This is a pictorial homage to a institution that I grew up with in the city of my birth: the Toronto Transit Commission.

Streetcars

My earliest memories include Sunday rides on streetcars, the Toronto tram system.

They were steamy in winter, hot in summer, very, very noisy and always full of people: but I loved them.

Now they look like this:

Buses

I don’t recall riding a bus as a child, but mostly as a teenager. That was when I took a Greyhound bus from Barrie to the Bus Terminal on Dundas Street, and caught a city bus from there.

They went everywhere the streetcars didn’t, so they were essentially unrestricted in their movements.

Here’s what they look like now:

Subway

It takes a special kind of person to enjoy going underground in a conveyance that is right up against the tunnel walls, and showers them with sparks from its rail lines.

As a person born and raised in Toronto, I thought nothing about how terrifying the subway could be until I took a couple of friends along for the ride. They’d never been in a subway before, and their eyes were wide as saucers throughout the whole journey.

Here’s their modern look:

Conclusion

All the modern ways of traveling on transit in Toronto have become quieter commutes, but I still prefer the old noisier ways. (Spoken like an old guy, eh?)