City Council finally voted on the vexed question of Annette Street cycling infrastructure, and after a fairly easy-going discussion approved full bike lanes in a 20-11 vote. Councillor Saundercook's bid to delay implementation of the bike lanes in favour of the lower-impact (and less safe) sharrows for two years failed. Councillor Heaps, chair of the Cycling Committee, introduced the motion which restored city staffers' original recommendation for full bike lanes, and was strongly supported by......

In a 23-22 vote City Council just defeated a motion that would have declared the TTC an essential service. Essential service designation would have, if approved by the province, prevented TTC members from striking legally. The declaration was originally considered and rejected at a meeting of the Executive Committee under the leadership of Mayor Miller despite widespread public support for the measure. Councillors Jenkins, Palacio, and Thompson have been spearheading a campaign to overturn that......

Photo by Dylan Passmore from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. The City of Toronto has an ambitious bike plan. Mayor Miller has cited its implementation as one of his budgetary priorities and there’s an active community of cyclists advocating for an expanded cycling infrastructure. Why, in that case, are we having a hard time getting so many things done? At a meeting of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) two weeks ago, a majority......

The TTC installed the first "Next Train Arrival" display at Dundas Station yesterday, with TTC Chair Adam Giambrone unveiling the addition to the OneStop screens. At the southbound platform, the text sat humbly along the bottom of the screen, as if it didn't dare disturb the advertisements above. While Giambrone fully admitted that the TTC is often "one step behind" other transit systems, he said that they make up for it by giving "one......

Photo by calix. Ever since Howard Hampton announced his decision to resign as leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party last month, there has been much speculation as to who will run as his successor. So far, both Gilles Bisson and Peter Tabuns have announced their intent to vie for the spot, and Michael Prue and Andrea Horwath are expected to throw their fluorescent-orange hats in the ring anytime now. These contenders are career......

Torontoist is following the TTC's strike, using our own reporting, other local news sources, and any other resources available to us to keep this article updated continually with the latest information. Use the TTC Strike tag to view Torontoist's other strike coverage, or view our list of online resources to see coverage, photos, videos, and ideas elsewhere. Russell (Connaught) Carhouse, Sunday, 12 p.m. Photo by somebody_ from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Current Status: Strike Over......

Mayor David Miller, anxious to prove the civic value of his trade mission to China, announced yesterday that a major Chinese mining company would be opening an office in Toronto. Well, not necessarily an office. It could be one of those shared rental suites. Or a mailbox, definitely a mailbox, at least. Say, how 'bout that Great Wall? Almost time to get out our walkin' shoes? The Globe and Mail says that TTC talks......

Last week, undergraduate students at UTSC (University of Toronto Scarborough) rejected the U-Pass by a stunning margin, with full-time students voting against it 1674 to 622, and part-time students spurning it 53 to 16. Minus the abstentions and spoiled ballots, that worked out to 73% No for for full-timers and 77% No for part-timers. When last we wrote about the proposed offer—a compulsory $60-a-month transit pass for all students, with no potential to opt......

Sarah Lazarovic––curator of the garage-based Montrose Portrait Gallery of Canada––is painting a portrait of a Torontonian (be they Mirvishes or Meashas) every day. Each Monday, we'll feature one of those portraits here. Last week, TTC Chair Adam Giambrone said we should be feeling the better way's better service imminently.......

"The Better Way Gets Better," yesterday's TTC press release proclaimed, teasing the media for today's big announcement of service changes. And, really, it'd be hard to disagree. As anticipated, today at the TTC's Arrow Road Garage, David Miller and Adam Giambrone announced a fleet of changes to the TTC's fleet of bus and streetcar routes, designed to decrease crowding and increase service across the system: 75 bus and the Queen, King, and Carlton streetcar......

Left to right: TTC market research director Mike Anders, TTC Chair Adam Giambrone, irate civil engineering Engineering Science student Ryan Campbell, and Giambrone executive assistant Kevin Beaulieu. "Isn't this just a quasi-communistic redistribution of wealth?" asked a student at the microphone, receiving hearty applause from a good chunk of the audience. He was inquiring about the new U-Pass being proposed by the TTC, which Mayor David Miller, TTC Chair Adam Giambrone, and Vice-Chair Joe......

Selected quotes from "Toronto's Type and Tile Heritage" by Edward Keenan, from the November 14th issue of Eye Weekly: Joe Clark: "The trick is trying to prevent the destruction of the subway system as we know it. What are these [TTC] commissioners doing, exactly? Through malign neglect, they are beginning a 35-year process of destruction. Because if they make over Pape station so that it doesn’t match any of the other stations, if they......

Per a suggestion by chairman Adam Giambrone, The TTC has voted to provide free service after midnight this New Year's, along with extended subway hours until 4 a.m. The free service—an attempt to deter people from drunk driving—hasn't been offered by the TTC since the late 70s, and you'd think it might be a costly venture. But it's not exactly setting them back that much; the free admission offer will only cost the TTC an......

When we interviewed TTC Chair Adam Giambrone in August––at the height of anxiety over potential cuts to his system––he told us that the TTC has "an acceptable level of advertising. Could it be less? Absolutely. At this point any reduction would be a budget reduction, and I'll tell you I'm not really prepared to reduce the budget of the TTC to reduce the advertising. At the same time, I think we certainly have enough......

They're in cabs, ATMs, and the Entertainment District, and they're about to be in all TTC vehicles. By next June, every one of the TTC's 1.5 million daily riders will be photographed multiple times over their journey. A part of the TTC's $18-million security plan, the commission will install up to 12,000 cameras throughout the system—in key station areas and on streetcars, buses, and subways. The intention is to provide police with evidence if......

