Former manager returning to help balance TTC books

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David Gunn kept the trains running on time - and on the cheap - in New York, Washington and across the United States as president of Amtrak.

Now the conservative transit guru is poised to return to Toronto as an unpaid, temporary consultant helping the TTC balance the books in 2012.

In the looming battle over next year's budget, Mr. Gunn hopes he can unearth savings at the transit authority he led from 1995 to 1999.

"I don't have any dog in this fight," he said in an interview from his home in Cape Breton Thursday. "I think I can give them an objective point of view. And it's not going to cost them anything."

Although he and TTC chief general manager Gary Webster still have to sort out final details, Mr. Gunn is expected to start the short-term gig the week of March 21 or March 28.

Mr. Gunn won't be paid. However, the TTC would cover his expenses, including his flights, hotel and meals, TTC spokesman Brad Ross confirmed.

"We're just preparing ourselves for 2012. Dave brings a lot of credibility. He's one of the best transit managers in the world," said Gary Webster, the TTC's chief general manager.

Mr. Webster formally asked his old boss to scour the books.

But Mayor Rob Ford also called to ask for his help earlier this year, Mr. Gunn said.

Part of the reason they turned to him is his experience managing the TTC during a trying period in the late 1990s.

Then as now, the economy was recovering from a recession and governments struggled to pay for the day-to-day costs of operating Toronto's transit system.

Mr. Gunn led the TTC through four years of retrenchment - he cut staff and service, raised fares and refocused the agency on maintaining the system instead of expanding it.

Ridership plummeted to about 370 million rides per year from 460 million per year during the four-year period.

The leaner TTC became more efficient, recovering more of its costs from the fare box, said Mr. Webster, who served as executive director of human resources and general manager of operations in the Gunn years.

"The time that I was there was a difficult time but ... I think the people at the TTC, we all felt pretty good about the way things were turning out at the end," Mr. Gunn said.

Like all parts of the municipal government, the TTC is facing a difficult financial year in 2012, when Mr. Ford is demanding austerity to tackle an overall operating budget shortfall estimated at $774-million.

That figure will be lower if Mr. Ford agrees to a modest property-tax rise and a 10-cent TTC fare increase, as city finance staff are recommending. It will be higher if he keeps his promise to scrap the municipal land-transfer tax, which brings in more than $200-million in revenue a year.

The TTC's financial troubles are particularly acute in 2012.

Contracts with the TTC's more than 10,000 workers expire this year, and the fear is they'll win a generous settlement to make up for losing the right to strike. The province is poised, before the end of March, to ban transit strikes in Toronto.

As well, provincial rules require the TTC to contribute an extra $70-million to its pension fund in 2012. Employees are expected to cover half, but the TTC will be asking the city to increase its $429-million 2011 subsidy by at least $35-million to make up the difference.

Mr. Ford has promised to hire outside consultants to seek savings across city hall in 2012. City staff have set aside as much as $3-million to pay the outside experts.

Mr. Ross said Mr. Gunn's work isn't tied specifically to that contract. It's the first time the TTC has done something like this, he said.

"This is kind of a unique situation," he said. "You know the pressures that our capital budget, particularly, have. You know what our operating budget pressures are. Those have been very public."

A transit guru's CV

David Gunn has run railways and public transit systems all over North America.

Before taking the helm at the New York City Transit Authority from 1984 to 1990, he worked for railways and transportation authorities in Santa Fe, Illinois, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

He was the general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority when the Toronto Transit Commission lured him north in 1995.

Mr. Gunn's four years atop the TTC stood out for their focus on fixing up existing infrastructure, rather than expanding the system, particularly the subways. He butted heads with then-TTC-chair Howard Moscoe before leaving in 1999.

From 2002 to 2005, he was president of Amtrak. The George W. Bush administration fired him because it disagreed about the future of the intercity train service.

"I was involuntarily retired by the Bush administration," Mr. Gunn joked Thursday. "I'm sort of proud of it. Being fired by the Bushies is not all bad."

Mr. Gunn is now retired and lives in Cape Breton.