Categories
History Toronto Transit

Hallam Street and the Harbord Streetcar

Hallam Street looking east from Dufferin Street, January 2017 Hallam Street, which runs east-west from Shaw to Dufferin, north of Bloor Street, is unusually wide for such a quiet, short road. Hallam Street doesn’t provide a convenient thoroughfare for motorists, and nearly every storefront is either vacant, or converted to other uses. Despite being located in […]

Categories
History Toronto Transit

Mapping Toronto’s street railways in the TTC era (1921-2016)

Yonge Street at St. Clair Avenue, 1922. The TTC was busy in its first few years joining together the various street railway systems together and expanding services. Here, work is underway to extend city streetcar service to Glen Echo Loop and connect with the former Toronto Civic Railway’s St. Clair line.  City of Toronto Archives […]

Categories
History Maps Toronto Transit

Mapping Toronto’s streetcar network: The age of electric – 1891 to 1921

In 1891, after obtaining a new 30-year franchise, the Toronto Railway Company went to work electrifying Toronto’s streetcar system.

Categories
History Maps Toronto Transit

Mapping Toronto’s streetcar network: The horsecar era – 1861 to 1891

Toronto Street Railway horse car on Yonge Street at the Canadian Pacific Railway crossing, after 1885. From City of Toronto Archives, Fords 16, Series 71, Item 3367 Over the last few months, I have researched many books and maps and created a series of maps that attempt to illustrate the history of Toronto’s street railways, […]

Categories
Roads Toronto

From the vaults: the end of Yonge Street

Note: This article was previously published in Spacing Toronto on April 13, 2011. One of Toronto’s greatest debates concerns Yonge Street’s controversial claim as “the World’s Longest Street.” Indeed, the Guinness Book of World Records published Yonge Street’s status as the true record until 1999; a bronze art installation in front of the Eaton Centre at Yonge and Dundas […]

Categories
Toronto Urban Planning

An exciting future for Old City Hall

Activist New York exhibition, Museum of the City of New York, January 2015 During my last visit to New York City, in January 2015, I visited the Museum of the City of New York. I spent several hours exploring the museum, which is dedicated to telling the story of the city and its inhabitants. The […]

Categories
Politics Toronto Transit

Leadership, John Tory style (part 2)

No, John Tory, you’re not a leader.

Categories
Election Politics Toronto

Mapping Mayor Tory’s support on Council

Matt Elliott, columnist for Metro Toronto, is one of Toronto’s greatest observers of local politics. One great service that he does is keep track of all important votes at Toronto City Hall. Originally, this work tracked each councillors’ support for Mayor Rob Ford from 2010 through 2014; now his scorecard tracks how each councillor voted according to Mayor John Tory’s […]

Categories
Toronto Transit Urban Planning

Ridership has tripled on UP Express, but we can do even better

When UP Express — Toronto’s rail link to Toronto Pearson International Airport – -launched on June 6, 2015, the one-way fare between Union Station and Pearson Airport was set at $27.50, or $19.00 with a Presto card. At the time, Metrolinx, the provincial agency charged with planning and integrating transportation services in the Greater Toronto […]

Categories
Toronto Transit

Why Presto and the TTC don’t mix

After Presto double-charged me on a simple TTC transfer, I explain why the TTC needs to modernize its fare policies.