investment.
So until the day we get full virtual reality, we’re going to have to continue going to these conferences. Because like they say, you should always go for a test drive.
