TTC meeting so boring that the press resorts to suggesting Giambrone might re-enter mayoral race

The first community meeting between passengers and TTC workers’ union was a perfect formula for drama: angry commuters, an apathetic bureaucracy and, to keep a lid on things, a handful of politicians who have seen better days. It could have been a magnificent disaster, but instead it was mind-numbingly polite. The TTC representatives even admitted that sometimes the staff aren’t being all they can be. Reports the Post:

“Operators do slack off a lot. They do. And we as individuals, we’re here to apologize for whatever’s been done so far,” said bus driver Anthony Wallace, one of four TTC employees who joined union head Bob Kinnear onstage to address the public’s concerns.

An apology? How Canadian. This marks a dramatic change from the PR strategy the TTC had been using up until now, which is basically summed up in this picture. If the goal of these sessions is to win a friend or two, they seem to be working.

Between the meeting’s sympathetic commuters, proper manners and lack of bloodshed, newspapers seem to have been really, really bored. The only drama at the meeting (which the Sun, Star, Post and Globe all covered) was one crying woman whose local buses are never on time. When that’s the biggest news at the event, reporters get restless and start looking for trouble. That would explain this sentence in the Globe‘s report: “TTC chair Adam Giambrone was also at the meeting… He also did not confirm or deny whether he was re-entering the mayoral race.”

Oh boy.

• Frustration but no fury at public TTC meeting [National Post]
• Bob Kinnear wants you to like him [National Post]
• A chorus of commuter grief at TTC union town hall [Globe and Mail]
• We’re sorry—and we are slacking: Workers [Toronto Sun]