In our inbox yesterday appeared a link to a TTC tender for consultant services, sent to us by Joe Clark (as these things tend to be). They're looking to hire someone to (emphasis ours) "provide professional architectural, engineering/design services and specialized transit services to perform the study concerning the installation of platform screen doors at 75 locations in 69 subway stations and in the six stations that will be constructed within the Spadina subway......

The public service announcement on the left is courtesy of the TTC. The public service announcement on the right is courtesy of the MTA. On Friday morning, Accordion Guy Joey deVilla juxtaposed the two on his blog, along with the question "who plagiarized whom?" Well, presuming that plagiarism is defined as the lack of attribution for an idea, then fortunately neither. This particular TTC poster, like a number of others (and even some of......

Over in the U.K., closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras are a ubiquitous sight: the country—led by London—has more of the tiny public surveillance cameras than any other country in Europe. They're now a part of pop culture and are referenced in songs, used as album artwork, and in the case of one intrepid band, used to make a music video. The latest zinger in the debate over the effectiveness of CCTV is that, well, they’re......

Dubaimetro Naming Rights Turn your brand into a destination RTA offers Dubai Metro Naming Rights Welcome to the ultimate branding and marketing opportunity. With Dubai Metro Naming Rights, you can put your brand on a Dubai Metro station of your choice, or one of the two lines of the Dubai Metro Network. Dubai Metro Naming Rights offers you unmatched impact and visibility to take your brand to new levels of saliency and success. What's......

Have you ever cycled along the Pickering and Ajax waterfronts? You should. It's one of the best recreational bike rides in the GTA with beautiful scenery and mostly-flat trails, but presents Toronto cyclists with a big problem: how to get there. Because the Waterfront Trail all but disappears through most of Scarborough, you're stuck with either riding the long, miserable route along Kingston Road and Lawrence Avenue to get to Pickering or driving your......

Because nothing says "I'm sorry" like cash in hand, the TTC has just announced a fleet of refunds for all day passes, metropasses, weekly passes, GTA passes. As repentance for that whole surprise strike thing, owners of an adult metropass will get $7.50 back (or $7.00 for those with the Metropass Discount Plan); those with an adult weekly pass will pocket $9.50; and those with a day pass for April 25 will get $3.00 for......

Following the unveiling of the EcoCab in Toronto last week Torontoist spotted the pedi-cab being presented to councillor Howard Moscoe outside City Hall yesterday. Moscoe, chairman of the Licensing and Standards Committee, turned down the offer of a ride around Nathan Phillips Square, but got a complete tour of the $13,000 vehicle's features as a small but curious crowd gathered. EcoCabs are expected to roll out on downtown streets Thursday.......

The idea of a TTC riders' union is nothing particularly new, but after what happened this weekend, it's quickly—and deservedly—picking up steam. Torontoist's last article about a possible riders' union was written by Roxanne Bielskis in November 2007. Our article was inspired by Erica Barnett on WorldChanging, who described the problems of Seattle's transit system and looked at the success of riders' unions (or their equivalents) in Los Angeles, Vancouver, Santa Clara, Atlanta, and......

Ding, ding, grumble, grumble…the TTC is back on track for the Monday morning commute, ushering in a new era of mutual respect, trust and fellowship between riders and employees. Anyway, it turns out that while Torontoist was trapped at home all weekend drinking and shaking an impotent fist at Bob Kinnear's smug televised face, there was non-TTC news going on out there too. U of T President David Naylor told The Globe And Mail......

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......

Photo by ariehsinger from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Strike days like this make us wonder how difficult it'd be to run our own transportation service in Toronto. Of course, you couldn't actually open your own transit company—the City of Toronto Act says the only people who can run public transit are the TTC—but there are currently hundreds of kilometres of vacant rail on the street and underground, just waiting to carry millions of people......

The TTC pulled a disappearing act this weekend, leaving many people to find alternative means of transportation. However, our provincial politicians have a trick or two up their sleeves as well, and are trying to make the TTC reappear. Let's hope they succeed—it will take some powerful magic to get anywhere on Monday if they don't. Illustration by Kevin McBride.......

Despite its excellent online coverage from 10:30 p.m. Friday and onwards, not all print editions of Saturday's National Post carried news of the TTC strike. All versions of its Toronto Magazine, however, included the presciently coincidental graphics shown above (Post illustrators' responses to the predictably utopian sentiments of the "My Toronto Is..." tourism ads proffered by OCAD advertising students for their annual let's-generate-PR-for-a-billboard-company contest). Graphics by Jonathon Rivait and Steve Murray, respectively.......

This post will contain a list of links (regularly updated and added to) that might be useful throughout the TTC strike. Follow Torontoist's continual strike coverage at our strike status post, or see the entirety of our coverage by using our TTC Strike tag. You can suggest a link by posting it in the comments or e-mailing tips@torontoist.com.......

