Results tagged “streetcars”

                                   

Despite extensive coverage by both online and print media, Monday's splitting of the 24-kilometre Queen streetcar route came as a bit of a surprise to many, necessitating lengthy explanations at the new turnpoints (Parliament, Shaw), as well as the odd enraged passenger (a particularly vocal, slightly off-kilter, middle-aged man waiting at Shaw screamed, "Where is the Long Branch and all those f**king c**ksuckers at?!"). In the name of research, Torontoist travelled the entire length of the route, beginning at Yonge and Queen, continuing all the way east to Neville Park, and then traversing the entire 24 kilometres to Long Branch, getting off and on as required. To see how we fared, see the photo gallery above.

       

What might become of our current streetcars when they're replaced by shiny new ones over the next few years? No one knows yet, but they might well dream of seeing out the rest of their days at the Halton County Radial Railway.

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5:40 p.m. Dark, cold evening rush hour. Dundas streetcar, eastbound, approaching University.

Photo of the T3 Tramway from *** Fanch The System !!! ***.

Torontoist's European bureau decamped this past weekend to the French Riviera. And you can rest assured that—between enjoying the beaches and drinking on sunny patios—we took time to consider the public transportation system.

The TTC is looking at eliminating the free parking spaces allotted to Metropass holders at the 16 lots they own around the city. TTC Chair Adam Giambrone contended that the free spaces were costing the TTC more money than they brought in, which sounds like a valid argument until you remember that parking spots, like guns, are a God-given right.

"The Better Way Gets Better," yesterday's TTC press release proclaimed, teasing the media for today's big announcement of service changes. And, really, it'd be hard to disagree.

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve.

The TTC says that they plan to improve service on the 501 Queen streetcar route, which has been the object of much complaint over unpredictable service and frequent delays. The good news story here is that National Geographic recently declared the route one of the top ten streetcar trips in the world, so next time you're standing out in the freezing sleet desperately scanning the horizon for a glimpse of that red rocket, make sure you smile at a tourist.

Gate House goes coed. After a series of puerile, childish, vaguely misogynistic stunts, the infamous all-male U of T residence has been come down upon by that stuffy old dean. Of note is Gate House's claim to be an inspiration for the movie , just like every other "look at us we're so wild" frat house on every college campus ever, despite the fact that Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis went to McMaster.

A day later, and what sounded, at first (at least to us), like a freakish, horrible, Toronto-shattering disaster––two 23-tonne streetcars colliding just before rush hour––has revealed itself to be a little less than disastrous. When The Sun can get away with calling two cars in an accident "bumper cars," things are probably pretty okay: according to CityNews, four people are in the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, and an investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing, with results expected very soon.

According to an anonymous tip, there was just (at 3:15 p.m.) a head-on collision between two streetcars at Dundas Street West and Roncesvalles Avenue. Apparently, at least one car is derailed, both cars have extensive damage to them, and there are some minor injuries. Hopefully everyone's okay. We're not quite sure yet how it happened––there's no word yet on any other news site, so if you know something, please e-mail tips@torontoist.com––but contributor Adam Hawkins noted that a head-on collision would be possible at the intersection if the Dundas streetcar heading south was veering left to stay on Dundas West while the King streetcar was coming north on Roncevalles as it merged onto Dundas West. The streetcar tracks cross over in the middle of the intersection.

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve.

Thanks to Tim Knight (a.k.a. brokenengine) for pointing us to blogTO's post about the TTC's just-launched streetcar website: mynewstreetcar.ca.