Line #33 UsefulNotes/TorontoSubway


1	-->[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m18Qhy1EdLk&t=0m15s Ding-Dang-Dong "Please stand clear of the doors"]]
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3	The first subway in Canada (opened in 1954), the Toronto Subway is one of the most heavily used on the North American continent. Operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (who also operates Toronto's streetcar and bus systems), the system covers 70 stations with about 70.1 kilometers of track after the closure of Line 3 in 2023.
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5	The numbering of the subway lines was announced by the TTC in 2013, and phased in over the following year (possibly in anticipation of the 2015 Pan-Am Games, which were expected to be a major tourist draw). Prior to this, the lines were generally referred to by name only. They are currently numbered in the order they commenced operation, though this will change when the unused number 3 is re-assigned to the Ontario Line.
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7	!!Lines of the Toronto Subway:
8	* '''Line 1 Yonge-University''': Shaped like a U and coloured yellow on the system map, the Yonge-University Line is the oldest in the system (with the Eglinton-Union stretch opening in 1954) as well as the most heavily used. An extension into the suburb of Vaughan was opened at the end of 2017 [[DevelopmentHell after significant delays]]. Since 2011, it has been run with the rather marvelous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Rocket Toronto Rocket]] rolling stock. It is also the first part of the system to receive underground Wi-Fi and cell phone service. Still often referred to by locals as the "Yonge-University-Spadina line".
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10	* '''Line 2 Bloor-Danforth''': Covering an east-west axis about 2 to 3 kilometers inland from Lake Ontario, the Bloor-Danforth line is the second oldest, second buisiest and second longest in the system. Coloured green on the system map. The first portions of it opened in 1966 after being in the planning stages for several years. Every now and then there's talk of extending it west to Mississauga, but as of 2013, its extension was going to be the replacement of...
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12	* '''Line 4 Sheppard''': The newest line in the system (opened in 2003), the Sheppard Line services the growing Sheppard Avenue corridor in North York. The shortest and least used line in the system, it is sometimes derisively referred to as the "[[PunnyName Sheppard Stubway]]" or "subway to nowhere". There aren't many interesting things to say about this line, though, besides the fact that it is close to fully underground and features several optical illusion artworks at its stations. Coloured purple on the system map.
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14	* '''Line 5 Eglinton Crosstown''': Currently under construction and expected to open in the early 2020s, the Eglinton Crosstown line will run east-west through the middle part of Toronto. Like the Scarborough line it will be a light rail system rather than a true subway, though it will run underground for approximately half of its length. Future extensions of the line east to Scarborough Town Centre and west to the airport have already been approved, but are still in the planning stages. Unlike the above lines, this line and Line 6 below will be owned by Metrolinx, the provincial transit authority for the Greater Toronto Area. This route was cancelled[[note]]not for the first time; more below[[/note]] in late 2010 shortly after Rob Ford took office as mayor, but was restored with some redesigns shortly afterwards. Will be coloured orange on the system map when it opens.
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16	* '''Line 6 Finch West''': Another light rail line which began construction in late 2019 and is planned to open in 2023. It will run east-west in the northwestern part of Toronto and will be above ground for almost its entire length except for short tunnel segments near the 2 ends of the line. Was actually cancelled in late 2010 shortly after Rob Ford took office as mayor, but was subsequently restored by city council in early 2012 over his objections. As with Line 5 above, it will be owned by Metrolinx. Will be coloured grey on the system map when it opens.
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18	* '''Ontario Line''': Officially launched in 2022 but with full construction anticipated to start in 2023, the Ontario Line is the replacement project for the [[DevelopmentHell long-discussed]] Downtown Relief Line (more below). In terms of technology it is expected to fall somewhere between the traditional subway lines and Lines 5 and 6, similar to Line 3 Scarborough, with subway-esque trains powered by overhead wire. It will run from Line 5's Science Centre station in North York to Exhibition Place, near the Toronto Waterfront (connecting to GO Transit and the TTC's 509 and 511 streetcar lines). As its predecessor's name suggests, it is intended to relieve pressure on the existing Line 1 Yonge-University, particularly the overcrowded Bloor-Yonge interchange station. It is anticipated that this line will inherit the Line 3 designation and blue system map route colour when it opens.
