CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
Adam Giambrone was all business as he returned to chair his first Toronto Transit Commission meeting since dropping out of the mayor's race over a sex scandal.
He speed-walked into the meeting - with security guards flanking him and reporters in hot pursuit - took his seat, and launched into an agenda that included appointing a hotelier to review customer service at the TTC and hearing nearly three hours of deputations about light-rail on Eglinton Avenue.
When he emerged to face reporters, his initial responses were curt for a councillor known for wonkish, long-winded answers.
Will he quit the TTC? "I will be remaining as chair of the TTC."
Will he run for council again? "I haven't formally put myself down and I'll be making those decisions over the coming months."
Is it frustrating knowing some colleagues want him to step down? "Um, no."
Is what's gone on a distraction from your work at the TTC? "No. I think today is good evidence that it's not."
Prior to revelations that he lied about cheating on his long-term girlfriend, Mr. Giambrone was immersed in repairing the transit system's relationship with fed-up riders. Yesterday he and the commission picked up where they'd left off, appointing Steve O'Brien, a luxury hotelier, to lead a blue-ribbon panel on customer service.
Mr. O'Brien is the general manager of One King West Hotel & Residence, the 575-suite hotel and condo at the corner of King and Yonge Streets.
He will co-ordinate with the TTC to select the rest of the customer-service advisory board, which will include riders and at least one member of the transit workers' union.
"Obviously the [hotel and transit]industries are different, but we're all in the people business," Mr. O'Brien said. "At the end of the day, no matter what we do, it's about the guest experience."
Not everyone was pleased at the appointment of Mr. O'Brien, who lives in the 905 and rides the GO Train.
"The fact is, he doesn't even reside in the city of Toronto. He admitted that he doesn't utilize the TTC," said Bob Kinnear, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, which represents more than 9,000 TTC workers.
"I'm sure he's done a wonderful job in the hotel industry, but I'd like to ask him when was the last time one of his clerks got punched in the face? That's something that we have to deal with."
Mr. Giambrone later said Mr. O'Brien does ride the TTC regularly.
Mr. Kinnear's members became the target of criticism after a photo of a sleeping TTC collector went viral, inspiring other riders to shoot and post to the Web pictures and videos of TTC workers dozing, working on crossword puzzles and pulling buses over to take coffee and washroom breaks.
The online images raised to a boiling point rider anger already simmering over a fare hike, token hoarding and customer-service shortfalls.
Mr. O'Brien and his colleagues will review how front-line employees are hired and trained, look at the complaint process and draft a customer bill of rights.
They are slated to release a final report by June 30. No new money has been allocated for the panel or the customer-service improvements.
As the post-meeting questioning turned to transit topics such as the customer-service panel, Mr. Giambrone became more comfortable and slid into his customary long answers.
Until someone asked: "Are you okay?"
"It's good to be back," he replied.
Kelly Grant