June 5, 2014 at 9:10 am
Scene: Up Close and Personal With the New TTC Streetcar
A sneak peek at the colourful, fancy, and bendy vehicle that will officially be hitting the streets of Toronto later this summer.
By
Sarah Sweet • Photos by Giordano Ciampini
319658 We wonder how long it will take motorists to get used to the fact that these doors do not open outward. GCiampini_TestRide-3277 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3277-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3277.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3277.jpg 1200 800 {"aperture":8,"camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark II","created_timestamp":1401879527,"focal_length":"24","iso":"100","shutter_speed":"0.004"} https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-up-close-and-personal-with-the-new-ttc-streetcar/slide/gciampini_testride-3277/ gciampini_testride-3277 0 0
319656 LOOK AT THAT BENDINESS. GCiampini_TestRide-3263 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3263-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3263.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3263.jpg 1200 800 {"aperture":13,"camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark II","created_timestamp":1401878930,"focal_length":"24","iso":"160","shutter_speed":"0.025"} https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-up-close-and-personal-with-the-new-ttc-streetcar/slide/gciampini_testride-3263/ gciampini_testride-3263 0 0
319655 Streetcar operator Doug Pickering surveys a pretty cool-looking dashboard. GCiampini_TestRide-3262 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3262-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3262.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3262.jpg 1200 800 {"aperture":13,"camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark II","created_timestamp":1401878754,"focal_length":"24","iso":"160","shutter_speed":"0.025"} https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-up-close-and-personal-with-the-new-ttc-streetcar/slide/gciampini_testride-3262/ gciampini_testride-3262 0 0
319654 It almost looks as if there's a throw rug (we doubt the new streetcars will be outfitted with throw rugs). GCiampini_TestRide-3250 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3250-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3250.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3250.jpg 1200 800 {"aperture":5.6,"camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark II","created_timestamp":1401878506,"focal_length":"24","iso":"1250","shutter_speed":"0.0025"} https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-up-close-and-personal-with-the-new-ttc-streetcar/slide/gciampini_testride-3250/ gciampini_testride-3250 0 0
319653 Look at how happy the streetcar makes people! GCiampini_TestRide-3247 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3247-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3247.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3247.jpg 1200 800 {"aperture":5.6,"camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark II","created_timestamp":1401878451,"focal_length":"24","iso":"1250","shutter_speed":"0.008"} https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-up-close-and-personal-with-the-new-ttc-streetcar/slide/gciampini_testride-3247/ gciampini_testride-3247 0 0
319652 A rare sighting of the Ghost of the Presto Fare Box. GCiampini_TestRide-3245 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3245-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3245.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3245.jpg 1200 781 {"aperture":5.6,"camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark II","created_timestamp":1401878409,"focal_length":"24","iso":"1250","shutter_speed":"0.008"} https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-up-close-and-personal-with-the-new-ttc-streetcar/slide/gciampini_testride-3245/ gciampini_testride-3245 0 0
319651 It would probably have been very difficult to display such messages in the classic TTC font. GCiampini_TestRide-3236 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3236-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3236.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3236.jpg 1200 800 {"aperture":5.6,"camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark II","created_timestamp":1401878237,"focal_length":"24","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.0125"} https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-up-close-and-personal-with-the-new-ttc-streetcar/slide/gciampini_testride-3236/ gciampini_testride-3236 0 0
319650 Streetcar operator Eddie Braga behind many nobs, buttons, and switches that he knows how to use, and we do not. GCiampini_TestRide-3234 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3234-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3234.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3234.jpg 1200 800 {"aperture":5.6,"camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark II","created_timestamp":1401878102,"focal_length":"24","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.00625"} https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-up-close-and-personal-with-the-new-ttc-streetcar/slide/gciampini_testride-3234/ gciampini_testride-3234 0 0
319649 Who couldn't use a thumbs-up from this man? We could certainly use a thumbs-up from this man. GCiampini_TestRide-2340 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-2340-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-2340.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-2340.jpg 1200 800 {"aperture":5.6,"camera":"Canon EOS 5D","created_timestamp":1401878275,"focal_length":"24","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.00625"} https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-up-close-and-personal-with-the-new-ttc-streetcar/slide/gciampini_testride-2340/ gciampini_testride-2340 0 0
319648 Like a glorious red-and-white transit accordion. GCiampini_TestRide-2323 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-2323-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-2323.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-2323.jpg 1200 800 {"aperture":8,"camera":"Canon EOS 5D","created_timestamp":1401877701,"focal_length":"24","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.0015625"} https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-up-close-and-personal-with-the-new-ttc-streetcar/slide/gciampini_testride-2323/ gciampini_testride-2323 0 0
319657 TTC board member Alan Heisey and daughter Rebecca. (Each of the suited gentlemen could really do with his own purple skateboard.) GCiampini_TestRide-3271 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3271-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3271.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_TestRide-3271.jpg 1200 800 {"aperture":8,"camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark II","created_timestamp":1401879122,"focal_length":"24","iso":"100","shutter_speed":"0.004"} https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-up-close-and-personal-with-the-new-ttc-streetcar/slide/gciampini_testride-3271/ gciampini_testride-3271 0 0
WHERE: TTC’s Hillcrest Complex (1138 Bathurst Street) to Bathurst Station and back
WHEN: Wednesday, June 4, 11 a.m.
WHAT: A ride with TTC board members and city councillors on one of the TTC’s new streetcars. The new low-floor light rail vehicles (LFLRV) will be twice as long as the ones we’re used to now and will boast air conditioning, automatic retractable ramps, and the Presto fare collection system. For now, the streetcars can only be glimpsed occasionally, while they’re out on the streets being tested or delighting the crowds at Doors Open. They are like elusive, exotic, very shy creatures, the sight of which can turn otherwise staid, respectable Torontonians into gleeful transit paparazzi.
“We’ve been testing, and now we’re into training, getting our operators into training and ramped up so they’re qualified to run these machines,” said TTC spokesperson Brad Ross. “It’s all joystick operated, so there’s some training … it takes ten days to train one operator in how to run these new streetcars.”
“We’re getting that much closer to revenue service, so we’re starting to build some momentum, excitement, and interest,” Ross continued. “We need to start familiarizing the public, council members, board members, and the media. So we’ve organized this ride, a ride next Wednesday for some Twitter members , and the following week with some members who have been working very closely on this project. We’re only twelve weeks out from service now.” As of August 31, the new vehicles will become a far more familiar sight—that’s when they’ll start running regularly on the 510 Spadina route.