Today is Tartan Day. This is the day customarily used for the first time ever to celebrate Scots who have moved to North America. Torontoist recommends that you celebrate by eating a deep-fried Mars bar and staggering out of a soccer game, swearing loudly. Winnipeg MP argues for scrapping the penny. Sure, Pat Martin trots out all the usual arguments—it costs more to make than it's worth, it has no real value worth mentioning......

Congratulations. You've just moved into a home or apartment in the rapidly growing city of North York to start your bright future. You either don't own a car or prefer to use one as little as possible. Fixed public transit services haven't quite made it out to your neck of the woods yet you really want to be chauffeured by a bow-tie wearing driver with a creepy smile who will drop you off at......

Here's a riddle: What walks throughout Canada, weighs more than a Brit, but less than an American, and can help stop global warming? No, it's not Sasquatch. It's not Kyoto. Stumped? We'll give you a hint. It's the average Torontonian's carbon footprint! According to Zerofootprint, a not-for-profit environmental organization, the average Torontonian's carbon footprint sits at 8.6 tonnes per year—more than a fully-grown African elephant! Zerofootprint teamed up with the City of Toronto to......

Dragging a bicycle down the stairs of a subway station often comes with an abundance of "tsks" and dirty looks from fellow passenges, and a wayward pivoting front wheel can catch on clothing or trip up the flow of human traffic. Plus, some riders can get royally peeved if something is impeding their way as they fly frantically down the stairs to beat the door chimes—waiting for the next train is, of course, unthinkable.......

TTC "U-pass" close to passing for students, possibly also hotel workers. If the scheme passes, the TTC will suddenly be crowded once again, rendering all those recent fleet upgrades essentially moot. Hooray for public transit! Jack Layton calls for Family Day to be named a national holiday. He then asked for a pony and all the candy he could ever eat ever, on the basis that it was about as likely that Stephen Harper would......

Many years ago, the TTC launched the smart "Ride The Rocket" ad campaign, of which only the slogan and typewriter-like font still exist. The fast-paced and effective television commercials featured a quirky spokesperson chattering rapidly into a wide-angle lens about the pros of public transit, and the slick spots made the Commission look modern, exciting, and cool. To a tourist or GTA resident, the subway looked like the backbone of any big city experience.......

The Star reports that TTC operators have a rate of post-traumatic stress disorder four times higher than Toronto police officers. The syndrome is often a result of witnessing, or becoming the victim of, physical violence, and is now the second leading cause of missed work days at the TTC. Arming operators a la Mad Max probably isn't the right solution, but hoping that the assholes who assault drivers will magically disappear may not be......

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset. That’s right. We said it. Hate is a villain. Torontonians spend a whole lot of time complaining. It’s only......

Ontario Conservative leader John "The Tory" Tory has promised that if elected a Conservative government would allocate $800 million to public transit in the province. Tory also confessed that it has been a long-time dream of his to one day ride on a streetcar, but that his chauffeur wasn't yet licensed to drive one. David Crombie has been named "community liaison official' in the sometimes violent land claim dispute between the First Nations and......

In a recent jaunt to London (England), Torontoist saw colours on the road. No, these weren't hallucinations brought on by too much ale at the local pub. The colours were those of lanes on the street: red for public transit vehicles and green for bikes. (And in case you're wondering, bikes can use the public transit lanes.) The message? If you're in a car, stay out of them. Toronto already has bike and transit lanes,......

Dalton McGuinty will pledge to plant fifty million trees to help fight climate change. Now, some might say that this is a somewhat lackluster pledge, what with the small print of promising to print all the trees over thirteen years. But what they didn't mention is that the trees are actually sentient and will come to your home to politely discuss with you the merits of public transit, and help you compost and reduce your......

Photo by Marc Lostracco. With all the recent hubbub over taxes, cutting costs, and shutting down elements of the TTC, folks have been a little concerned about the fate of everyone’s favourite public transit system. While Mayor David Miller continues to passive-aggressively beg Ottawa and Queen’s Park for funding, many wonder if it’s possible to run the TTC without it. Haven’t we been a big, tough, independent city in the past? Can’t the Toronto......

"Good frickin' lord, it's too dang far to walk to the corner store to buy me a frozen yogurt," you might moan. "I'll just have to be a global warmer and gas up the SUV to drive there." Not so, my friend! Not only is it good exercise, but it's just well, great to perambulate. With this Walk Score, a nifty calculator, you can determine exactly how walkable your address is on a scale......

Torontonian Vanessa Delsooz (not pictured) has organized an impromptu protest of proposed TTC cuts next Saturday July 28th at Nathan Phillips Square at 1 p.m. The rally will reportedly be outside the law, since it takes longer than a week to secure a permit for such things. Also, the office that issues protest permits just got eliminated due to budget cuts. (Just kidding. We think.) What those who gather will be protesting is, however,......

