Mayor did not make TTC bus request: police

Mayor Rob Ford had nothing to do with the decision to boot passengers off a TTC bus and redirect it to pick up his high school football team last week, Toronto police Supt. Ron Taverner says.

The call for a TTC shelter bus was made by a Toronto police sergeant who was concerned about rising tensions between the Ford-coached Don Bosco Eagles and their rivals, the Henry Carr Crusaders.

“At no time was the mayor involved in any of the decision-making in regards to a bus being called,” Taverner said.

Aside from the sergeant who made the call, four other officers attended the game.

Taverner defended the sergeant at a news conference on Tuesday, saying she called for the bus, “out of caution for community safety.”

“I think it was the right decision,” he said.

The Nov. 1 game between Don Bosco and Henry Carr was called early by a referee after a reported outburst by a Henry Carr coach, who stormed onto the field to protest a call.

Taverner said the bus originally scheduled to pick up the visiting Eagles at Father Henry Carr Catholic Secondary School in Etobicoke wouldn’t arrive for at least an hour.

Bringing the team inside the school of their arch-rivals would only increase the already simmering tension, Taverner said.

It was also a cold, rainy day, but Taverner said the main concern was the threat of violence.

He said players from both schools had been engaging in a war of words on Twitter, sparking fears that things would boil over at the game.

“It wasn’t because of the rain that the school buses were called,” Taverner explained. “That plays a very small piece of what we are talking about now.

“There was some tension. There was no physical confrontation on the field, but certainly some verbal confrontation.”

The decision was then made to call for a TTC shelter bus which resulted in passengers on a packed 36 Finch West bus being forced off mid-route to accommodate the request. Another bus, which was empty, was summoned when the first one had trouble finding the field.

Both the TTC and the mayor have absolved themselves of any wrongdoing in the matter.

On Monday, Ford insisted that he had nothing to do with the call for a shelter bus.

“The police intervened and called,” he said. “They called the TTC to get a bus.”

Ford did leave a voicemail on TTC CEO Andy Byford’s cellphone to check on the status of the bus that was having trouble finding the field.

But when addressing media on Tuesday afternoon, Byford said the mayor had also called him shortly before leaving the voicemail, but he had a difficult time understanding him. It was windy, and the conversation was “garbled.” Byford said.

“It seemed to me he was asking for a bus, and I said ‘no way, we are not providing a TTC bus.’ “

After losing the signal, Byford said he discovered Ford’s voicemail and it became clear that a TTC bus was already ordered by Toronto police.

But Byford said he never knew passengers were being ousted and apologized for the inconvenience.

At the same time, he maintained that proper protocol was followed.

“We should always, if possible, try to use an empty bus and on this occasion the nearest bus unfortunately had people on it.”

He also said it’s the first time during his tenure at the TTC that he’s heard of a bus being used for community safety concerns. Typically, shelter buses are used during fires, or gas leaks, to temporarily shelter displaced citizens.

Byford, in an internal memo released Tuesday, defended his employees.

“I stand behind TTC staff’s decision to expedite the request by utilizing an in-service bus given the urgency conveyed in the initial call for a bus.

“The TTC does not have the expertise to determine what constitutes an emergency, and therefore, the need for a shelter bus. The TTC must rely on our emergency services to make these decisions on behalf of the public.”

Byford said the TTC’s shelter bus policy was thoroughly reviewed and won’t need altering.

“The shelter bus protocol is sound,” he wrote. “I believe that TTC staff made the decisions they did in good faith.”

He says he’s spoken to the mayor’s office about the incident.

“I have asked that in the future, any matters that could be construed as being sort of personal to the mayor, I would rather he did not call me.”