Toronto is a central transportation hub for road, rail and air networks in Southern Ontario. There are many forms of transport in the city of Toronto, including highways and public transit. Toronto also has an extensive network of bicycle lanes and multi-use trails and paths.
Transportation
Toronto
Toronto | Transportation
road, rail and air networks are available Road, rail and air networks Toronto is a central transportation hub for road, rail and air networks Road, rail and air networks like highways and public transit.
what is don valley parkway?
user
It is a municipal expressway.
assistant
has it been represented in media?
user
Yes, the music video for the song Subdivisions by Canadian rock group Rush features scenes of the DVP
assistant
when was the construction completed?
user
1966
assistant
is it a busy expressway?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
what places does it connect?
user
It connects Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto.
assistant
can you elaborate on the architecture of the first place?
user
It is a new, brash, rag-tag place—a big mix of periods and styles.
assistant
is the crime rate high here?
user
It  has a fairly low diurnal temperature range.
assistant
what all modes of transport are available?
user
Transportation in the Canadian city of Toronto forms the hub of the road, rail and air networks in the Greater Toronto Area and much of southern Ontario. There are many forms of transport in the city, including railways, highways, and public transit. Toronto also has an extensive network of bicycle lanes and multi-use trails and paths.
Transportation in Toronto | Introduction
Within the city, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) operates an extensive system of subways, buses, and streetcars, covering of routes. A single flat fare applies for any trip within the city regardless of distance or transfers required with the exception of contracted routes that travel outside of the city and downtown express routes. The TTC is the third busiest transit agency by ridership in North America (after the Mexico City Metro and New York City's New York City Transit Authority).
Transportation in Toronto | Public transport
Toronto is a central transportation hub for road, rail and air networks in Southern Ontario. There are many forms of transport in the city of Toronto, including highways and public transit. Toronto also has an extensive network of bicycle lanes and multi-use trails and paths.
Toronto | Transportation
Various modes of transportation are available in the city. Roads within the city are a municipal responsibility, but major highways, such as the 400-series highways, are provincially funded and operated. In the winter, the city provides snow removal services on its roads and on property it owns, such as parking lots at libraries and swimming pools. The Toronto Transit Commission is the main public transit service provider for the city. Operation of the TTC is funded by the municipal government and user receipts, but infrastructure projects may receive funding from provincial and federal sources. In addition to the TTC, other public transportation services that operate in Toronto includes GO Transit.
Public services in Toronto | Transportation
Public transportation in 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 of routes operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and inter-regional commuter rail and bus service is provided by GO Transit.
Public transportation in Toronto | Introduction
Toronto's main public transportation system is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The backbone of its public transport network is the Toronto subway system, which includes three heavy-rail rapid transit lines spanning the city, including the U-shaped Line 1 and east–west Line 2. Line 3 is a light metro line that exclusively serves the city's eastern district of Scarborough. The TTC also operates an extensive network of buses and streetcars, with the latter serving the downtown core, and buses providing service to many parts of the city not served by the sparse subway network. TTC buses and streetcars use the same fare system as the subway, and many subway stations offer a fare-paid area for transfers between rail and surface vehicles.
Toronto | Public transportation
The rest of the city is primarily served by a network of about 150 bus routes, many of them forming a grid along main streets, and all of them (except for the #99 and #171 routes) connecting to one or more subway stations. A more distinctive feature of the TTC is the streetcar system, one of the few remaining in North America with a substantial amount of in-street operation. The city of Toronto has the largest streetcar system in the Americas.
Transportation in Toronto | Buses and streetcars
Inter-regional commuter rail and bus service is provided by GO Transit. GO trains and buses connect the city to the rest of the Greater Toronto Area. Ontario Northland Motor Coach Services operates buses to destinations in northern Ontario.
Transportation in Toronto | Commuter rail
Interregional commuter rail and bus service is provided by GO Transit. GO trains and buses connect the city to the rest of the Greater Toronto Area. Ontario Northland Motor Coach Services operates buses to destinations in northern Ontario.
Public transportation in Toronto | Commuter rail and buses
The TTC also operates a night bus service called the Blue Night Network. Four routes of the Blue Night Network are operated using streetcars as well.
Public transportation in Toronto | Buses and streetcars
The rest of the city is primarily served by a network of about 150 bus routes, many of them forming a grid along main streets, and all of them (except for routes 99 and 171, both of which connect to bus garages, and 176 Mimico GO, which serves Mimico GO Station) connecting to one or more subway stations. A more distinctive feature of the TTC is the streetcar system, one of the few remaining in North America with a substantial amount of in-street operation. The city of Toronto has the largest streetcar system in the Americas. Most of the eleven streetcar routes are concentrated in the downtown core and all connect to the subway.
Public transportation in Toronto | Buses and streetcars
Yonge Street, a major arterial route in the city, begins at the northern shore of the Toronto Harbour and runs through downtown, continuing north all the way to the city of Barrie, Ontario. Other notable streets include Dundas, Bloor, Queen, King, and University. The Toronto Transit Commission administers the Toronto area's public transportation system, including buses, streetcar, and subways. The regional public transportation service, GO Transit, also provides bus and commuter train service to downtown Toronto from its hub, Union Station. Union Station is the city's major intermodal transportation hub, providing access not only to local and regional public transit, but also to inter-city rail services like Via Rail.
