I'm a huge proponent for public transit, and use it often. I have for most of my life. But I've also watched it severely degrade in quality of infrastructure and in quality of service along the way.

I just watched the "Worth a Million" campaign video, created by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 (the union that represents Toronto's transit workers), and it made my blood boil. Why? Because complete and utter bullshit in the form of union-sanctioned propaganda is not what Toronto transit needs. What we need is better transit, staffed by better workers. Addendum: while we can likely agree that the general malaise riders feel about the TTC as a service and the role unionized staff play in contributing to the malaise are two separate issues, I can't help but feel that the two issues are both links on the same chain.

Don't believe me? Anyone who has ever had to go from south Etobicoke to north Scarborough by TTC knows what I mean. Anyone that has cheerfully approached a TTC employee only to be scowled at knows what I mean. Taking the TTC can be a terrible experience. It's inefficient, dirty, and the image of the TTC worker overall is severely tarnished by the many miserable people who are members of the union and staff the system.

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We don't take our transit system for granted at all, Marilyn Churley. We know how much we need it, we know how much our environment relies on it, and we know how much we need it to improve. The whole concept behind this union-funded study is simply ludicrous. The TTC is not going to "disappear" so why play the hypothetical fear-mongering angle founded on hypothetical catastrophes leading to hypothetical costs? Aside: the cheesy graphic and booming sound of the hypothetical parking garage three-times the height of the CN Tower epitomizes the grand follies within this video.

The TTC is NOT worth $12billion annually to Toronto. That is not a FACT, Mr. Bob Kinnear. That's a fantastic stretch created by your union in a pathetic attempt to bolster public opinion of the TTC employee's worth. And it only makes me like you less. So many people I know are sick of the way the union operates, and your efforts only make things worse. The union breeds disgruntled workers, and disgruntled workers have resulted in angry, frustrated, and tired transit riders. Attempting to frighten us with results from ill-conceived studies and with looming strikes may work for you, but it doesn't work for your riders.

We see right through it, ATU Local 113.