CN Tower
March 12, 2007
Toronto has one of the largest transit systems in all of North America; the only cities with higher daily ridership are Mexico City and New York City. Today, service within Toronto is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), which was established in 1954.
Toronto’s transit network is quite diverse, consisting of heavy rail, rapid transit, streetcars, and buses. The subway system has 69 stations on three lines, with extensions under construction at this time. There is also a “rapid transit” line to Scarborough that uses Intermediate Capacity Transit System, similar to the rolling stock on the SkyTrain in Vancouver. Service is very frequent, even outside of peak hours, as most buses just feed the subway and passengers must change to continue downtown.
The streetcar network is the largest in North America. Eleven routes are served by over 200 vehicles, mostly in central Toronto. All of the streetcar routes have at least one connection to the subway. As a result of the good coverage provided by the streetcars in the downtown area, there are very few standard buses that operate in central Toronto.
The bus network is also one of the largest in North America, with over 2000 buses serving over 150 routes (only Los Angeles and New York have larger systems). Almost every route has a connection to a subway station. The fleet is now entirely handicapped accessible and many buses have bike racks on the front. A network of night buses means that buses are in operation 24 hours a day, 7 days each week.
Outside of Toronto itself, bus service in the York Region is provided by York Region Transit (YRT). YRT also operates the Viva Rapid Transit system, a very successful bus rapid transit connecting the York Region to Toronto.
After many years as mainstays in the Toronto subway fleet, the last Hawker-Siddeley manufactured cars were retired in June 2014 as the new "Toronto Rocket" series cars were delivered. The Bombardier T-1 series, which was manufactured from 1995 until 2002, remains in service.
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The Toronto subway system has 69 stations. The TTC plans to have all of them be accessible to persons with wheelchairs and disabilities by 2020.
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The Scarborough Rapid Transit line runs from the Kennedy terminus of the Bloor-Danforth Subway to Scarborough Town Center and McCowan Road, with 6 stations on a two track line. It opened in March of 1985 although the TTC is studying various proposals to replace it.
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The Toronto Streetcar network is the largest streetcar network in North and South America in terms of track miles, fleet size, and ridership. The current system has 51 miles of track and a fleet of 248 vehicles. In downtown Toronto, the streetcars provide most of the TTC's service on the street surface.
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The Toronto Transit Commission operates one of the largest bus fleets in all of North America with over 2,000 buses. Toronto operated its fleet of "Fishbowl" buses until the end of 2011. Today, the fleet is dominated by NovaBUS, New Flyer and Orion models.
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York Region Transit (YRT) was founded in 2001 through the merger of five municipally managed transit agencies. Today, it is the operator of bus services in the York Region of Ontario. YRT operates 65 bus routes, including 5 "Viva Rapid Transit" routes. YRT services are provided by private operators under contract
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Viva Rapid Transit is a bus rapid transit network integrated in to the larger York Region transit system. The system was launched on September 6, 2005. Today, it has five lines and a fleet of over 100 buses.
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