The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system that serves the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and its surrounding areas. Toronto is the “City in a Park” with more trees than human beings. Lots of space in the city that’s useless for development because of flooding issues has pretty much been converted to parkland. In addition, there’s very little urban blight in the city as properties are generally kept in good condition and old factory sites often get converted to housing or commercial development.
Here are some key points to include to know about Toronto subway!
History:
The Toronto subway opened in 1954 with the Yonge line, which was the first rapid transit line in Canada. Since then, the system has grown to include four lines and 75 stations.
Lines:
The Toronto subway currently has four lines: Line 1 (Yonge-University), Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth), Line 3 (Scarborough), and Line 5 (Eglinton Crosstown, which is currently under construction).
Stations:
The Toronto subway has 75 stations, with most stations being underground. There are also a few elevated stations and one station (Museum) that is partially underground and partially above ground.
Ridership:
The Toronto subway serves approximately 1.8 million riders per week, making it one of the busiest rapid transit systems in North America.
Fares:
The Toronto subway uses a fare system called the Presto card, which is a reloadable electronic card that can be used to pay for transit fares across the Greater Toronto Area.
Accessibility:
The Toronto subway has made efforts to improve accessibility for passengers with disabilities, including the installation of elevators at many stations.
Future plans:
The Toronto subway is constantly expanding and improving. In addition to the Eglinton Crosstown line, there are plans to extend Line 1 to Richmond Hill, extend Line 2 to Scarborough Centre, and build a new Relief Line to relieve congestion on Line 1.
Very interesting information through Wikipedia.
Toronto manages and sometimes manages to excel. Most recently, they quietly made King Street through the Financial District a streetcar, bicycling and walking-only corridor. Cars are required to turn right at pretty much every corner, not drive through. This has eliminated congestion and allowed the 65,000 streetcar users in that corridor daily much faster transit times. Total commuter throughput is up.
And then there are the separated Bloor Street bike lanes. They finally made it into plan and this year’s trial was a success and will be made permanent.
Both are complete urban planning wins. I’m amazed either made it through. Especially the museum part is very amazing.
However, if you’re riding in the prime commuter direction (northbound in evening, southbound in afternoon) you won’t find any seats on the train for most of your trip until you get to the edges of the line. It could be standing room from King up to Finch.
The Green line is slightly better. At the main junction stations it is likely that trains will arrive at Yonge or St. George full and leave with a lot fewer people. The same is true in the morning - if you get on at Kennedy or Kipling, you will find a seat, but once you get to Pape or Dufferin, it will be standing room only. However, it’s very rare that you won’t be able to get on a train - there would have to be a major delay.
Line 3 is not all that busy, although if you’ve ever been on the platform in rush hour there will be a rush of people either to or from Line 1. Most of the time, in both directions, there will be seats. However, the whole ride is less than 15 minutes anyway.
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