Downtown Toronto | Transportation
Transportation in Toronto
Outline of Toronto | Transportation in Toronto
The two trails are ostensibly connected together via a lakeside route, but due to a massive build-out of this area during the 1990s, the "trail" through much of the downtown area exists in name only. Nevertheless, Toronto has an extensive bicycle culture. The municipal government encourages bicycle use through its Toronto Bike Plan. An extensive City of Toronto Bicycle Map is available from the City of Toronto free of charge as well as from their website. All TTC buses have bicycle racks attached to their fronts since 2013. Bicycles are allowed on the subway outside of the morning and evening rush hours.
Transportation in Toronto | Cycling
Toronto is a major rail transportation hub in Canada and central North America, with most commercial rail freight operations carried out by two Class I railways, Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway. Both companies operate major yards and intermodal facilities in various parts of Toronto to serve manufacturing and logistics customers. Although at one time, both railways saw most of their operations based out of the waterfront area, over time they have shifted to facilities in suburban Toronto or adjacent municipalities. Most waterfront trackage has been scaled back and abandoned in favour of real-estate development, with the remaining main lines in this area being almost the exclusive domain of passenger carriers.
Transportation in Toronto | Railways
Two major transportation nodes are defined in the neighbourhood by subway stations at either end of Bloor Street (served by the Bloor-Danforth line), at Jane Street and Runnymede Road. Buses runs north from Jane Station and north and south from Runnymede Stations. Annette Street is served by a bus line from Jane Station. A night bus replaces the subway line during the early morning hours along Bloor Street. Bike Lanes have been incorporated into the neighbourhood as well along Runnymede st. This is something new and adds to the transit modes of the neighbourhood. This is a positive implementation because there has been an increase – from 1.75% to 3.13%- in the number of residents that use cycling as a mode of transportation.
Runnymede, Toronto | Transportation
Several major controlled-access highways pass through North York, including Highway 400, Highway 401, Highway 404, Allen Road, and the Don Valley Parkway. The former three controlled access highways are operated by the province as 400-series highwayss, whereas the latter two roadways are managed by the City of Toronto. The section of Highway 401 which traverses North York is the busiest section of freeway in North America, exceeding 400,000 vehicles per day, and one of the widest. Public transportation in Toronto is primarily provided by the Toronto Transit Commission's (TTC) bus or subway system. Two lines of the Toronto subway have stations in North York, the Line 1 Yonge–University, and Line 4 Sheppard.
North York | Transportation
GO Transit is a regional public transit operator managed by Metrolinx, a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario. Union Station is an intermodal transportation hub located in Downtown Toronto. The station provides access to several transportation services, including GO Transit, and the TTC.
Public services in Toronto | Transportation
The third system, known as the "wayside system", consists of UHF MPT-1327 Trunking radio sets used by the three heavy-rail subway lines. They replaced older devices which communicated by the third rail, and are divided into separate systems representing their respective subway lines. This trunking system allows Transit Control to communicate directly with a single train, a zone encompassing several trains, or the entire line. (Line 3 Scarborough uses a single channel UHF system, much the same as the system used by operations staff.)
Toronto Transit Commission | Communications
Prior to the 1980s, the bus shelters on TTC routes were installed and maintained by the TTC and the various municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto and lacked advertising. Within the old city of Toronto, they were metal frames with large glass panes, but the suburban ones were metal-clad with fibreglass and smaller glass windows. A few older shelters, like Otter Loop (Small Arms and Coxwell Loops were similar for use on streetcar routes), were formal brick-and-glass structures; most of these disappeared in 1960s or 1970s, with Otter's structure surviving into the early 2000s. However, during the mid-2010s, the Otter Loop bus shelter was removed and the area was converted into Heart Park.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | Shelters
The historically low crime rate in Toronto has resulted in the city having a reputation as one of the safest major cities in North America. For instance, in 2007, the homicide rate for Toronto was 3.3 per 100,000 people, compared with Atlanta (19.7), Boston (10.3), Los Angeles (10.0), New York City (6.3), Vancouver (3.1), and Montreal (2.6). Toronto's robbery rate also ranks low, with 207.1 robberies per 100,000 people, compared with Los Angeles (348.5), Vancouver (266.2), New York City (265.9), and Montreal (235.3). Toronto has a comparable rate of car theft to various U.S. cities, although it is not among the highest in Canada.
Toronto | Crime
There are three rapid transit systems operating in Canada: the Montreal Metro, the Toronto subway, and the Vancouver SkyTrain. There is also an airport circulator, the Link Train, at Toronto Pearson International Airport. It operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and is wheelchair-accessible. It is free of cost.
Transportation in Canada | Rapid transit systems
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) operates 141 regular bus routes, which are further divided into branch routes. Other types of bus routes include Blue Night Network routes, Express Network routes, and community bus routes. All routes have wheelchair accessible low-floor buses with bicycle racks. Most bus regular and Rocket routes, unless noted, operate from approximately the start of subway service to the end of subway service for the given day. Blue Night routes operate from the end of subway service to the start of subway service the next day. Downtown express routes, which require an additional fare, operate on weekdays inbound towards downtown during the morning rush hour and outbound away from downtown during the evening rush hour.
List of Toronto Transit Commission bus routes | Introduction
GO Transit is an interregional provincially run public transit system in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) conurbation, with operations extending to several communities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The GO network employs double-decker diesel trains and coach buses; it connects with other regional transit providers such as the TTC and Via Rail.
Public transportation in Toronto | GO Transit (1968–present)
The backbone of the TTC is a subway system with two lines, Line 1 Yonge–University and Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, running along principal streets and connecting Toronto's outlying areas with its downtown core.