At 6:45 a.m., Cy Goldsbie spotted a guy spraypainting this message on both of Spadina station's Spadina-immediately-north-of-bloor entrances and was kind enough to snap these pics for us. TTC labour issues and graffiti, together again at last.......

The TTC has issued this press release, containing "highlights" of the tentative agreement reached last Sunday—the agreement that the union voted 65% to reject, creating a TTC strike as of midnight Friday, April 26:......

"Next stop, Quarter Pounder" is something you could be hearing on the subway in the future, as City Council agrees to look at selling station naming rights to corporations. However, TTC vice-chair Joe Mihevc calls the study a "waste of time" and says the idea should be rejected, presumably because he's polled all 1.5 million riders and knows that they'd rather pay higher fares than suffer the indignity of a subway stop named after......

Sort of just in time for the now-averted TTC strike, Torontonians will finally have the opportunity to further indulge in a mode of transporation that was once reserved almost exclusively for camera-laden tourists and decadent—or at least, unhurried—commuters in pretty much every major city in the world. The incentive this time, however, is that it's free. Starting May 1, sore-legged saunterers will be able to hail a pedi-cab (also acceptable are "pedal-cab," "bugbug," or......

UPDATE (Saturday April 26, 8:00 p.m.): Please see this post for Torontoist's updated strike coverage. This post was updated throughout the weekend with the current status of the TTC's operations, using our own reporting, the TTC's website, and local news sources as a guide. Current Status: Strike AvertedLast updated on April 20 at 7:52 p.m. Bob Kinnear has announced that the TTC and its union have reached a tentative deal, allowing the TTC to continue......

As it happened, this wasn't the only ATU ad in the subway car to which this message had been appended. Photo taken by Jonathan Goldsbie on the Yonge line.......

Taxi! Taxi! The posturing shifted into high gear today in the TTC labour dispute, as union president Bob Kinnear announced that if his people don't get satisfaction this weekend, 1.5 million Torontonians are going to be looking for another way to get around as of 4 a.m. on Monday. Kinnear came out swinging at a press conference this morning, telling assembled reporters that TTC employees were "second class citizens" compared to city workers and......

TTC strike: not today, but probably Monday. If it happens, Torontoist will let you know. If you were to get your ass kicked by a TTC Special Constable, would you prefer a gun, a taser, or the standard pepper spray? The TTC launches a $100,000 study to find out. The Toronto District School Board is set to make some controversial changes over the next few years. A report released yesterday threatens the closure of......

Sarah Lazarovic—curator of the garage-based Montrose Portrait Gallery of Canada—is painting a portrait of a Torontonian every day. Each Monday, we'll feature some of those portraits here. Suggestions for subjects welcome. Clockwise from top left: - Bob Kinnear, head of the TTC's largest union. - Anne, letter carrier. - Sameer, graphic designer. - Greg, founder of some sort of moustache appreciation society.......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. Jump BY Pe†e®......

Kleercut WARNING! Contains clearcut ancient forests www.kleercut.net When CBS Outdoor wrapped St. George station in vinyl ads promoting a certain brand of facial tissue, Greenpeace's Kleercut campaign decided to tackle the omnipresent sales pitch by generously sprinkling the premises with doses of perspective, reminding subway riders that the softness of Kimberly-Clark's products comes at the expense of unsustainably-harvested ancient forests, including the Boreal. To Kimberly-Clark, puppies may be adorable, but caribou, eagles, bears, and......

"Missed Connection posts are at an all-time high. "Help reduce the numbers by talking to that girl on the bus." Words of existential wisdom (which needn't be interpreted as gender-specific) spotted by former contributor Carly Beath on the streetcar stop at the southwest corner of Dundas and University. Photo by Jonathan Goldsbie.......

Subway northbound from Eglinton station. Three girls on their way home from high school. One of them puzzles over a semi-cryptic movie ad she spots on the wall. Girl: "You do look fat in that, Sarah Marshall"? Is she related to Marshall McLuhan?......

The wraps finally came off the renovation of Museum subway station at a grand opening today. Amidst the coming and going of subway trains and riders, a large group of press and luminaries, penned in by watchful officials, gathered. Mayor David Miller praised the project as "a shining example of what our public spaces can be." While there has certainly been criticism of the project and its funding, it's hard to not find the......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. surface route #2 BY BOMB_TEA......

Photo by ariehsinger from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. If you've got a lonely heart, the only cure is to ride the rocket, at least according to missed connections. We've been noticing a continuing trend of TTC-related personals on craigslist, and thought we should alert all Metropass holders of the dashing driver on route #6, and the law-abiding, yet criminally sexy toll-taker at Yorkdale. Read on for a few of our favourites.......