Andrew Aigner-MuehlerLIVING OVERSEAS from my eyes.. GETTING AROUND TORONTO
January 26th 2008 05:18
GETTING AROUND TORONTO
Many might think, when in your in a city that has a subway, bus and streetcar system along with many cabs or taxis, that the city would have a very good running transport system, and you don’t have to rely on getting around in a car and to have to worry about gas, or parking, or traffic, or little things like insurance and that. But, in Toronto there is a need to, the local transport system the TTC which is known as TAKE THE CAR, okay then the Toronto Transport Commission, is not the best, you may as well just take your car. The TTC see them selves as having one of the best transport systems in the world, which is not too far from the truth if you are backwards like many Canadians. What I hear from people in Canada is that the TTC is the best in Canada, god help the other cities if their transport system is worst, because the TTC is shite and I mean shite.
Where do I start?
Okay I will start with the streetcar, a streetcar is what many countries will also call a tram. They go down the major routes down town where the subway doesn’t go down. If you are In a hurry don’t use the streetcar, they ain’t the quickest source of transport. During the day the streetcar would run every 10 to 20 minutes, after midnight there is a wait a little longer. If you get to a stop, and you have just missed the streetcar, my piece of advice is, don’t wait for the next one, start walking towards your destination. The chances are you will get to where you want to before the next one arrives, if the streetcar does catch up with you while you are walking there are stops every hundred or so meters, you can easily jump on. Half of the time, you can also out walk the streetcar because they go that damn slow, if you think I am exaggerating, try it your self, you will see I am not.
Since I started with the slowest, I will keep with a theme, and go to the next slowest transport system the bus. What do I say about the bus? The buses here in Toronto look like, but firstly, can you remember the movie Karate Kid. I was sitting down watching karate kid with my mate, when I went back to London for Christmas, I chuckled and said “Steve their the kind of buses that Toronto have!”, don’t worry the movie was only filmed over twenty years ago, but that gives you a hint how old the buses are here, actually, the TTC just bought 800 new buses, I don’t know where they are, because there is not any extra on the road, and when you do see a new bus they ain’t that special and still not that modern. The buses here apparently can’t go faster than 45kmph, but tend to stay around 35kmph, (sit to the right of the driver up the front, then you know how slow they’re really going, you can see the speedometer), they are a touch faster than the streetcar, but are still so damn slow. The buses during the day will come around every 10 to 20 minutes, sometimes every thirty or so minutes. If you are at a bus stop, which has a time table of when the buses are running, and you are thinking there should be a bus here, look when the next bus is coming, and that time two buses will arrive one behind the other. The drivers here tend to like having smoke breaks together. With the bus time tables you will not see them on every stop, only the main stops, but you will be lucky if its correct anyway. Just another hint if you are walking out of the subway, and need to catch a bus, walk home, because you have just missed the bus, the buses and subway do not connect in Toronto. If you don’t to walk home, you will be waiting fifteen or more minutes for the next bus. On many occasions I start walking, eighteen minutes later or two to three kilometers later I am home with out a bus passing me.
Moving on to the subway, the subway is quite fast, and doesn’t stop long at each station, the door chimes start to ring to close before the passengers leave the train, and then you start pushing others or charge the train to make it on the train. The trains run every 5 to 10 minutes, but at least once a week they have track problems, and the trains go a crawl between stations, but most of the time you don’t have a problem. Like many underground subway systems in the summer is quite humid and hot underground so be aware.
The TTC charges $98.75 for a monthly pass, $33 for a weekly pass which has just recently been brought in, if you pay as you ride it’s $2.50, if you buy tickets ahead of time from a shop they cost $2.25. My personal opinion its not worth the money you pay because you don’t receive the service for your money, but on the other hand when you pay as you ride you can use one ticket or transfer for one journey, even if you have to go by bus to subway to streetcar, you just need a transfer. If you do this five days a week for a month, you may as well just buy a metro pass (a monthly pass), it wor
Many might think, when in your in a city that has a subway, bus and streetcar system along with many cabs or taxis, that the city would have a very good running transport system, and you don’t have to rely on getting around in a car and to have to worry about gas, or parking, or traffic, or little things like insurance and that. But, in Toronto there is a need to, the local transport system the TTC which is known as TAKE THE CAR, okay then the Toronto Transport Commission, is not the best, you may as well just take your car. The TTC see them selves as having one of the best transport systems in the world, which is not too far from the truth if you are backwards like many Canadians. What I hear from people in Canada is that the TTC is the best in Canada, god help the other cities if their transport system is worst, because the TTC is shite and I mean shite.
Okay I will start with the streetcar, a streetcar is what many countries will also call a tram. They go down the major routes down town where the subway doesn’t go down. If you are In a hurry don’t use the streetcar, they ain’t the quickest source of transport. During the day the streetcar would run every 10 to 20 minutes, after midnight there is a wait a little longer. If you get to a stop, and you have just missed the streetcar, my piece of advice is, don’t wait for the next one, start walking towards your destination. The chances are you will get to where you want to before the next one arrives, if the streetcar does catch up with you while you are walking there are stops every hundred or so meters, you can easily jump on. Half of the time, you can also out walk the streetcar because they go that damn slow, if you think I am exaggerating, try it your self, you will see I am not.
Moving on to the subway, the subway is quite fast, and doesn’t stop long at each station, the door chimes start to ring to close before the passengers leave the train, and then you start pushing others or charge the train to make it on the train. The trains run every 5 to 10 minutes, but at least once a week they have track problems, and the trains go a crawl between stations, but most of the time you don’t have a problem. Like many underground subway systems in the summer is quite humid and hot underground so be aware.
The TTC charges $98.75 for a monthly pass, $33 for a weekly pass which has just recently been brought in, if you pay as you ride it’s $2.50, if you buy tickets ahead of time from a shop they cost $2.25. My personal opinion its not worth the money you pay because you don’t receive the service for your money, but on the other hand when you pay as you ride you can use one ticket or transfer for one journey, even if you have to go by bus to subway to streetcar, you just need a transfer. If you do this five days a week for a month, you may as well just buy a metro pass (a monthly pass), it wor
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