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......

Operating a public transit system is a difficult job, continually plagued by budget cuts, aging infrastructure and rampant customer dissatisfaction. We've always been fans of GO Transit, however, which has generally proven to be clean and reliable despite being operated by the Government of Ontario (hence, the acronym "GO"). When the 2005-06 provincial budget was announced and included more than $300 million in funding for GO's operating and capital costs, transit enthusiasts were ecstatic.......

Every weekday, we pick an image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It's our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve! We were struck by this photo captured by Flickr pool contributor jim.vanmeggelen of the inside of Toronto Railway Company #1326—specifically by the workmanship inherent in these old streetcars. This particular car was built in 1910 and retired 41 years later, and......

Last night, one of Torontoist’s adolescent fantasies came true … no, not that one…we finally saw synth pop group The Spoons in concert! After a few technical glitches onstage at the Parkdale Arts and Crafts Festival, they launched into their 1984 hit, “Tell No Lies,” a song that is almost painful to mention without blurting, “Dit dit ditditdit DIT!” The thirtysomething crowd’s inner tweens sang along, and some sang out loud to their young......

The TTC spent today showing off their preferred model for the future of public transit in Toronto in the middle of Dundas Square: a light rail vehicle or, more accurately, half of a full light rail vehicle that Bombardier is showing off around North America—most recently in Milwaukee, where the paint scheme seen here is used for public transit. (Apparently, in Milwaukee, they like their transit to be ugly yellow.)......

Once upon a time, governments worked together to create ambitious and expensive projects like, say, public transit. Then came the 1990s when funding was summarily cut off. Since then, we've seen funding restored in dribs and drabs, the half-implementation of several ideas (we're looking at you, Sheppard subway!), and the odd difficult move forward (the St. Clair ROW). We've also seen the creation of the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority, but since no one seems......

From pristine wetland to industrial transportation hub and the confluence of major urban expressways, the Lower Don Lands area has gone through many changes throughout Toronto’s history. The mouth of the Don River is about to change again. Back in February, the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation announced a competition to redesign a 40-hectare area located at the mouth of the river and the entrance to the Port Lands (pictured right). The teams invited to......

We're generally fans of GO Transit, yet we can't help but see an almost ironic statement in this bureaucratic SNAFU at Oakville station. The busiest GO station by daily passenger volume and running coaches to-and-from Toronto since 1967, Oakville shares its site with an older depot operated by federal Crown corporation VIA Rail. When the Ontario government refreshed the GO terminal years ago, somebody seems to have been asleep at the switch, positioning the......

Howard Moscoe proposes a licensing fee or tax on temporary downtown parking lots with the revenue directed towards building more commuter parking lots at public transit hubs. Moscoe argues that this would induce more people to take transit and encourage temporary lots to be redeveloped more quickly. Iranian refugee Zahra Kamalfar and her two children arrived in Vancouver yesterday after spending 10 months stuck in an airport terminal in Moscow. Everything you ever wanted......

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... Over at Sampaist, spring has more than sprung: it's sweltering! But, as everyone knows, museums are an ideal......

You know what's awesome? People on the internet who love the TTC. Torontoist is already firmly on board with the freelance public transit love, so it seemed only appropriate to alert the masses to another project in no way affiliated with the TTC that seeks to improve it. gottc.ca doesn't look like much when you open it in a normal browser, and it isn't supposed to. That's because it's been written as simply and sparsely......

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into......

Each weekday morning, we pick a recent image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It's our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve! We love this photo because it breaks all the supposed "rules" of photography -- that a picture needs to be in focus, or that it needs to have a clear subject matter. Instead, Toronto photographer -- jenny -- (jenny......

Not to be confused with Nicole Richie's ex-boyfriend, Toronto's A.M. has created an ambient and beatsy fusion of electronic, gospel and folk music with the sounds of our beloved public transit system on his newest release Underground. An elementary school teacher also known as Andrew Moore, A.M. samples the familiar sounds of the TTC: door chimes, the rumbling, hissing and screeching of a train's arrival in the station, footsteps on tile, announcements on the......

Happy Holidays from the Ist-A-Verse! Austinist is in good holiday spirits, and so is their interview, Andy Roddick. They know what CDs they want in their stockings, but more than that, they know that the greatest gift you can give them is making fun of a famous Austinite on national television. Torontoist isn't really feeling the Christmas spirit, though: unfortunately, there's still no snow in Toronto. Maybe if somebody were to put a big Christmas......

We just found out about this absolutely incredible transit map of Toronto that incorporates the TTC, Go Transit, VIVA, Brampton Transit, Mississauga Transit, and Vaughan Transit into handy-dandy Google Map form, meaning you can easily input a location and find the nearest transit routes that surround it. Best of all, unlike other maps before it, it doesn't include only major stops but everything -- including bus and streetcar routes and it's integrated with our own......