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Your Nuit Blanche 2010 Guide: Getting Around
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Including: Yorkville, The Annex, Yonge and Bloor, and Wychwood. |
Including: Yonge-Dundas Square, City Hall, and The Distillery District. |
Including: Yonge south of Queen, and West Queen West. |
GETTING AROUND Leave the car at home: the TTC’s open all night, and so is Yonge Street. |
Yonge Street, looking north. Photo by Harry Choi/Torontoist.
Yes, the art installations will be the main attraction at this year’s Nuit Blanche, as they are every year. But let’s not forget that something equally dramatic is happening, during this year’s instance of the event, in the realm of foot-traffic planning. The entire Yonge Street strip from Bloor Street down to Front Street will be completely closed to vehicular traffic for the entire night, making it the perfect pedestrian route for your nocturnal wanderings. [: The National Post has a map of the other shuttered streets that night.] While you’re taking advantage of the wide-open thoroughfare, perhaps take a second to wonder what life would be like if Yonge Street were like that all the time. SK
Here’s what the TTC has on tap for this year. Special Nuit Blanche transit passes are now available from all TTC collector booths. Ten dollars will allow a maximum of two adults and six children unlimited travel from start of service Saturday until 9 a.m. on Sunday. During the event, all-night subway service will be available on the Bloor-Danforth line from Keele to Woodbine and on the Yonge-University-Spadina line from St. Clair West to Eglinton. Blue Night Network bus and streetcar service will run on normal weekend service, but if past years are any indication, expect heavy delays and sardine-car conditions on the main routes. And though Queen Street will be closed between Victoria and University, streetcars will be allowed to pass through. For those coming in from outside the core, parking will be free at the TTC’s commuter parking lots; to compensate for no overnight service along the north end of the Spadina line, a shuttle bus service will take motorists from St. Clair West Station to the lots at Eglinton West, Wilson and Downsview Stations. JB
Getting around otherwise is all about planning—and planning to not stick too close to any plan you might set. There is, of course, this guide you’re reading right now. On top of that, Nuit Blanche has oodles of maps and a smartphone app available ahead of time, and lots more maps and information centres on the night of. Accepted wisdom: pick a few exhibits you especially want to see, but don’t get too hung up on an itinerary. Aim to walk more or less aimlessly through zones. Don’t drive, if you can avoid it; if you can’t, drive, park, and spend the rest of your night walking. DT
Written by Jamie Bradburn (JB), Amanda Happé (AH), Steve Kupferman (SK), Carly Maga (CM), and Suzannah Showler (SS). Compiled by David Topping. Maps by Marc Lostracco.
Images not otherwise credited are courtesy of Nuit Blanche, or the websites of their respective artists and exhibits.