Toronto Transportation Commission

Before 1954, the Toronto Transit Commission was called the Toronto Transportation Commission.

History

Toronto's first public transportation company was the Williams Omnibus Bus Line and owned by undertaker Burt Williams. The franchise carried passengers in horse-drawn stagecoaches along Yonge Street between the St. Lawrence Market and the Village of Yorkville for sixpence in 1849. The city granted the first franchise for a street railway in 1861 to Alexander Easton under the franchise of Toronto Street Railways (TSR) and Metropolitan Street Railway of Toronto (MSR) in 1885. In 1891, the franchise was passed onto William Mackenzie's Toronto Railway Company for 30 years. Outside of the city there were a number of other operators, including:

* Toronto and York Radial Railway
* Toronto Suburban Railway

Prior to the establishment of the TTC, the City of Toronto operated their own system under the Toronto Civic Railways (TCR). However, the TCR routes were operating in areas not served by the private TRC. In 1920, a Provincial Act created the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) and, 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 money-losing radial railway line (known as 'interurbans' elsewhere in the continent), North Yonge Railways.

The Great Depression and the Second World War 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. The TTC realized that improvements had to be made despite the depression and in 1936 purchased the first of the newly-developed PCC streetcars. The war put an end to the depression and increased migration from rural to urban areas. After the war, municipalities faced the problem of extending services to accommodate the increased population. Ironically, the one municipal service that prospered during the war years was public transit; employers had to stagger work hours in order to avoid overcrowding the streetcars. Toronto continued their program of purchasing PCC cars, running the world's largest fleet, including many obtained second-hand from U.S. cities that abandoned streetcar service.

With the creation of Metro Toronto in 1954 and the building of the Yonge subway line, the Toronto Transportation Commission was renamed Toronto Transit Commission.

treetcar

The Toronto Transportation Commission began as a streetcar operator and remained the core operations before 1954:

All remaining TRC cars as of 1921 and all TCR cars as of 1921 was absorbed into the TTC.

Trolley bus lines

The TTC once operated trolley buses on 10 routes, mostly on downtown routes and a few in the northern limits of the City of Toronto. The first route began operation with four buses on June 19, 1922 from a shed on Merton St. This early trolley coach operation was replaced by a streetcar line. In later years, many of these routes replaced streetcar routes, using the old overhead power system which was adapted to dipole service. The buses consisted of a standard bus platform with electric motors with two poles connected to electrical lines above. The whole system was scrapped abruptly, apparently due to high operating cost and the age of the vehicles used; this decision has been criticised by some, who note that the prices of gasoline and natural gas have increased dramatically in the subsequent years.

Routes served by trolley buses:

* 4 Annette
* 6 Bay
* 40 Junction
* 47 Lansdowne
* 61 Nortown/Nortown West
* 63 Ossington
* 74 Mount Pleasant
* 89 Weston Road
* 97 Yonge
* 103 Nortown East

Here is a list of trolley vehicle types:

Ferry Service

The TTC had once operated the ferry service from Toronto Island. Starting from 1927 to 1962, the TTC used the following ferry boats:

* Mayflower 1890-1938 - built by John Doty Engine & Ferry Company and acquired from the Toronto Ferry Co.
* Primrose 1890-1938 - sister ship to the Mayflower, built by John Doty Engine & Ferry Company and acquired from the Toronto Ferry Co.
* Bluebell 1906-1955 - built by Polson Iron Works Limited for Toronto Ferry Co.
* Trillium 1910-1957 - built by Polson Iron Works Limited for Toronto Ferry Co.; re-enter service 1976 with Metro Parks:

References

* The TTC Story by Mike Filey
* Not A One Horse Town by Mike Filey
* Reflections & Recollections Transfer Points January 2005
* Independents Take Over - TTC Goes Metro Wide Transfer Points August-September 2004
* Toronto Transit Commission Goes Metro Wide Transfer Point December 2004
* TTC Archives

ee also

* Toronto Transit Commission

External links

* [http://www.ttc.ca/ Official TTC site]
* [http://transit.toronto.on.ca/ News, history and discussion]
* [http://transit.toronto.on.ca/trolleybus/index.shtml Transit Toronto - Trolley Buses]
* [http://transit.toronto.on.ca/bus/index.shtml Transit Toronto Buses]
* [http://transit.toronto.on.ca/streetcar/index.shtml Transit Toronto Streetcar]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/ca/TORONTO/graycoach.html Gray Coach Roster]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/ca/TORONTO/history/island1890.html Toronto Ferries]
* [http://www.geocities.com/public_transportation/independentbuslines.html Independent Bus Lines]
* [http://busdrawings.com/index_ttc.htm Drawings of TTC vehicles] ( [http://transit.toronto.on.ca/bus/8003.shtml and some more] ) by Peter McLaughlin
* [http://www.trolleybuses.net/tor/tor.htm Tom's North American Trolleybuses - Toronto page]