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…but I probably should have.  After all, it’s not everyday that I get to sit down with the chair of the biggest transit system in Canada, the youngest Toronto City Councillor and maybe even the next mayor of our city. 

No, I didn’t ask TTC Chair and Ward 18 (Davenport) councillor Adam Giambrone if he was going to run for mayor. Why? I know politicians well enough to know the answer would be ambigious at best, and besides, I had bigger fish to fry that day (Tuesday).

So far, TTC Chair Adam Giambrone has been mum on whether or not he'll run for the mayor's chair. (Photo by PIPPIN LEE)

I wanted to know what’s so wrong with the Toronto Transit Commission that busses leaving York University are routinely early or late, and some don’t even come at all.  Guess what? He didn’t have all of the answers. Can I blame him? Not really. He’s not a bus driver, or a route supervisor and has little to do with the day-to-day operations of the transit system Torontonians seem to have a love/hate relationship with.

He summed it up into a few things: 1) Its the operation staff’s fault (employees aren’t doing their jobs), 2) Uncle Dalton didn’t give him enough money to hire enough route supervisors 3) On-land transit is doomed to be tardy because its impossible to predict traffic, accidents, etc. 4) Drivers attempts to stick to the schedule actually make gaps/bunching worse.

Essentially he said they need to change the system to one that relies less on the schedule and more on what he called, “headway management,” which is essentially when buses are kept evenly spaced by running realtive to one another rather than attempting to run according to the schedule.

My full investigation into the issue can be found here.

All in all, though I only interviewed the 32 year-old mayoral prospect for a half-hour, he comes across really smart and self-confident. He didn’t put on an “everythings ok” face, when I showed him the dismal bus scheduling stats – instead he discussed the issue rather than glossing things over. I think he’s passionate and would make a good candiate to represent the “NDP” ticket in next year’s election.

They’re saying its going to be a John Tory/George Smitherman showdown. Tory won’t win, he doesn’t have the killer instinct ( see exhibit A, B and C), and as Royson james writes, Giambrone might just sneak up the middle and steal the show.

If it looks as if I haven't slept for three days in this photo... it's probably because I hadn't. (photo by PIPPIN LEE)