Foreword by andy byford

• Author: C. Ian Kyer
• Pages: 11-13

xi

FOREWORDBY

ANDY BYFOR D

me to write t he foreword to his thoughtful and very

timely book, I was both honoured and pleased to be asked.

A Thirty Years’ War describes, in great detail, a dynamic and a political

dialogue that is still s o relevant today. Just six years short of its centenary, the

TorontoTransitCommissionTTCcu rrentlyndsitselfattheheartofthe big

politicala ndsocietal discussion in Toronto andthe widerGreater Toronto

and Hamilton Area today: how to tackle growing congestion thr ough the

provisionofworldclasspublictransitandhowtopayforit

Concerns about the growing economic and healthrelated impacts of

everincreasingtraccongestiondominatedboththeprovincialandToronto

may ora le lect ion si n  Th eTor on toR eg ion Board of Trad eha sr ai sed ev er

more urgent warnings about the adverse impact on the region’s economy if

congestion is not addressed. Politicians have responded to these concerns

withaseriesofproposalstoexpandtransitcoupledwithprotractedandas

yetunres olveddebatesaboutth emeanstopayfor themAdomin anttheme

is that of funding: which revenue tools are appropriate and what should the

funding formula look like?

In Toronto itself, the TTC is coping with an exponential increase i n rider

ship on an aging inf rastructure against a backdrop of the lowest operational

subsidy of any major transit service in North America. As ch ief executive

oceroftheTTCImaintainthatforwhatitreceivestheTTCanditssta

perform miracles in keeping Toronto moving against these odds.