What PR Can Learn From TTC’s Line 5 Delays?
By Sanjeev Wignarajah
It feels familiar, doesn’t it? A glimmer of good news brings optimism to riders, only to shatter into a million pieces when something goes awry. The 25 stop, 19 kilometre transit line goes from Kennedy Station to the east and Mount Dennis to the west. The infamous TTC’s Line 5 Eglinton Crosstown LRT is the perfect PR case study of crisis communications and reputation recovery, social sentiment, transparency and trust-building, and stakeholder collaboration. PR professionals can learn from these lessons when a future transit line arrives in their city and what steps can be used to prevent it from happening.
Memes & Social Sentiment
Line 5 has become the receiving end of endless memes and jokes, albeit in conversation when said transit line is almost ready to open, which leads to a laugh riot or when an impossible idea like the Toronto Maple Leafs ending their Stanley Cup drought or NBA superstar LeBron James retiring from the NBA. That and the famous ‘We got [Insert something] before GTA VI.’ Jokes aside, it does bring awareness of how a transit project can be delayed for years with billions of dollars over budget and how businesses have been impacted by construction.
Crisis Management & Reputation Recovery
When something happens on Line 5:
- Technical issues
- Supply chain issues
- Small businesses shutting down because of construction
- Construction issues
It’s the job of a transit agency to answer the questions from the public and the media. In this case, hearing complaints from residents, riders, and business owners along Eglinton Avenue be it compensation from construction activity, traffic, and long. Metrolinx has received a lot of flack from these issues. Despite having provided updates on these issues when former CEO Phil Verster provided a three month update rather than a monthly update on the project. People do question whether the line will be open at some point.
Stakeholder Collaboration
For a project like the Eglinton Crosstown, which makes up businesses and residents along the route. What worked was putting notices on the project’s website to inform what work is needed in a certain neighbourhood for the duration of time, scope of work, and traffic impact and mitigation. It’s a lot of moving parts to create a new transit line that can make Torontonian’s lives a lot easier to travel seamlessly.
Transparency and Trust-Building
Transparency and trust-building are the key ingredients when it comes to building and expanding transit like Eglinton. What worked given the scope of the project is providing notices on the project’s website and on social media. What needs to be improved is transparency and trust-building. Earning back trust will take over time given the amount of delays the project faced.
Final Stop – Terminal Station
What PR professionals should takeaway from this:
- Be upfront to the public on why the line has been delayed
- Collaborate with construction consortiums on the project timeline and work with business owners on how the project
- Use social media to provide updates on the project from one section of the line to the next and so on and so forth
- Host town halls on the project update
- Inform the CEO and the team on the updates and provide a clear date when it is safe to open the line
Torontonians need transit expansion to serve more communities and to travel further, but it shouldn’t have to be hampered by delays at the expense of residents, business owners, and riders.
Sanjeev Wignarajah is a freelance writer and photographer working with select clients and publications. He has a background in journalism and public relations from Centennial College.