After intense public backlash over a boneheaded plan to expropriate the storied Matador Club and obliterate it into a paved slab, the Toronto Parking Authority has backed down. Thanks in large part to the Save The Matador movement, today's afternoon TPA meeting experienced some expropriation of its own when about forty supporters descended upon Meeting Room B to vociferously protest the the Council-sanctioned demolition. The matter will return to City Council to be officially......

Photos by mishkaoutofcontrol from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Except to its frequent clientele, Toronto's legendary Matador Club is best known as the setting to Leonard Cohen's "Closing Time," which laments a place that "got wrecked by the winds of change." The Matador's been around since 1914. Built as a dance hall for WWI soldiers, it then became home to a bowling alley, and finally ended up as a quirky, late-night hangout with strong country......

Adam + the TTC KNOW how to purchase buses that don't run off gas, "quite" trains that play soft music (like they have in Montreal), they ship the bills to Stevie Harper! If his friends complain sue them for negligence harming million in T.O. (they are protecting "their" friends + "their money" -> (your money) and lying all the time. "Its EASY" Then bug Adam Giambrone about holding an Architectural Contest (he can't see......

Just over an hour ago, the TTC concluded its meeting to discuss and vote on measures to deal with its budget shortfall. Based in part on the results of its survey––which, in spite of widespread distribution, received only 17,000 responses––the Commission members voted unanimously in favour of raising fares over cutting service. With the exception of the new jump in Metropass prices, the cost increases per fare are relatively modest and around what most were......

On Monday, the TTC unveiled a survey that, in lieu of other public consultation, would be used to help the organization determine what cuts it may need to make this year. (For more on the TTC's potential budget shortfall, see our interview with Adam Giambrone, the TTC's documentation included with the survey, and Steve Munro's excellent summary of the situation.) The problem is, the survey really isn't that great: it's too vague, too incomplete,......

When the TTC started mapping out its new future under Adam Giambrone, this probably wasn't what it had in mind. A few hours ago, Ian Trider left a comment on Jonathan Goldsbie's post about the TTC's survey, with a link to a TTC map that reflects the potential cutbacks. We've seen a fair share of TTC maps, from a superb Google Maps mashup to a glorious anagrammed subway line. Trider's map is simple, effective,......

Reader Cy Goldsbie (yes, relation) sent us the above photos of a box that popped up in St. Clair station over the weekend. Marked "DEPOSIT PUBLIC CONSULTATION SURVEY HERE," the box is at the "end of the southbound platform tucked into the alcove of the non-working elevator." (In other words, they're about as conspicuous as what Joe Clark calls the TTC's "intentionally hidden online complaints form.") So what's the deal? At the TTC's emergency......

Eight months after Torontoist, Reading Toronto, Spacing, and BlogTO all banded together to solicit reader comments to improve the TTC's website and after Adam Giambrone agreed to re-open the Request for Proposal (RFP) to allow for "a more ambitious and exciting project," there has finally been some news to report of late. Last week, Adam Giambrone told Torontoist that the website would launch sometime in the fall, and would definitely feature everyone's top request––a......

The CBC is reporting that the provincial government announced an ambitious new project today to revamp Kipling Station and turn it into a major transit hub for Etobicoke and Mississauga. The announcement came from Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield and Environment Minister Laurel Broten early this afternoon. The new station, which will be owned and operated by GO Transit, is set to have an inter-regional bus terminal and will connect Mississauga Transit and GO buses......

We publish a lot of articles here on Torontoist, and sometimes it's hard to keep up with all of them. Populist is a weekly recap intended for the casual Torontoist reader, featuring some of the coolest, most interesting, most commented, and most recommended posts from the past week on Torontoist. Populist will appear every Sunday night. This week on Torontoist featured bleepin' boobs, Brass Rail burn-outs, coulrophobia, Guitar Girls, Giambrones, and Alsop architecture. Here are......

Photo by Jason Thompson Photography. As TTC Chair, Vice-Chair of the Works Committee, and Ward 18 Councillor—among an ocean of other positions that he holds now or has once held—Adam Giambrone's influence spreads far across the city of Toronto and to some of its most contested issues: transit, the environment, and development, to name a few. Depending on who you ask, he is either the city's best archaeologist-turned-politician or its worst. His term as......

Photo of a locked-out Keele Station during last year's strike by David Topping. Yesterday's announcement of budget cuts to the TTC garnered a visceral reaction from just about everyone (and not just angry Globe & Mail readers): a normally cool-headed Adam Giambrone proclaimed that "this is a horrible day...This is going to have a dramatic effect on Torontonians, not just TTC riders." Transit advocate Steve Munro weighed in, too, in a piece detailing what......

In a truly spectacular exhibit of vitriol, readers of The Globe and Mail have weighed-in on an article concerning beleaguered TTC chairperson Adam Giambrone’s recent announcement about the impending cuts to city transit. (The emergency meeting of the commission is set for Friday, and possible means of accommodating the new budget restrictions include a 25-cent fare hike, and the closing of the Sheppard subway line.) Two scant hours after the article appeared online, the comments......

The bus platform of Pape station was engulfed in a whirlwind of mops and microphones early yesterday afternoon as workers scrubbed the walls and windows till they sparkled and the media mingled with curious commuters, all of them eager for TTC chair Adam Giambrone to arrive and kick off the Station Modernization Program. This whammy of a project, which will include the restructuring and redesign of nine subway stations, was set into motion at......

What if suburbanites could commute to downtown Toronto on the H20 highway? TTC chair Adam Giambrone says high-speed ferries could ease road traffic and cut commute times in half. David Miller thinks the idea has merit, but is concerned the $25 million price tag on boats and docking facilities may be too high. The Star is skeptical, but Torontoist rarely turns down a nice boat cruise. On Tuesday we mentioned that music critics have......