Today Fri Sat
It is forcast to be Fog at 11:00 PM EDT on May 24, 2012
Fog
29°/18°		 It is forcast to be Chance of Rain at 11:00 PM EDT on May 25, 2012
Chance of Rain
28°/18°		 It is forcast to be Overcast at 11:00 PM EDT on May 26, 2012
Overcast
27°/15°

7 Comments

news

Vintage Toronto Ads: Take the TTC Test

By Jamie Bradburn

20091215ttctest.jpg
Source: The Toronto Sun, December 14, 1979.

How well do your savings stack up compared to a commuter from thirty years ago? Get out your calculators!
The TTC spent the first half of December 1979 preparing recommendations for presentation to Metro Toronto council the following month. Among the proposals were a freeze on transit fares for a year (thanks in part to an unexpected five-million-dollar revenue surplus) and the creation of a twenty-six-dollar monthly pass. A report devised by a joint committee of TTC and Metro Toronto officials (Transit in the 1980s: A New Direction) was presented to the commission and included recommendations for reserved bus lanes on Bay Street, Dufferin Street, Lansdowne Avenue, Victoria Park Avenue, and York Mills Road, along with the elimination of car traffic on downtown sections of King and Queen streets.
In other matters, the TTC scored a victory when it obtained a building permit to finish work on Kennedy subway station after a battle with civic officials in Scarborough over perceived weaknesses in fire safety standards. The news wasn’t so bright after a heavy snowfall on December 19 forced the grounding of three new CLRV streetcars. Chief General Manager Michael Warren partly blamed poor quality control by the manufacturer when the streetcars short circuited and started to smoke during the storm. Oops.
Additional material from the December 6, 1979, December 13, 1979, and December 20, 1979 editions of the Toronto Star.

Filed under: , , , , ,

Report error Send a tip

Comments

  • http://undefined TokyoTuds

    I’d like to see this ad updated and printed in the dailies again, indeed. Gotta go, my Autoshare time starts at 2:30 ….

  • http://undefined Usus

    A five-million-dollar surplus and a fare hike freeze? Can we get back whoever was Chairman of the TCC back then and get rid of Adam Giambrone?

  • http://undefined David Toronto

    I believe this is the closest thing to what you’re
    seeking.
    http://www3.ttc.ca/Riding_the_TTC/Cost_Calculator/index.jsp

  • http://undefined TokyoTuds

    I believe the TTC also had Operational Subsidies from other levels of government at that time, so the budget wasn’t as big an issue.

  • http://undefined Driusan

    No wonder they don’t use advertising like that anymore. It had to admit that the TTC is more expensive than driving for me.

  • http://undefined the_yellow_dart

    Hmmm…..
    QUOTE:
    Your current driving commute costs $60.17 each month. While you might not be able to reduce your costs by switching to a monthly Metropass, commuting by TTC is an environmentally friendly alternative.
    I already knew that, but I’m surprised the TTC admits it so plainly.

  • http://undefined nealj

    Well, two things never seem to change: Rule #1 above, and all the good recommendations (like the ones about bus lanes, etc, in the article here) never get implemented, or are implemented so poorly they fail.