Transportation in Toronto | Metro rail
There are light rail systems in four cities – the Calgary CTrain, the Edmonton LRT, the Ottawa O-Train, and Waterloo Region's Ion – while Toronto has an extensive streetcar system. The 2016 Canada's Core Public Infrastructure Survey from Statistics Canada found that all of Canada's 247 streetcars were owned by the City of Toronto. The vast majority (87.9%) of these streetcars were purchased from 1970 to 1999, while 12.1% were purchased in 2016. Reflecting the age of the streetcars, 88.0% were reported to be in very poor condition, while 12.0% were reported to be in good condition.
Transportation in Canada | Light rail systems
Most of the 11 routes of the Toronto streetcar system operate in mixed traffic, but three of them (509 Harbourfront, 510 Spadina and 512 St. Clair) as well as a portion of the 501 Queen in the median of The Queensway have similarity to light rail in that there is a high degree of separation from road traffic by using reserved lanes with some track in tunnels.
Light rail in North America | Toronto
Beginning after Canada Day, street parking enforcement as well as fare evasion enforcement returned to Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission respectively. Since July 2, face masks or coverings have been required to be worn on the TTC. After July 7, masks were required in enclosed, public places.
John Tory | COVID-19 pandemic
Significant portions of the railway network in the City of Toronto have been sold by the commercial railways to GO Transit, the provincial commuter rail operator. Toronto is served by inter-city Via Rail to other Canadian cities and Amtrak's daily New York City trains through Union Station, a grand neoclassical structure in the heart of the city's downtown, which is shared with GO Transit's commuter trains. The Union Pearson Express, an airport rail link from Toronto Pearson International Airport to Union Station and the central business district, started operation on June 6, 2015. It was completed in time for the 2015 Pan American Games.
Transportation in Toronto | Railways
As a result of the man-made environment, large lots, and sprawled out nodes of commercial activity, the neighbourhood is highly reliant on the automobile for everyday activities, with approximately two thirds of the York Mills population using it as a primary mode of transportation . Having Highway 401 in such close proximity adds to the benefits of owning a car, as the degree of mobility to the rest of Toronto greatly increases. Public transit is reported to be less than a quarter of the population's primary method of commute. Deeper in the residential areas, pedestrian walkways are often only found on one side of the road.
York Mills | Transportation
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) uses buses and other vehicles for public transportation. In 2018, the TTC bus system had 159 bus routes carrying over 264 million riders over of routes with buses travelling in the year. , the TTC has almost 200 bus routes in operation. Bus routes extend throughout the city and are integrated with the subway system and the streetcar system, with free transfers among the three systems. Many subway stations are equipped with bus terminals, and a few with streetcar terminals, located within a fare paid area. , the bus system has about 2400 buses. Bus propulsion includes diesel, diesel-electric hybrid, battery-electric and gasoline.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | Introduction
The backbone of the TTC is a basic subway system with two main lines, the U-shaped Line 1 Yonge–University and the east–west Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, running along principal streets and connecting Toronto's outlying areas with its downtown core. Each line also connects to a secondary feeder near one of its outer ends: Line 4 Sheppard in the north and Line 3 Scarborough in the east; the latter uses a different technology (the Intermediate Capacity Transit System, using S-series rolling stock) from the rest of the subway lines. Line 1's western arm even extends outside of Toronto city limits at Steeles Avenue to Vaughan at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre station.
Public transportation in Toronto | Subway system
All TTC buses have bicycle racks. Bicycles are allowed on the subway outside of the morning and evening rush hours. The Toronto Bike Plan, in the "Cycling and transit" chapter, aims to improve accessibility to bikes on transit as well as parking at transit locations. Additionally, GO Transit also provides bike racks on all their bus routes, and allows bicycles on their trains outside of weekday rush hours. As of 2008, folding bicycles are allowed at all times, including rush hour. Summer GO Train service to Niagara includes dedicated bicycle cars which have all seats on the bottom floor removed and replaced with bicycle racks.
Cycling in Toronto | Public transit
Approximately 4,100 shelters are managed by Toronto Transportation. Some shelters are solar powered and include next vehicle arrival displays. There are four versions of shelters found in the city: There are ten sets (men and women) of public washrooms located on the TTC system, all at subway stations that are major transfer points, at the ends of subway lines, or former ends of lines. All (with the exception of and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre stations, which only connect with regional buses) are located within the fare paid area and thus available only to TTC passengers.
Toronto Transit Commission | Stations, stops and terminals
Union Station is the busiest public transportation structure of any kind in Canada, including air travel. It handles 65 million passengers annually, with an average of 200,000 passengers each day. Approximately two-thirds of those passengers are GO train or GO bus commuters, while another 20 million take the subway. The remainder are intercity travellers between other cities in Canada and the United States.
Union Station (Toronto) | Passenger services
In 2020, as part of a municipal initiative dubbed RapidTO, the TTC started to set up priority bus lanes along several routes in Toronto. These are different from existing High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes in that they are in effect 24 hours per day seven days per week, and may only be used by buses and bicycles, with taxis and private vehicles not being allowed. The priority bus lanes are identified by paint and signage. The COVID-19 pandemic provided the impetus for the RapidTO project. The lanes are to improve TTC service in lower-income neighbourhoods, which house employees performing essential services during the pandemic.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | Priority bus lanes
Since the retirement of the last lift-equipped Orion Vs on December 4, 2015, all 170 bus routes have been 100% accessible, using low-floor buses (Nova Bus LF Series and Orion VII). Not all stops along an accessible route are accessible (in particular, many subway stations where buses terminate are not accessible). The TTC's low-floor buses are identified by blue lights located on both sides of the front route display.
