“The best thing that probably happened to the transit industry was some healthy competition.”

Debbie Dalle Vedove started her transit career as an operator. She moved up the ladder and transitioned to a few different agencies before finally landing the top spot at Hamilton Street Railway (HSR). Debbie, now the Director of Transit for HSR, uses her experience as a frontline worker to transform HSR into a customer-centric organization.

The transit world is changing quickly, and competition means that people now have a choice other than personal vehicles or public transit. The focus HSR has on the customer will help redevelop their network, one that includes a new light rail system (in conjunction with Metrolinx), and give them a chance to stand out from the competition. Debbie talks about their customer survey (with ~6000 participants) and how they are going to use that to figure out how to provide service to where people want to go.

Finally, she shares a story of celebrating Maurice Powell, who has been an HSR bus driver for 50 years (and counting). Maurice fits perfectly into Debbie’s customer-centric vision as he is “excellent with the customers, and it is really, really amazing that he's able to do that [every day].”

If you want to know more about HSR, check out their website.

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