Scene: Toronto’s New Streetcars Roll Out at Last

Hundreds turned up at Spadina Station this weekend to ride the TTC's much-hyped new vehicle.

By Graeme Bayliss • Photos by Giordano Ciampini

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The new vehicles got the kind of reception normally reserved for celebrities at TIFF.

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They should've rolled out a red carpet between the tracks.

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Believe the hype.

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TTC CEO Andy Byford was as excited about the new vehicles as anyone.

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The new vehicle has plenty of accessibility features.

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This lucky guy got to press the button that opens the door.

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Ultimate Toronto transit geek Steve Munro (right) turned up to take a ride.

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The new transfer and proof of payment.

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Being packed in to the gills will be easier with air conditioning.

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It's not exactly a Venetian gondola, but Alex and Seth managed to enjoy a romantic ride at the back of the streetcar.

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This barbershop quartet was presumably intended to hearken back to the debut of Toronto's now-aging CLRV streetcars all those years ago.

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Rock and Finn had their cups autographed by Eddy Braga, the first streetcar driver trained, and they were pretty excited about it.

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The streetcars' huge windows will make mischief more difficult to conceal.

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The supremacy of the CN Tower selfie is officially at risk.

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WHERE: Spadina Station

WHEN: Sunday, August 31

WHAT: The long-awaited debut of Toronto’s new streetcars. Hundreds of transit enthusiasts cheered as one of the vehicles charged through a banner depicting an old PCC streetcar (to the strains of no less than Metallica’s “Enter Sandman“) and ushered in what TTC CEO Andy Byford called “the start of a new era.” For months the TTC has been touting the new vehicle’s improved accessibility and reliability (among other modern bells and whistles), although riders on this day were more taken by the sheer novelty of the thing—these are, after all, the first new streetcars to ride Toronto’s rails in three decades. The 501 Spadina line is the first to run the new vehicles, which will roll out across the entire system over the next five years.