Toronto Transit Commission accessibility | Buses
Toronto has 9500 roads or 5200 kilometres across the city. Toronto is largely built on a grid-based road system with a few notable exceptions. These include streets such as Davenport Road and Vaughan Road, which follow an old native trail, while others, such as Kingston Road, were originally constructed to link Toronto with other settlements in Ontario. The street network downtown mostly consists of a dense network of four-lane arterial and collector roads typical of an older North American city. Outside the downtown core, most arterial roads have two or three lanes of traffic in each direction. Toronto's road system was mainly designed for vehicular traffic, and is quite easy to navigate.
Transportation in Toronto | Roads
Cycling in Toronto has improved over the years as the residents and municipal government have become more interested in it as a form of transportation. Toronto has a major program in place to dramatically expand the network through on-road separate bike lanes, with the goal of having any cyclist in the city proper within a five-minute ride of a designated bike route. The network includes a planned 500 km of on-street bike lanes, and another 250 km of off-road paved trails. To date, only a small portion of the network has been built. Gaining approval to put in the on-street bike lanes has proven to be a serious problem, and less than 90 km of the planned 500 km have been set up so far.
Transportation in Toronto | Cycling
As for 2017, all 1,869 buses are low floor to allow for easy accessible by mobility devices. While all subway trains are accessible, only 35 of the 69 stations have elevators. The SRT cars are not accessible. On the Toronto streetcar network, the Flexity Outlook streetcars are fully accessible. However, not all stops are easily accessible for customers in wheelchairs, particularly in winter.
Wheel-Trans | Assessibility outside of Wheel-Trans
The Toronto streetcar system is a network of ten streetcar routes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is the third busiest light-rail system in North America. The network is concentrated primarily in Downtown Toronto and in proximity to the city's waterfront. Much of the streetcar route network dates from the 19th century. Most of Toronto's streetcar routes operate on street trackage shared with vehicular traffic, and streetcars stop on demand at frequent stops like buses. Toronto's streetcars provide most of the downtown core's surface transit service. Four of the TTC's five most heavily used surface routes are streetcar routes.
Toronto streetcar system | Introduction
There are several safety systems for use by passengers in emergencies: A trial program began in 2008 with Toronto EMS and has been expanded and made permanent, with paramedics on hand at several stations during peak hours: Spadina and Bloor–Yonge (morning peak: 7am–10am) and Union and Eglinton (evening peak: 2pm–6pm)
Toronto subway | Safety
The Wheel-Trans door-to-door service has been available since the mid-1970s. Since the 1990s, the TTC has focused on providing accessible services on conventional bus routes, the RT and subway. 46 of the 75 stations on Lines 1, 2, and 3 are wheel-chair accessible are equipped with elevators, and all stations on Line 4 are fully accessible. In December 2011, all bus routes became accessible with the retirement of the commission's last inaccessible buses. On August 31, 2014, the commission launched its new fleet of low-floor Bombardier's Flexity Outlook streetcars. With the decommissioning of the last of the Commission's non-accessible high-floor CLRV vehicles on December 29, 2019, all TTC streetcar routes are now served by low-floor Flexity vehicles.
Toronto Transit Commission | Accessibility
cities that abandoned streetcar service.
Public transportation in Toronto | Toronto Transportation Commission (1921–1953)
Wheel-Trans is a specialized accessible transit service in Toronto, provided by the TTC. It involves door-to-door accessible transit service for persons with physical disabilities using its fleet of accessible minibuses. The TTC also operates designated 400-series community routes.
Public transportation in Toronto | Paratransit
Four bus lengths are used: regular buses long, articulated buses long and minibuses either or long. All buses are fully accessible with low floors and, except for minibuses, all are equipped with bicycle racks.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | Introduction
The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is a multimodal rail network consisting of three heavy-capacity rail lines operating predominantly underground, and one elevated medium-capacity rail line. Two light rail lines, which will operate both at-grade and underground, are under construction. In 1954, the TTC opened Canada's first underground rail line, then known as the "Yonge subway", under Yonge Street between Union Station and Eglinton Avenue with 12 stations. As of 2018, the network encompasses 75 stations and of route.
Toronto subway | Introduction
Expansion is underway to facilitate all-day 15-minute or better commuter train service, electrification and increased ridership on five of the busiest lines. Local transit is provided by municipal agencies, the largest of which is the Toronto Transit Commission, which operates three subway lines and one light metro line and an extensive bus and streetcar network. Rapid transit systems outside Toronto include the VIVA bus rapid transit in York Region, the ION light rail system in Kitchener-Waterloo, and the Mississauga transitway. Line 5 and Line 6 are under construction LRT/subway lines in Toronto. The Hurontario LRT is currently under construction in Peel Region, as well as various bus rapid transit projects in Peel and York Regions.
Golden Horseshoe | Transportation
The regional population of Toronto is expected to reach 7 million people within the next 10 years, up from the current 5.5 million, making it one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in North America. Over the last couple of decades, traffic volumes has been increasing steadily in the Greater Toronto Area. However, road and transit investments have not kept pace with the growth in demand. Urban sprawl is a major factor: some commuters travel significant distances within the city and the surrounding GTA for employment. Downtown-to-suburb and suburb-suburb commutes have been increasing as well, which existing public transit services are not organized to efficiently accommodate.
