transit stations, he believes this practice is no longer sustainable. “Metrolinx should not be building new stations but should be facilitating the building of new stations by the private sector,” he stressed. In the future, Verster sees himself working directly with developers to negotiate mutually beneficial project funding arrangements. “Rather than building what the premier referred to as ‘Taj Mahal stations,’ I want the developer to build the station and get the benefit of the infrastructure,” he said, pointing out that advertising opportunities, retail and rental projects offer value to private- sector partners and can be leveraged to save the province from committing huge sums directly to building projects. When it comes to safety, Verster was quick to point out the need to priori- tize worker safety at all times. “Some of the safety practices I see on our sites are unacceptable,” he said. “You find industry people with the wrong PPE, and unsafe activities such as using a grinder without the right eye protection. I would not have found this in other places I’ve been. When an organization gets things right around safety, they get other things right as well. Metrolinx will be making safety a really big priority.” ECONOMICBENEFIT Mark Casaletto of ConstructConnect asked the Metrolinx CEO why Euro- pean transportation is reputed to be so much more efficient and effective than Toronto’s. Verster replied that “in Canada you’ve got a massive country and the population density is much less. Because the U.K. is a tiny geographic space, people use public transit all the time. But the real reason European transit works is they never stop investing in it. The real challenge we’ve got is to get transit plans that get consistently invested in.” In order to turn around a history of transit underfunding, Verster feels the agency needs to present the case for funding in terms of ROI. “This idea of business case is something that in other jurisdictions is considered a religion,” he said. “With our GO expansion, for every $10 billion we invest in GO, we get $26 billion back in economic impact. It stimu- lates huge parts of the economy. Transit is not transit itself; it’s the economic impact on communities that really matters.” Demonstrated economic benefit will be the driver for project funding in the longer term, added the CEO. “It’s about my organization and government being really clear about economic benefit,” he said. “If we can convince government that there’s a real economic and social benefit, then things will be done quicker. It’s important to understand that the role of P3s is to finance, not to fund. P3s bring a contractual structure and format that allow us to bring a risk transfer from the owner to the construction and operating community. Once you establish that risk transfer, you deliver contracts better to budget and time. The biggest benefit to P3s… is that there’s more private money involved, and more focus to get it done right and on time.” Verster also touched on global compe- tition, noting that “there are so many local regulations and hurdles to over- come that you’re always going to veer towards a competent local player. The real challenge for this industry is to figure out what local expertise you need to be competitive. The more people like me want to move towards solutions and outcome specifications, the more the industry will have to figure out how they will become players in big contracts.” The Metrolinx CEO finished things off with a nod to technology such as autono- mous vehicles and the Internet of Things. He pointed to the benefits of imple- menting new technologies like the GO TransitNetworkControlCentreinOakville for managing rail traffic, or monitoring equipment electronically so it can be repaired or replaced before it fails, or iden- tifying vacant parking spots remotely. In summing up, Verster concluded the obvious: “It’s a very exciting future for us.” And it’s an exciting future for those involved in constructing it. |BD “We need to lean in and do what’s necessary to get the contractor to succeed” Phil Verster, Metrolinx Committedto PositiveChange www.ceo.on.ca 14 | Builders' Digest Quarter 4 2018