Miscellaneous TTC links and resources

While researching this project, I discovered and made use of many fascinating TTC- and subway-themed online articles and resources. It’s my pleasure to share this extensive assembly of links (See also: Thanks and Acknowledgments for archival sources).



‘Every Station Club’ Members - List of Honour

I salute every valiant Rocket Rider who has completed this epic journey of exploration. True Torontonians, each of you! [For the purposes of inclusion on this list, it’s whether you went to (and got off the train at) all the stations that existed at the time of your journey]


If you’ve completed the trek and documented it online, send me a link and I’ll add it to this list of honour. 

Note: You only make my list if you exit the train at each station. Consequently Adham Fisher’s supposed ‘World Record’ 2:46:01 trip, while admirable in its own way, doesn’t make the cut. Ditto for the RMTransit, and Miles in Transit runs. Simply travelling through every node is a different, easier quest than actually visiting all the stations.

Ongoing:

  • @ttcshowcase is in the process of taking the photographic journey. Wish them luck!!

 

More TTC ruminations of mine/projects


TTC subway tunnel looking east to Main station.
Tunnel view looking east to Main Station, February 1968.

A Cornucopia of TTC Links & Lore

Let me know if there’s a useful or interesting site or article about the TTC I ought to include! Note: I’m primarily focused on resources dealing with the subway, rather than the storied surface bus & streetcar network.

General
  • TTC Main Website: TTC.ca | Bylaws
  • The City of Toronto Archives hold a mind-boggling amount of TTC historical information. The official TTC Archives are housed here, as well as transit documents from the City. Go for a visit. Support them.
  • Transit Toronto - this is a sprawling Toronto public transportation information site run by transit enthusiasts. Lots of historical documentation, and photographs.
  • Steve Munro - Transit & Politics - Steve Munro is the city’s most astute independent transit advocate. The observations and discussion here lean heavily towards the technical, but the site is must-reading even if you don’t entirely agree with Munro’s occasionally-grumpy perspective on transit priorities.
  • TTC Ridership Open Data; in particular see Subway/Scarborough RT Station Usage
  • Twitter: @TTCnotices, @TTChelps; see also @TTCdesign
  • Wikipedia: Station Information. I have mixed feelings about the TTC related wiki pages. I link to individual station entries in this project. On the surface the articles are useful, but they often ramble—they aren’t of the consistent quality I’d expect of a good encyclopedia.  

Art on the TTC

Tiling and Typography


Miscellaneous


Scarborough RT




Other Resources

The following sources, although not necessarily TTC-related, were handy in ascertaining context for various parts of the city:
  • Toronto Street Names: An Illustrated Guide to their Origins, Leonard Wise & Allan Gould, 2011, Firefly Books
  • Creating Memory: A Guide to Outdoor Public Sculpture in Toronto, John Warkentin, 2010, Becker Associates
  • Full Frontal T.O.: Exploring Toronto's Architectural Vernacular, Patrick Cummins & Shawn Micallef, 2012, Coach House Books. I feel a partial aesthetic affinity with Cummins’ methodical ‘face-on’ street imagery.  

TTC History
  • For an easy-to-read, broad history of the TTC, I recommend The TTC Story: The First Seventy-five Years by Mike Filey. 
  • Edward Levy: Rapid Transit in Toronto, is a solid and depressing historical review of Toronto transit plans. An earlier version used to be online; I’ve put in a request that the TPL acquire a couple of copies for lending.
  • Cancelled Toronto Transit Plans: a nice research project by Danny Xue on various plans that never came to be. Should be read alongside Edward Levy’s text (see previous)
  • For an extensive technical overview of how the original Yonge line was built and operated, I suggest a scan of Canadian Transportation, December 1953, available at the Toronto Reference Library. 
  • Jay Young’s dissertation on the evolution of the Toronto subway up to 1978 is dryly erudite (as befits its academic context), and covers a wide scope of discussion material. Young provides an engaging look at the social context of various phases of the subway’s development. A highly recommended skim.
  • Finally, there’s Transit in Toronto: the story of the development of public transportation in Toronto, from horse cars to a modern, high speed subway system, and John Bromley’s Fifty years of progressive transit : a history of the Toronto Transit Commission. Both are available via the TRL or at the City Archives.