Transportation in Toronto | Future prospects and concerns
Based on data released by Transit, demand for public transport in Canada dropped an average of 83 percent in late March compared to previous years. On March 17, the Edmonton Transit Service started using Saturday schedules for all of its routes 7 days a week. On April 1, Calgary Transit also reduced service. In Saskatoon, ridership had dropped by over 80 percent by March 30. Ridership on the Toronto Area's two largest transit agencies - specifically Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and GO Transit - had fallen 80 to 90 percent by April 13, and both had reduced service and/or suspended routes.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public transport | Canada
The TTC also operates door-to-door paratransit service for the elderly and disabled, known as Wheel-Trans. The TTC is the most heavily used urban mass transit system in Canada and the third largest in North America, after the New York City Transit Authority and Mexico City Metro.
Toronto Transit Commission | Introduction
Niagara is well served by public transit. King Street West is served by the Toronto Transit Commission's 501 Queen and 504 King streetcar, which with an average of 50,000 passengers per day is the busiest surface route in the city's system.
Niagara, Toronto | Public transportation
Based on 2013 statistics, the TTC operated of routes on streetcar network (double or single track) throughout Toronto. There are 10 regular streetcar routes on the TTC network. Due to a shortage of streetcars, as well as various construction projects, some streetcar routes are temporarily supplemented or replacedpartly or entirelywith buses. Some routes operate wholly or partly within their own rights-of-way and stop on demand at frequent stops.
Toronto streetcar system | Routes
The small coverage also reduces the overall usefulness of the network, as many of the lanes do not connect with each other (see Metcalfe's Law). In 2011, the Public Bike System Company launched a bicycle sharing system known as BIXI. The system was renamed Bike Share Toronto after it was taken over by the Toronto Parking Authority. Two major off-road paved trails along the Don and Humber river valleys provide a backbone for transport on the east and west side of the downtown area. However, both trails are non-continuous and quite narrow in areas, making them unsuitable as major transport routes.
Transportation in Toronto | Cycling
Unlike the city systems, the radial (interurban) operators used larger rail cars. Radial routes ceased due to introduction of inter-urban buses and new highways that allowed for better access to many areas served by rail service. Rail service returned to some of the communities served by the T&YRR by regional rail service of GO Transit in the 1970s.
Toronto and York Radial Railway | Comments
Beginning after Canada Day, street parking enforcement, as well as fare evasion enforcement, will return to Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission respectively. Beginning July 2, face masks or face coverings will be required to be worn on the TTC. Beginning July 7, face masks or face coverings will be required in enclosed, public places by law in the city of Toronto. On July 29, the Ontario government announced Toronto was allowed to enter Stage 3 of reopening on July 31 at 12:01 am.
COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto | July
In addition to surface-level pedestrian sidewalks, much of downtown Toronto is also connected through the PATH Underground, an extensive network of underground pedestrian tunnels, skyways, and at-grade walkways.
Downtown Toronto | Transportation
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto and York Region in Canada. It is the oldest and largest of the urban transit service providers in the Greater Toronto Area, with numerous connections to systems serving its surrounding municipalities. Established as the Toronto Transportation Commission in 1921, the TTC owns and operates four rapid transit lines with 75 stations, over 149 bus routes, and 11 streetcar lines. On an average weekday in 2019, 1.69million passengers made 2.76million unlinked trips on the TTC, with the number of trips about evenly divided between the subways (1.34million) and buses and streetcars (1.34million).
Toronto Transit Commission | Introduction
In 2009, 14 of 18 persons who jumped in front of oncoming subway trains in Toronto's mass transit system were killed by the direct impact, electrocution from the high voltage rail, or from entrapment underneath the cars. Although 1,200 suicide attempts or deaths have occurred in the Toronto subway from 1954 to 2010, with a peak of 54 suicide incidents in 1984, the current rate represents four per cent of Toronto's annual suicides. In 2010, the Toronto Transit Commission reported a total of 26 "suicide incidents" (attempts and deaths), and seven during the first five months of 2011.
Suicide in Canada | Methods
The Ontario Line, announced in April 2019, is a successor project to the long-planned Relief Line that serves Downtown Toronto. Unlike the Relief Line, the Ontario Line is planned to operate from Science Centre station to Exhibition Place and use different rail technology.
Public transportation in Toronto | Ontario Line
Since the late 2000s, the Toronto-Niagara Bike Train Initiative has helped connect Toronto cyclists with Niagara Region bike trails via Via Rail.
Transportation in Toronto | Cycling
Buses are a large part of the TTC operations today, but before the 1960s they played a lesser role to streetcar operations. Bus service in Toronto started in 1921, but it was not until the creation of the TTC that buses become a part of public transit. There were a few independent bus operators that continued to provide inter-urban bus services: Here is a list of historic and current buses used by the old TTC:
Toronto Transportation Commission | Buses
In 2007, Toronto's robbery rate also ranked relatively high, with 407.1 robberies per 100,000 people, compared to Detroit (675.1), Chicago (588.6), Los Angeles (348.5), Vancouver (366.2), New York City (265.9), Montreal (235.3), San Diego (158.8), and Portland (150.5). While homicide rates in Toronto were relatively low for several years, they started to increase in 2016 until Toronto experienced the highest homicide rate among major Canadian cities in 2018; in that single year, the city surpassed the homicide rate of New York City. Homicide rates declined again in 2019; when compared across major metropolitan areas, the Greater Toronto Area ranked ninth in Canada with a homicide rate of 2.26 per 100,000.