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20	There is one line that has been permanently closed:
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22	* '''Line 3 Scarborough''': Unlike the other currently built lines, the Scarborough Line was an above-ground light rail system rather than a true heavy-rail subway. It was opened in 1986 and ran on a five-stop line from Kennedy to [=McCowan=] through its namesake Scarborough Town Center. The line was designed to use linear induction motors as it system of propulsion, a technology likely best known within transit for its use on the Vancouver Skytrain and London Docklands Light Railway systems. Coloured blue on the map, it was originally going to be a streetcar line, but politics turned it into what it is today. Still often referred to by locals by its original name: "Scarborough RT" (Rapid Transit). Since 2013, a plan was implemented that would replace Line 3 with an extension of Line 2 Bloor-Danforth on a more eastern right of way. The line was originally set to close in November 2023, but was permanently closed earlier on July 24, 2023 after a derailment. Current plans for the left over line infrastructure is that it will be converted into a public park.
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24	!!Other facts about the Subway:
25	* All lines (except for the aforementioned Scarborough RT and the provincially-run Lines 5 and 6) are not standard gauge (4 foot 8 1/2 inches) -- rather, they are slightly wider (4 foot 10 7/8 inches). This is because the subway tracks were designed to match the gauge of Toronto's streetcar system (and part of Toronto's subway system was originally planned to be serviced by existing streetcars). The reason for the non-standard gauge for Toronto's streetcars was long believed to be that the city wanted to make it impossible for the streetcar tracks to be used for freight cars, and excluded them through the use of a wider gauge; a prevailing theory now is that the wider gauge would allow horse-drawn vehicles to ride along the right of way and not get bogged down in the muddy, unpaved roads of the day. Historic Toronto transit equipment must be re-gauged if it is to operate elsewhere. (Which it has been; in particular, the standard-gauge tram system of Alexandria in UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}} is noted to have used re-gauged TTC stock to run its street-running "City" tram routes through the historic city center from the 1960s through 1980s.)
26	* The system only has [[SinisterSubway one abandoned station]], which is actually just part of a station. The abandoned station is the lower level of Bay on the Bloor-Danforth Line, which was only in service for a few months as part of a unique (but inefficient) service plan to have all stops served by at least two lines. The station does often appear in film, though, as it commonly [[CaliforniaDoubling doubles]] for a UsefulNotes/NewYorkSubway station.
27	** There is another Toronto subway station with an extra level that was never used. When the Queen Street subway station was built, it was originally planned to interchange with an underground streetcar line that would be built along Queen Street downtown, and the station for this line was “roughed in” below the existing Queen Street station on the Yonge line. The subterranean streetcar line was never built, and thus the lower level has never been used by transit vehicles. However, you're walking through it if you use the under-track walkway between the southbound and northbound tracks. The unused portions will finally be incorporated into the Queen-Yonge station of the under-construction Ontario Line.
28	* The system has its own font, which is called... wait for it.... [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Subway_(typeface) Toronto Subway]]. It is used in several stations and, as of 2013, the TTC has begun to use it on all new signs and construction.
29	* When the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward_Viaduct Prince Edward Viaduct]] was built across the Don Valley in the 1910s, the designer included a lower deck on the bridge in anticipation of a hypothetical future subway, an expensive and controversial move at the time. This ended up saving millions of dollars when the Bloor-Danforth line was built in the 60s, as they could build the subway on the existing lower deck instead of having to build a new bridge or route the line around the valley.
30	* DevelopmentHell and ExecutiveMeddling tend to be the default state of any transit projects in Toronto:
31	** When Line 1 opened in 1954, over 40 years had elapsed since the first subway proposal along Yonge Street had been made. Further proposals would emerge over the years, to the point that when [[Creator/{{CBC}} CBC News]] reported on opening day, their tagline was "Toronto got itself a subway...really!".
32	** Line 1 (and later Line 2) would be continually expanded throughout the 60s and 70s, but would slowly grind to a halt from the 80s onwards. The last extension to Line 2 was completed in 1980, with westward expansion into Mississauga stalled and eastward expansion into Scarborough confined to a single stop. Line 1 has received more attention, with the latest extension into York Region opening in 2017. An extension along Yonge into Richmond Hill has been proposed, but is controversial for adding passengers to a line that is already overloaded, especially by the time trains get downtown.
