James Bow for TTC Commissioner — and Sean Lerner too.

I just picked up this week’s Eye Weekly and came across a brilliant editorial where the Eye editors outline who should be taking up the two empty spots on the Toronto Transit Commission, and by the time I got to the third paragraph of the editorial, the first thought that passed through my mind was: what about James Bow?

Luckily, Eye covered my suggestion four paragraphs later, where they said that “if [Steve] Munro knows more about the TTC than anyone else, [James] Bow probably loves it as much, and knows a great deal, too.” As I’m sure you’re all aware, Bow is the editor and founder of Transit Toronto (and as I’m checking right now, it seems as though he had a post about this same issue five days ago) and an all-around nice guy. I’m glad he’s getting this kind of recognition, and it does make sense that if the TTC decided to offer up the empty seats to citizens — which is the best thing to do in order to ensure that the city keeps a wider vision on transit than it does right now — people who know the TTC like James Bow are probably the best kind of citizens you can get to speak for the general public.

Eye also mentioned transit-enthusiast Steve Munro, Spacing Magazine’s Matt Blackett, and cartographer Andrew Alfred-Duggan as seat-worthy citizen candidates, but by the end of the editorial, something was still nagging me: what about Sean Lerner? Sure, he may not be a transit guru, but his TTC Subway Rider Efficiency Guide gathered a lot of media attention, and he is an easily-approachable and transit-knowledgeable individual, and would make a wonderful voice for Toronto citizens. Plus, he helped shave some valuable minutes off my commute to school every day, so he’s a hero to me.