Crime in Toronto | Introduction
Most TTC surface routes terminate at loops, side streets or subway station complexes. The TTC system is one of the few mass transit systems in Canada where many surface routes can be accessed inside a paid-fare zone common to other routes or subway lines. This feature allows boarding via the back doors at terminals, reduces the usage of paper transfers, and the need of operators to check for proof-of-payment. However, if people are caught entering fare-paid terminals illegally from the street, they could be fined $500 for fare evasion. The shelters in the system are installed and maintained under contracts with Astral Media (later became a part of by Bell Media) (with CBS Outdoor since 2006 and previously Viacom Media) and Toronto Transportation Services.
Toronto Transit Commission | Stations, stops and terminals
However, by law, other local transit agencies are prohibited from carrying passengers wholly within the City of Toronto. Therefore, YRT and MiWay buses can only drop off passengers inbound and pick up passengers outbound while within the boundaries of Toronto. As these systems have separate fares from the TTC, regional buses that use fare-paid TTC bus terminals at subway stations drop off passengers on-street outside the stations. Boarding is done inside the terminals, and riders pay the suburban transit fare upon entering buses. Via Rail and Amtrak connect with the TTC at Union Station, while Greyhound and Ontario Northland intercity coaches also connect with the TTC at the Toronto Coach, Scarborough Centre, , and Yorkdale bus terminals.
Toronto Transit Commission | Connecting transit
The Toronto Transportation Services, formerly Metro Roads and Works, is a division of the City of Toronto government. It is responsible for all public and non-provincially maintained roadways in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Toronto Transportation Services | Introduction
In December 2015, the TTC retired the last of its lift-equipped high-floor buses, which were introduced in 1996, making all 170 bus routes 100% low-floor accessible.
Toronto Transit Commission accessibility | Introduction
Most of Toronto has a squarish grid of main streets that originated as township roads and are spaced at 1¼-mile intervals (about 2 km). By running overnight buses along every second road in the grid, all parts of Metro would be reached and 86% of the population would be within a 15-minute walk (taken as 1.25 km or ¾ mile). To avoid excessively long trips, some grid streets such as Eglinton Avenue would require two bus routes meeting end-to-end, but still just 15 routes would be needed to form the grid. The 506 Carlton route had sufficient traffic to be retained in addition, for a total of 16 routes.
Blue Night Network | 1986 report
A 2013 study by Walk Score ranked Toronto the 2nd most walkable city in Canada. In addition to surface-level paths and sidewalks, a network of underground pedestrian tunnels are used to connect the various buildings in Downtown Toronto. Known as PATH, it was intended to alleviate pedestrian traffic of downtown's sidewalks. Underground pedestrian tunnels were used in Toronto since 1900, although the construction of the larger PATH network did not commence until the 1960s. Spanning more than , with of retail space, the PATH network is recognized as the world's largest underground shopping complex by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Transportation in Toronto | Walking
One key element to this integration would be a single fare system, called Presto, to improve the convenience of transfers between different transit agencies. On March 23, 2006, the Government of Ontario announced funding for the extension northward of the TTC's Spadina Subway Line to the York University campus and beyond into the proposed Vaughan Metropolitan Centre in neighbouring Vaughan, York Region. When completed, it will be the first extension of the TTC subway system beyond the current post-1998 municipal border of Toronto. However, Toronto's existing transportation network, particularly public transit, have not kept up with the growth of the city.
Transportation in Toronto | Future prospects and concerns
From 1820 to 1896, tolls were collected on roads leaving the old city boundaries: No Toronto roads have been tolled since 1896; the closest is Highway 407 in Durham Region, York Region and Peel Region; the expressway runs northeast, north and northwest of the city, respectively.
Transportation in Toronto | Toll roads
Toronto currently operates the largest streetcar system in the Americas in terms of track length and ridership. Operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, the streetcar system is the only large-scale streetcar system existing in Canada, excluding heritage streetcar, or light rail systems that are operated in other Canadian municipalities. The streetcar system was established in 1861, and used a variety of vehicles in its history, including horse-drawn streetcars, Peter Witt streetcars, the PCC streetcar, and the Canadian Light Rail Vehicle and its articulated counterpart, the Articulated Light Rail Vehicle. Since 29 December 2019, the system exclusively uses the Flexity Outlook made by Bombardier Transportation.
Tram | Canada
Toronto Union Station serves as a hub for VIA Rail's intercity services in Central Canada and includes services to various parts of Ontario, "Corridor" services to Montreal and national capital Ottawa, and long-distance services to Vancouver and New York City. The Toronto Coach Terminal in downtown Toronto also serves as a hub for intercity bus services in Southern Ontario, served by multiple companies and providing a comprehensive network of services in Ontario and neighbouring provinces and states. GO Transit provides intercity bus services from the Union Station Bus Terminal and other bus terminals in the city to destinations within the greater Toronto area.
Toronto | Intercity transportation
In response to Toronto's road safety crisis and rising rate of pedestrian injuries and fatalities, and citing data from cities across the globe that demonstrates that slower speed limits save lives, Keesmaat committed to reduce the speed limit on all residential roads in Toronto to 30 km/h (currently the speed limit is 50 km/h, or 40 km/h for school zones), and to make every school zone safe by design.
