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We like to pile on Verster, but how much is really his fault? I'm not well versed in his role, but from my perspective:

He's not building the line, Crosslinx is.
He's not even responsible for selecting Crosslinx or negotiating their contract, that was before his time.

And lack of communication and openness comes from being muzzled by the minster of transportation as well as possibly being only able to say so much due to the ongoing litigation between Metrolinx and Crosslinx.
 
Islington Express Bus said:
We like to pile on Verster, but how much is really his fault? I'm not well versed in his role, but from my perspective:

He's not building the line, Crosslinx is.
He's not even responsible for selecting Crosslinx or negotiating their contract, that was before his time.

And lack of communication and openness comes from being muzzled by the minster of transportation as well as possibly being only able to say so much due to the ongoing litigation between Metrolinx and Crosslinx.
Click to expand...
I held back from this yesterday, but it does sound like he’s approaching this with tact and humility; not embarrassment. It’s not always about knowing when your wrong- we all know. But the fact that he sees a path forward, and that he will stake his career on righting this wrong, inspires confidence that he can at least steer this ship to port. I am getting the sentiment that, given the delays, Metrolinx’s sole imperative is to deliver the product they promised. That will be one of superb quality no matter how late.

I also imagine a certain number of typically-post-opening issues have managed to be identified now given the huge scope of problems, so I can see them wanting to let this cook to perfection if they’re already late anyway. It seems Mx took the high road and didn’t want to leave any stones unturned. Their philosophy is clearly becoming ’better to deliver a quality product late than a shit one early’ (and no, I’m not taking about the fundamental design of the line- merely it’s efficacy upon opening).
 
Islington Express Bus said:
We like to pile on Verster, but how much is really his fault? I'm not well versed in his role, but from my perspective:

He's not building the line, Crosslinx is.
He's not even responsible for selecting Crosslinx or negotiating their contract, that was before his time.

And lack of communication and openness comes from being muzzled by the minster of transportation as well as possibly being only able to say so much due to the ongoing litigation between Metrolinx and Crosslinx.
Click to expand...

I agree but people have been sacked for less. Why do you think general managers of sports teams are fired after teams lose, same reason. "Burn the witch" and all that. People want to see consequences, they dont care if they are appropriate consequences.
 
Islington Express Bus said:
We like to pile on Verster, but how much is really his fault? I'm not well versed in his role, but from my perspective:

He's not building the line, Crosslinx is.
He's not even responsible for selecting Crosslinx or negotiating their contract, that was before his time.

And lack of communication and openness comes from being muzzled by the minster of transportation as well as possibly being only able to say so much due to the ongoing litigation between Metrolinx and Crosslinx.
Click to expand...
I held back from this yesterday, but it does sound like he’s approaching this with tact and humility; not embarrassment. It’s not always about knowing when your wrong- we all know. But the fact that he sees a path forward, and that he will stake his career on righting this wrong, inspires confidence that he can at least steer this ship to port. I am getting the sentiment that, given the delays, Metrolinx’s sole imperative is to deliver the product they promised. That will be one of superb quality no matter how late.

I also imagine a certain number of typically-post-opening issues have managed to be identified now given the huge scope of problems, so I can see them wanting to let this cook to perfection if they’re already late anyway. It seems Mx took the high road and didn’t want to leave any stone unturned. Their philosophy is clearly becoming ’better to deliver a quality product late than a shit one early’ (and no, I’m not taking about the fundamental design of the line- merely it’s efficacy upon opening).
 
robmausser said:
I agree but people have been sacked for less. Why do you think general managers of sports teams are fired after teams lose, same reason. "Burn the witch" and all that. People want to see consequences, they dont care if they are appropriate consequences.
Click to expand...
I would note though General Managers of sports teams are often not actually fired, but simply "relieved of their duties" and then paid to sit at home and do nothing until their contract actually ends.

In this case his contract was up, and they could have simply said "goodbye, Phil" at no cost, which brings us to the important part: was there an honest review and evaluation of his work to see if he was doing a good job, and if there was potentially someone better out there?
Did they actually go and look and have casual conversations with alternative candidates for the job to see if they were available and willing to take it on? Or was it just "well he's already here so it's easiest just to keep him..."
 
The future looks certain. They can keep saying this for all their updates, we'll just get Finch West, Hurontario, GO RER 100% electrified, Bowmanville Extension, Ontario Line, SSE, Eglinton West just operating from Renforth-Mt Dennis, the ION extension to Cambridge, Line 1 extensions to RHC and Wonderland then both sides to Newmarket, Via HFR across the nation, all day trains to Hamilton, maybe GTA 6, flying cars, 10G celluar data, an actual North American dedicated intercontinental rail system, and all day 15 min GO spaceships to Mars before they announce a true date for when the Crosstown will eventually open.
 
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IMG_8696.jpeg

Here’s hoping we see more colour in November!
 
Allandale25 said:
Metro Morning interview with Verster.

Click to expand...
yea he specifically says the lack of a date was completely because of the "fleet availability issues" he mentioned the other day which apperently could delay commissioning by 5 weeks

- says during the interview is that theyre "50% of the way through testing and commisioning"
- says that the lawsuits were settled "for $0.20 on the dollar" compared to what it would cost in court
- claims the original total budget was 12 billion? and that "theyre only 600 mil overbudget from just the lawsuits"? anyone wanna fact check this? wiki says the contract was signed for 9 billion?

still sounds like he simply wants to announce a specific date instead of a range of dates. they want to absolutely be sure thats when the line will open. my guess no specific date in november/december but february will tell us it will open march/april
 
generalcanada said:
- claims the original total budget was 12 billion? and that "theyre only 600 mil overbudget from just the lawsuits"? anyone wanna fact check this? wiki says the contract was signed for 9 billion?
Click to expand...
600 mil over-budget from the last announced overage to be precise. That’s a disgusting number for any level of government to be paying out in just lawsuits.
 
reinventingthewheel said:
600 mil over-budget from the last announced overage to be precise. That’s a disgusting number for any level of government to be paying out in just lawsuits.
Click to expand...
Is that what he said? it understood it as 12 billion was the original 2015 budget. as in...hes saying the project was 12 billion, any theyre up to 12.6 billion because of the lawsuits and covid. effectively only 5% right?

again someone wanna source the actual contract? wikipedia says it was signed for 9.1 bil in 2015. is that correct?
 
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