The TTC announced earlier today that it has appointed a chief customer service officer, which was one of the key recommendations brought forth by a blue-ribbon panel selected to help the TTC improve in this area. Chris Upfold comes to the Commission after 10 years in working with the London Underground, some of which time was spent as head of its Customer Experience Department.

"On behalf of the City and the Commission I am excited about the arrival of Chris and the work he will do to implement a customer service plan, and overall renewed customer service focus our riders have requested," said TTC Chair Karen Stintz. "I look forward to working with Chris to implement recommendations from the Customer Service Advisory Panel and the many excellent ideas I receive daily from our loyal customers."

TTC General Manager Gary Webster also hit all the right cues in welcoming the new hire. "His experience and insights from London will benefit the TTC, its customers and its employees tremendously. I look forward to working with Chris as we forge new ground in Toronto, striving to make the TTC a world-leader in customer service."

Uphold will begin work on May 30th. And given that we don't know much about the man himself, a few questions come to mind on the heels of this announcement. Does the move itself constitute a major step forward for the TTC? What kind of power will he have? Will there be greater accountability when things start to go bad?

Photo by Cameron MacMaster in the blogTO Flickr pool.