Jennifer Keesmaat | Road Safety
In conjunction with that increase in murders, overall shooting incidents also increased from a low of 177 in 2014 to an all-time high of 490 in 2019, even outpacing gun incidents that occurred in 2018. At the same time, gun deaths increased from a low of 22 in 2013 to a high of 51 in 2018 and dropped slightly to 44 in 2019.
Crime in Toronto | 2015–present
Funding for the daily operations of the TTC have become chronically low with the removal of provincial funding by the premier Mike Harris in the late 90s, leaving the City of Toronto as the sole source of operational subsidies.
Transportation in Toronto | Future prospects and concerns
The Toronto Island ferries connect the Toronto Islands in Lake Ontario to the mainland of Toronto. The ferries provide access to the islands for recreational visitors and access to the mainland for island residents from the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal. A ferry and pedestrian tunnel with moving walkways provide access to the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on the western end of Toronto Island from the foot of Bathurst Street.
Public transportation in Toronto | Ferry system
In 2017, the average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Toronto, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 96 minutes. 34% of public transit riders ride for more than two hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 14 minutes, while 10% of riders wait for over twenty minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is , while 25% travel for over in a single direction.
Public transportation in Toronto | Statistics
Toronto's streetcar system is one of the few in North America still operating along street-running tracks. It has been operating since the mid-19th century. Horsecar service started in 1861, and 600 V DC overhead electric service began in 1892. New TTC routes since the 1940s have generally been operated by other modes of transportation, and the less busy streetcar routes have also been converted. Streetcar routes are now focused on the downtown area, with none running farther north than St. Clair Avenue, from Lake Ontario. Up until 1995, the TTC operated a fleet of 765 PCC-type streetcars, 540 of which it purchased new.
Toronto Transit Commission | Streetcars
TransHelp is a separate accessible transit system operated by and serving the cities of Brampton and Mississauga (where conventional transit systems accessible for independent wheelchair users are operated by each city as Brampton Transit and Miway). It is used by people with mobility problems, are unable to climb or descend stairs, or cannot walk a distance of 175 metres. Less-independent wheelchair users are allowed to use Transhelp, but the elderly or dialysis patients are not automatically eligible. Transhelp is the most popular paratransit service being offered by the Region: it is projected to make 403,000 trips in 2012.
Region of Peel Accessible Transportation Services | TransHelp
Between 1930 and 1948, the city replaced various TTC-operated radial railway routes extending to surrounding municipalities with bus routes. On 1 January 1954, the TTC became the sole public transit operator in the newly formed Metropolitan Toronto. Thus, the TTC took over some private bus operations that existed within the Metro area. These included: Between 1947 and 1993, the TTC operated a trolley bus system on medium ridership routes. In 1947, the TTC created four trolley bus routes (Lansdowne, Ossington, Annette, and Weston Road) in the west end that replaced streetcar routes. These routes were based at the Lansdowne garage.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | 19th and 20th centuries
The safest part of Toronto is north Scarborough from Victoria Park Ave. to the Pickering border, north of Highway 401. In 2008, councillors Norm Kelly and Michael Thompson argued that the media was distorting how crime was reported in Scarborough. They noted that whenever a shooting occurred in the rest of the city the location was given as the nearest major intersection, while when a shooting happened in Scarborough the location was given as 'Scarborough'. According to the councillors, this gave people an erroneous impression of Scarborough as 'crime-ridden'. They proposed that news outlets sign a 'media protocol' so that all crime locations were given as intersections.
Scarborough, Toronto | Crime
The TTC operates six types of bus routes: The TTC also offers its Wheel-Trans service for registered users with disabilities. This service operates door-to-door and requires booking in advance. Wheel-Trans uses minibuses and has no predefined routes. Many regular bus routes are divided into branch routes, which deviate slightly from the original route, or which terminate at different points along the route. A route is referred to by its route number and/or name (for example, 189 Stockyards). Routes are named after the street or area it serves. All of the TTC's regular routes, except for 99 Arrow Road, 171 Mt.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | Operations
Public transportation is provided by the Toronto Transit Commission's (TTC) bus system, with several routes operating through the neighbourhood. In addition to TTC bus routes, access to GO Transit commuter rail lines, Lakeshore East and Stouffville may be accessed from Scarborough GO station. Major east-west roads in Cliffside include St. Clair Avenue, and Kingston Road.
Cliffside, Toronto | Transportation
The cities of Vancouver, Calgary, and the province of Manitoba, also currently have, or are developing, similar interoperable Heavy USAR capacity.
Toronto (CAN-TF3) Heavy Urban Search and Rescue | Introduction
Urban rail transit in Canada encompasses a broad range of rail mass transit systems, including commuter rail, rapid transit, light rail, and streetcar systems.
Urban rail transit in Canada | Introduction
PATH provides an important contribution to the economic viability of the city's downtown core, and is also used to supplement sidewalk capacity in downtown Toronto. The system facilitates pedestrian linkages to public transit, accommodating more than 200,000 daily commuters, and thousands of additional tourists and residents en route to sports and cultural events. Its underground location provides pedestrians with a safe haven from the winter cold and snow, alongside the summer heat and humidity.
PATH (Toronto) | Design
This station became wheelchair accessible in 2004. An elevator provides access from the streetcar and bus platforms at street level, where the main entrance and collector's booth are located, to an intermediate mezzanine area and directly to the platform for eastbound trains. A second elevator provides a connection between the mezzanine and the westbound subway platform. To facilitate accessibility automatic sliding doors were added at the street entrance and on the north side of the station building, along with an accessible faregate and improved signage. A space is reserved for Wheel-Trans vehicles.
