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Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) was the public transit operator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, beginning in 1921. It operated buses, streetcars and the island ferries. The system was renamed the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1954.
Toronto's first public transportation company was the Williams Omnibus Bus Line and owned by undertaker Burt Williams. The franchise carried passengers in horse-drawn stagecoaches along Yonge Street between the St. Lawrence Market and the village of Yorkville for sixpence in 1849. The city granted the first franchise for a street railway in 1861 to Alexander Easton under the franchise of Toronto Street Railways (TSR) and Metropolitan Street Railway of Toronto (MSR) in 1885. In 1891, the franchise was passed onto William Mackenzie's Toronto Railway Company for 30 years. Outside of the city there were a number of other operators, including:
Prior to the establishment of the TTC, the City of Toronto operated its own system under the Toronto Civic Railways (TCR). However, the TCR routes were operating in areas not served by the private TRC. In 1920, a Provincial Act created the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) and, in 1921, the Commission took over and amalgamated nine existing fare systems within the city limits. Between 1921 and 1953, the TTC added 35 new routes in the city and extended 20 more. It also operated 23 suburban routes on a service-for-cost basis. It abandoned money-losing radial railway line (known as 'interurbans' elsewhere in the continent), North Yonge Railways.
The Great Depression and the Second World War both placed heavy burdens on the ability of municipalities to finance themselves. During most of the 1930s, municipal governments had to cope with general welfare costs and assistance to the unemployed. The TTC realized that improvements had to be made despite the depression and in 1936 purchased the first of the newly developed PCC streetcars. The war put an end to the depression and increased migration from rural to urban areas. After the war, municipalities faced the problem of extending services to accommodate the increased population. Ironically, the one municipal service that prospered during the war years was public transit; employers had to stagger work hours in order to avoid overcrowding the streetcars. Toronto continued their program of purchasing PCC cars, running the world's largest fleet, including many obtained second-hand from U.S. cities that abandoned streetcar service.
With the creation of Metro Toronto in 1954 and the building of the Yonge subway line, the Toronto Transportation Commission was renamed the Toronto Transit Commission.
The Toronto Transportation Commission was mainly a streetcar operator and this remained the core operations before 1954:
All remaining Toronto Railway Company cars as of 1921 and all Toronto Civic Railways cars as of 1921 was absorbed into the TTC. Some older wooden cars were retired due to wear and replaced by Peter Witt orders.
| Make/Model | Description | Fleet size | Year acquired | Year retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preston Car Company / Birney Safety Car | Single truck double-end car | 25 | 1921 | 1926–1927: 11 cars total sold with 3 to Cornwall Street Railway (all scrapped in 1949); [1] 8 sold to Nova Scotia Tramways and Power Company Limited (all scrapped in 1949); [2] 1940–1941: remaining 14 cars sold to two batches to Halifax, 8 in 1940 and 6 in 1941) | Ex-TCR |
| Canada Car and Foundry / Brill Peter Witts – Large with trailers | Single end double-truck electric streetcar | 575 | 1921–1923 | 1965 | Small Peter Witt 2766 retained for private charters |
| Canada Car and Foundry / Ottawa Car Company Peter Witts – Small Witts | Single end double-truck electric streetcar | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| St. Louis Car Company and CCF President's Conference Committee Car A1 | Single end double-truck electric streetcar | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| St. Louis Car Company PCC A2–8 | Single end double-truck electric streetcar | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| St. Louis Car Company PCC A9–10 | Single end double-truck electric streetcar | N/A | N/A | N/A | Ex-Cincinnati |
| St. Louis Car Company PCC A11 | Single end double-truck electric streetcar | N/A | N/A | N/A | Ex-Cleveland |
| St. Louis Car Company PCC A12 | Single end double-truck electric streetcar | N/A | N/A | N/A | Ex-Louisville |
