Have you heard the expression pay peanuts , get monkeys ? There are a lot of very smart , capable people out there who would refuse to work in the public sectors when they could make far more money in the private sector . We need these people working in government to improve civic and transit services . If you don ' t align public sector compensation with the overall market , you end up with the leftovers people who don ' t have the right stuff to work for majors in the private sector . I agree there are some people on the sunshine list that absolutely should not be there . If your role lacks complexity and your skills are not in demand , 100 k is a fucking affront to the people of Toronto . That said , you cant staff a major organization with idealists and underperformers and expect results . If anything , the TTC needs to attract more high quality people to deliver a transit experience we all want and deserve .