Main Street station (Toronto) | Description
After a substantial decrease in homicides after the 2005 "year of the gun" and a stable period 2009–2015, the murder rate in Toronto started to increase again drastically in 2016. The homicide rate jumped to 75 homicides in 2016 and spiked in 2018 with 96 homicides in 2018, which is partially due to the Toronto van attack, which resulted in the murder of 10 people on April 23. This increased Toronto's homicide rate to 3.5 per 100,000 people in 2018, the highest among major Canadian cities and higher than New York City for the same year. The homicide total dropped again in 2019 to 78 (a rate of 2.7 per 100,000 people) below the rate of most US cities, but still higher than the Canadian average of 1.8.
Crime in Toronto | 2015–present
As much of the land surrounding the major arterials are claimed by private residences, there is no room to develop along pedestrian paths and make walking a more appealing option. The combined effect of this lack of appeal, poor infrastructural maintenance, and extended distance in between points of interests justify the populations' avoidance of walking, with a mere three percent of the population claim walking as their primary mode of commute. York Mills is an example of a neighbourhood stuck within the cycle of auto-dependency. Public transportation is provided by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). Services provided TTC include Line 1 Yonge–University of the Toronto subway, and several bus routes.
York Mills | Transportation
Buses are a large part of TTC operations today. However, before about 1960, they played a minor role compared to streetcars. Buses began to operate in the city in 1921, and became necessary for areas without streetcar service. After an earlier experiment in the 1920s, trolley buses were used on a number of routes starting in 1947, but all trolley bus routes were converted to bus operation between 1991 and 1993. The TTC always used the term "trolley coach" to refer to its trackless electric vehicles. Hundreds of old buses have been replaced with the low-floor Orion VII, and the TTC has acquired many hybrid electric buses.
Toronto Transit Commission | Buses
The MTO also estimated that almost 40% of commuters were carpooling on Highway 403 eastbound in the morning peak hour, compared to 14% in 2003, and 37% of commuters were carpooling on Highway 403 westbound in the afternoon peak hour, compared to 22% in 2003. The average rush hour speed on the HOV lanes is , compared to in general-traffic lanes on Highway 403. Temporary HOV lanes were added to selections of 400-series highways in the Greater Toronto Area for the 2015 Pan American Games and 2015 Parapan American Games.
High-occupancy vehicle lane | Canada
Routes extending beyond the Metro limits continued to be separate radial routes, so the zones still had the effect of fare stages, but within Metro, it became possible to change buses within a suburban zone. In 1956, Suburban Zones 2 and 3 were combined as Zone 2 and the Central Zone became the new Zone 1.
Toronto Transit Commission fares | Zone fares
Toronto is considered to be the hub for public transport on the western side of Lake Macquarie. The area is served by a privately operated bus service; 'Hunter Valley Buses', which services the areas to the west, south and north of the town. Toronto was served by train services on the Toronto railway line until March 1990, when the NSW Government closed the line because of low passenger levels. The train service was replaced by a bus service which connects Toronto with Fassifern railway station. Train services operating from Fassifern include services to Sydney and Newcastle as well as the XPT service to Brisbane.
Toronto, New South Wales | Transport
Individual route schedules are available online.
Toronto Transit Commission | Schedules and route information
GO Transit is the inter-regional public transit system serving the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. GO carries over 65 million passengers a year using an extensive network of train and bus services; rail service is provided by diesel locomotives pulling trains of unpowered double-deck passenger cars, while most bus service is provided by inter-city coaches. Canada's first such public system, GO Transit began regular passenger service on May 23, 1967, under the auspices of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Over time it has been constituted in a variety of public-sector configurations, but it became an operating division of Metrolinx in 2009.
Metrolinx | GO Transit
With the retirement of the last high-floor Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV) streetcars on December 29, 2019, the entire TTC streetcar fleet consisted of accessible Flexity Outlook vehicles. Former TTC manager David Gunn criticized the new streetcar order: "[T]hey're not accessible. The floor height is about a foot. You won't be able to load a wheelchair on the street. There will be ramps, but the floor height is going to be about a foot. The ramps will be too steep."
Toronto Transit Commission accessibility | Streetcars
In 1920, a Provincial Act created the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) and, with the expiration of the TRC's franchise in 1921, the Commission took over and amalgamated nine existing fare systems within the city limits. Between 1921 and 1953, the TTC added 35 new routes in the city and extended 20 more. It also operated 23 suburban routes on a service-for-cost basis. It abandoned the unprofitable North Yonge Railways radial railway line. The Great Depression and World War II both placed heavy burdens on the ability of municipalities to finance themselves. During most of the 1930s, municipal governments had to cope with general welfare costs and assistance to the unemployed.
Public transportation in Toronto | Toronto Transportation Commission (1921–1953)
TTC buses may be accessed at subway stations, and bus stops located throughout the neighbourhood. In addition to the TTC, bus routes operated by GO Transit and York Region Transit may be accessed at Finch, and Sheppard–Yonge station.
Willowdale, Toronto | Public transportation
Regional commuter rail is limited to the provincially owned GO Transit, and serves a train-bus network spanning the Golden Horseshoe region, with Union Station in Toronto serving as the transport hub.
Ontario | Railways