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Aunt Cicely Didn’t Do This…People Did!
Discovered going eastbound towards downtown on an old, very packed, and very hot subway car at 8:30 on a Monday morning: an old route map, sans Sheppard line subway stations; and an old ad advising riders against the gravest of transit crimes––leg extension.
In response to a letter from someone pleased that the problem with “feet on seats” has improved, but that the ever-present issue of outstretched limbs remains, the late 1980s ad advises that “stretching your feet out into the aisle or resting them against poles makes life difficult for other passengers.” Not only that, “it’s also bad (as your Aunt Cicely used to tell you) for your posture. Sit up straight. Please.” At the dawn of the 90s, ads like these were a great way for TTC riders to act out passive-aggressiveness, and for the TTC to remind its riders of totally obvious social etiquette.
The map beside the ad can be no more recent than 2002, when the Sheppard Subway opened, and seems to have been crudely added to in 1996, when the Spadina line was extended up to Downsview. Too bad, then, for riders on the car hoping to make their way to Bayview Station, Bessarion Station, Leslie Station, or Don Mills Station. (Though they’ll probably find their way a little easier than those hunting for the “Criminology” stop.)
Photos by David Topping. Linked Memorial University ad photo courtesy of Joe Clark.
