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Apr 16, 2024 · The evolution of transit in Toronto has been a fascinating journey, spanning over a century. From its humble beginnings with horse-drawn trams in the late 19th century, to the modern subway and streetcar network we know today, Toronto’s public transportation system has played a crucial role in the city’s development and growth.
- The Earliest Days
- The Rise of The Toronto Street Railway Company
- Steps Towards Electrification
- The First Stab at Public Ownership
- William Mackenzie Takes Over
- The TTC Through Boom, Bust and War
- Metropolitan Toronto and The Car Change The Picture
- Decline, Fall and Rise
- Where Do I Go from Here
- References
When Toronto was incorporated as a city in 1834, it had a long way to go towards becoming the metropolis of today; it’s population at the time was barely 10,000, or less than half the current population of Owen Sound. Though Toronto was already a significant commercial centre, the only transportation the city could boast were stagecoaches to and fr...
The popularity of Williams’ service had already demonstrated to city council and various business interests the viability of public transit in the city. This would prove to be his undoing. In 1861, Alex Easton, a Philadelphia native came to Toronto to help set up a conglomerate of local business owners to build a street railway in the city. Having ...
In the 1870s and 1880s, electricity transformed from an experimental curiosity into something practical that could light cities and moves vehicles about. The 1880s found John Joseph Wright, an English immigrant, experimenting with electricity in a small shop near Yonge and King, and selling light bulbs and the electricity to light them to various s...
As Toronto grew, so too did the ridership of the Toronto Street Railway, from 44000 in 1861 to 55000 in 1891, when the TSR’s 30-year franchise expired. On May 16, 1891, the city sought to take over the system. The attempt did not go as well as planned. The city first ordered the Toronto Street Railway Company to agree to hand over operations withou...
The Toronto Railway Company’s president and owner was William Mackenzie, a railroad mogul who had founded the Canadian Northern. In the TRC’s first years, Mackenzie introduced a number of innovations, and his leadership proved popular with the public. The new company maintained a five cent fare, introduced free transfers and reduced fares for child...
The 1920s was a period of great activity within Toronto. Not only was there considerable work in uniting the operations of the Toronto Railway Company and the Toronto Civic Railways, but the TTC had also inherited from the TRC an aging system which had been left to deteriorate by its disinterested owners on the eve of the end of their franchise. A ...
In the early 1950s, Toronto and its suburbs had to contend with sprawling development held back after two decades of depression and war. In order to answer the problem of sharing infrastructure funding and distribution, the Province of Ontario took the step of collecting Toronto and its twelve suburbs under the auspices of the Municipality of Metro...
In the 1970s and the 1980s, the Toronto Transit Commission was seen worldwide as a ‘transportation showcase’. From 1979 until 1990, it won awards after awards for safety and design. Unfortunately, in the 1990s, it fell upon hard times. Political foot-dragging slowed subway development to a crawl, and budget cuts, the recession, and the inability to...
Click here for our history of Toronto’s bus network, particularly 82 RosedaleBromley, John F., TTC ‘28, The Upper Canada Railway Society, Toronto (Ontario), 1968.Bromley, John F., and Jack May Fifty Years of Progressive Transit, Electric Railroaders’ Association, New York (New York), 1973.Filey, Mike, Not a One-Horse Town: 125 Years of Toronto and its Streetcars, Maps Project handbooks, Toronto (Ontario), 1999.Hood, J. William, Street Railways - Toronto: 1861 to 1930, Maps Project, Toronto (Ontario), 1999.Metro Transit System normal routes revised May 1, 1955 Fonds 200, Series 726, Item 391 (recto). TTC surface transit system 1965 Fonds 200, Series 726, Item 353. Metropolitan Toronto transit map May 11, 1968 Fonds 200, Series 726, Item 367 (verso). TTC route map December 1972 Fonds 200, Series 726, Item 335 (verso). Metro Transit system [ca. 1980]
Welcome to the archives section of the Transit Toronto web site. On this page, you will find scanned and other electronic images, including maps, old brochures, reports, schedules, et cetera, produced by the Toronto Transit Commission and other transit agencies in the GTA over the past century. While not a complete list, we hope you will find ...
On December 17, 2017 six new stations opened on Line 1, including York University Station, just steps from the Archives of Ontario. The 8.6-kilometre Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension marked the first time the subway system operated in the 905 region. The Yonge subway was an instant success. Within its first five years, more than 360 ...
May 17, 2024 · System Map - October 9, 2016 (PDF from the TTC website, showing the 93 PARKVIEW HILLS bus) (PDF - 4.3 Mb) System Map - June 19, 2016 (PDF from the TTC website, showing the 514 CHERRY streetcar) (PDF - 3.6 Mb) System Map - May 2016 (PDF from the TTC website) (PDF - 4.2 Mb) System Map - January 2016 (PDF from the TTC webs ite, drafted in a new ...
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Public transportation in the Canadian city of Toronto dates back to 1849 with the creation of a horse-drawn stagecoach company. Today, Toronto's mass transit is primarily made up of a system of subways, buses, and streetcars, covering approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) of routes operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and inter-regional ...
