Longtime spokesman Brad Ross leaving the TTC

By News Staff

He’s been the face of TTC delays for a decade but now TTC spokesman Brad Ross is moving on.

Ross confirmed on Wednesday that he will returning to city hall to become the chief communications officer for the City of Toronto.

“City government — local, municipal government — touches our lives more than any other order of government,” he said.

“When you turn on the tap, when you flip the light switch, when you take transit … those are city services, and so they’re really important. They matter a lot, and I’m looking forward to going back there and helping communicate some of what we do.”

Before he became the TTC’s first ever director of communications in 2008, Ross served as the manager of media relations and issues management at the City of Toronto for eight years.

“I will miss my colleagues and friends at the TTC, of course,” he said in a statement. “The expertise, innovation and commitment to public service each brings to their job is an immense sense of pride for everyone at the TTC. Toronto is lucky to have them.”

Ross said he enjoyed working on the launch of the new streetcars and subway trains, and the new focus on customer service. But he regrets not doing more to defend George Robitaille, an employee who was photographed sleeping in a collector’s booth and later pilloried when the picture went viral.

Robitaille was ill and died about 11 months after the controversy.

“If I was able to do it over again, we would have handled that differently as an organization,” he said. “We would have maybe pushed back a little harder on the people who were overly critical of George and of the TTC.

“While, of course, we can’t condone sleeping on the job, George was ill. We didn’t know that at the time.”

City manager Chris Murray said Ross will help build Toronto’s brand.

“Brad brings a wealth of experience to lead our professional communications staff in the development of internal and external communications strategies, public education campaigns, digital outreach and more,” city manager Chris Murray said in a statement.

“He is a champion of best practices, has deep relationships with the media, can capably manage emerging situations and will be a great steward of the city’s brand. I’m elated to have him return to the city in this key leadership role.”

Ross will be at the TTC until Dec. 14 and will begin his new position on Jan. 7, 2019.

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