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Toronto’s transit agency is facing questions complete its usage of communications-related consultants arsenic ridership stutters, costs equine and leaders are forced to tie from rainy-day funds.
Data obtained by BERITAJA shows the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is presently committed to communications and trading consulting contracts worthy about $3.5 million.
According to figures accessed utilizing state of accusation laws, the TTC categorizes 5 contracts arsenic related to communications, situation management, societal media, marketing, branding and estimation management.
The agreements tally for various lengths of time, but each were progressive successful 2025.
The contracts the TTC had progressive successful 2025, which it classed nether those terms, were:
* Media monitoring: $480,500 (1.5-year term, action to widen up to three)
* Contingency readying up of imaginable strike: $113,000 (two years)
* Marketing services: $2,700,000 (three years)
* Engagement connected yearly work plan: $121,825 (one year)
* Racial equity analysis: $39,714 (five months)
A spokesperson for the TTC said galore of the contracts were for plans that would different divert agency resources.
“Some of these are semipermanent work contracts to support the TTC for larger projects that would require important unit resources if managed wholly by the TTC,” they said successful a written statement.
Carson Binda, from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the agency should person capable in-house talent to debar relying connected outer providers.
“Every azygous dollar that the TTC wastes connected these highly-paid communications consultants and trading strategies is money that’s not going toward halfway services,” he told BERITAJA.
“Maybe the TTC wouldn’t person specified a bad PR problem if they were investing successful those halfway services alternatively of paying these big, eye-watering communications consulting fees.”
Revelations about the contracts travel successful a twelvemonth wherever the TTC saw ridership fall, and fares stayed frozen, forcing the agency to dip into its reserves to support service.
As portion of its 2026 fund submission, the TTC plans to retreat $35 million from its rainy-day money to “help offset reduced rider revenues and support fare affordability.”
A spokesperson for TTC said the statement ever worked to beryllium “a responsible steward of the nationalist purse” successful its attack to signing contracts.
“As well, we are reviewing each communications-related spending (internal and external) to guarantee we are focusing connected the TTC’s cardinal priorities for illustration safety, reliability and performance,” they wrote.
The agency said it collaborated pinch different bodies, for illustration the City of Toronto, to motion contracts astatine much competitory prices, citing the media monitoring statement arsenic 1 example.
They said the $2.7 cardinal statement for trading and imaginative services was an precocious limit of the three-year deal.
For 2025, for example, the spokesperson said the TTC spent $650,000 connected campaigns including streetcar safety, promoting the SafeTTC App and “brand strategy.”
The TTC said each its contracts — isolated from the $2.7-million trading statement — were one-time costs “for a circumstantial purpose.”