33	** Line 5 on Eglinton, first proposed in the "Network 2011" plan in 1985 as a busway, was upgraded to a subway project by the province of Ontario under pressure from city and regional governments, and broke ground in 1994...only to be cancelled in 1995 after a provincial election, and what little excavation had taken place unceremoniously filled back in. Had construction gone through, however, it would only have been a four-stop "stubway" extending west from Eglinton West station, and not the crosstown line built. As mentioned above, it was back on the schedule with the Transit City proposal of the late 2000s, which was then cancelled after the election of Rob Ford as mayor, and then UnCancelled within months. Aside from Line 6 Finch, few other projects from the Transit City plan have survived. As of 2023, the project is still ongoing, to the point that anytime the city posts a completion date, most people assume that it will be delayed. Some have accused the contractors and workers of purposely working slow to draw out the contract, which some workers have been reported even admitting.
34	** Perhaps the UrExample for Toronto is the infamous "Downtown Relief Line". Also part of the 1985 "Network 2011" plan, the goal of the U-shaped DRL was to reduce pressure on existing downtown transit routes and stations, particularly the congested Bloor-Yonge interchange station between Lines 1 and 2. After the province hesitated to fund the expensive project, it disappeared from the official plan for two decades, returning in 2008 as part of "The Big Move", a new 25-year plan for regional transit commissioned by Metrolinx. A study was completed in 2012, proposing a reverse L-shaped line from the suburban neighbourhood of Don Mills to City Hall along Queen Street[[note]]following the route of the aborted Queen Street streetcar-subway, first proposed over ''a century'' earlier[[/note]], intersecting with Line 2 along the way. In 2016, the provincial government announced funding to plan the design of the line, in partnership with the city, with a further 120-day project assessment taking place in 2018. This ultimately came to an end in 2019, when the provincial government under Doug Ford announced the "Ontario Line", intended to replace the in-progress Relief Line study. This line will run from the Ontario Science Centre in Don Mills, through the under-redevelopment East Harbour near the mouth of the Don River, along Queen, and down to Exhibition Place[[note]]changed from the closed and provincially-owned Ontario Place directly to the south, which the Ford government had proposed redeveloping as a casino[[/note]] in the west end of the waterfront. Unlike the Relief Line, the Ontario Line would include significant sections of at-grade or elevated track, as well as rolling stock incompatible with the rest of the subway network. Many of these changes came as a surprise to the city, but eventually the two governments came to an agreement later in 2019. Federal government funding was chipped in early in 2021, and the current schedule projects a 2031 opening. Till then, Toronto waits...
35	* The TTC has received criticism for being the only transit system in North America that has zero government financing or supervision (largely due to conservative government changes in the 90's), which means that riders are actually paying for the system to keep going, instead of taxes going towards it. Adding to this, prices continued to increase while service times decreased, leading to a large drop in riders during COVID. At the same time, violent incidents increased by ''48 percent'' during the pandemic, many of which were completely random and senseless ([[ForTheEvulz like people getting pushed onto tracks for no reason]]). This has led to public outcry for major changes to be made to how TTC is managed. So far, little change has been made.
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37	!!Other public transit in Toronto:
38	* Toronto is one of only five cities in North America[[note]]The others being Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh[[/note]] to retain its original '''streetcar''' network for transportation purposes.[[note]]As opposed to cities like Portland, Seattle, or Oklahoma City, which tore up their streetcar tracks and later started again from scratch or the likes of New Orleans, which retained them for historical tourism purposes.[[/note]] Possibly as a result of this, Toronto's network is the most extensive in the continent. The streetcars also boast an underground station of their own at Queen's Quay, used by streetcars of the Harbourfront and Spadina lines. Aside from Queen's Quay, a turnaround loop at Union Station, another turnaround loop at Spadina Station, and a through loop at St. Clair West Station, these lines operate at street level. The streetcars mostly operate in mixed traffic, but certain lines have dedicated rights-of-way even aside from the tunnels and loops (e.g. the 510 Spadina, which mostly runs in dedicated tracks in the median of Spadina Avenue).
39	* '''GO Transit''' serves the greater Toronto area, operating commuter trains and coach-style buses. Its train lines run from their hub at Union Station as far as Hamilton, Kitchener, Oshawa, and even UsefulNotes/NiagaraFalls. Unlike the Subway and streetcars, GO is operated by Metrolinx, an agency of the Ontario provincial government. Of particular note is that while GO's rail services currently operate like a typical North American commuter rail system, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GO_Transit_Regional_Express_Rail they are in the process]] of slowly transitioning to something akin to [[UsefulNotes/BerlinUAndSBahn a German S-bahn system]] (complete with UsefulNotes/DeutscheBahn being involved in the expansion process), with increased frequency in off-peak hours and eventual electrification of some of their lines, complete with European-style electric multiple units.

Context UsefulNotes / TorontoSubway