| St. Louis Car Company PCC A13 | Single end double-truck electric streetcar | N/A | 1953 | N/A | Ex-Birmingham |
Buses are a large part of the TTC operations today, but before the 1960s they played a lesser role to streetcar operations. Bus service in Toronto started in 1921, but it was not until the creation of the TTC that buses become a part of public transit. There were a few independent bus operators that continued to provide inter-urban bus services:
Here is a list of historic and current buses used by the old TTC:
| Make/Model | Description | Fleet size | Year acquired | Year retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AEC 404 | Double-decker bus | 1 | 1922 | 1940s? | Upper level was removed in 1925 |
| Fifth Avenue Bus Company L and J | Double-decker bus | 4 – L, 6 – J | 1921, 1922 | 1940s? | 1 preserved at Canada Science and Technology Museum |
| Pierce Arrow Z | Diesel bus | 2 | 1922 | 1940s? | |
| Tilling-Stevens TS4 | Diesel bus | 1 | 1922 | 1940s? | |
| Veteran K | Diesel bus | 1 | 1927 | 1940s? | |
| White Motor Company 50A | Diesel bus | 6 | 1924 | 1940s? | |
| White Motor Company 50A | Diesel bus | 5, 10 | 1927, 1929 | 1940s? | 1929 purchase from Highway Queen Bus Lines; 2 sent to Gray Coach |
| White Motor Company 50B | Diesel bus | 5 | 1927 | 1940s? | |
| Packard ED | Diesel bus | 1 | 1922 | 1940s? | |
| Yellow Coach Y-Z (227, 229) | Diesel bus | 5, 6 | 1925 | 1940s? | |
| Yellow Coach Y | Diesel bus | 1 | 1925 | 1940s? | |
| Yellow Coach Y-O-254 | Diesel bus | 1 | 1927 | 1940s? | |
| Yellow Coach Z-AQ-273 | Diesel bus | 4 | 1926 | 1940s? | |
| Yellow Coach Y-U-316 | Diesel bus | 3 | 1927 | 1940s? |
Gray Coach Lines was suburban bus operator founded in 1927 by the Toronto Transit Commission. Gray Coach used inter-urban coaches to link Toronto to outlying areas throughout Southern Ontario. In addition, Gray Coach operated tour bus operations in association with Gray Line tours. The main terminal was at the Toronto Bus Terminal on Elizabeth Street, downtown.
Here is a list of historic and current buses used by the Gray Coach:
| Make/Model | Description | Fleet size | Year acquired | Year retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AEC/CCC Ranger Coach | Suburban coach | 4 | 1932–1933 | N/A | Later to Gray Coach |
| GM Highway Parlour Coach PD4104 | Suburban coach | 7 | 1950s | N/A | Later to Gray Coach |
The TTC once operated trolley buses on 10 routes, mostly on downtown routes and a few in the northern limits of the City of Toronto. The first route began operation with four buses on June 19, 1922, from a shed on Merton St. This early trolley coach operation was replaced by a streetcar line. In later years, many of these routes replaced streetcar routes, using the old overhead power system which was adapted to dipole service. The buses consisted of a standard bus platform with electric motors with two trolley poles connected to electrical lines above.
Routes served by trolley buses included:
| Make/Model | Description | Fleet size | Year acquired | Year retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Packard/Canadian Brill ED | 4 | 1922 | (New) | 1925 | Retired and sold as scrap 1928; #23 survived and now at Halton County Railway Museum in Rockwood, Ontario. |
| Canadian Car & Foundry–Brill T44-T1, T44-T2 and T44-T3 | 85 | 1947–1948 | (New) | 1970–1971 | Rebuilt as Western Flyer E700s (with completely new bodies) |
| CCF–Brill T48A | 40 new; 5 secondhand from Ottawa | 1953; ex-Ottawa units 1951 | 40 new; ex-Ottawa units 1959 | 1970–1971 | Rebuilt as Western Flyer E700s (with completely new bodies) |
| Marmon-Herrington TC48-T5 | 15, all ex-Cincinnati | 1948 | (1953) | 1971 |
In 1926, the City of Toronto purchased the ferry services operated by the Toronto Ferry Company. The fleet was transferred to the TTC, which engaged in a modernization program, retiring the smaller older vessels, and purchasing modern, diesel-powered ferries which still provide the backbone of modern service to the Islands.
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest of the urban transit service providers in the Greater Toronto Area, with numerous connections to systems serving its surrounding municipalities.
The Toronto Railway Company (TRC) was the operator of the streetcar system in Toronto between 1891 and 1921. It electrified the horsecar system it inherited from the Toronto Street Railway, the previous operator of streetcar service in Toronto. The TRC was also a manufacturer of streetcars and rail work vehicles, a few of which were built for other streetcar and radial operators.
The Toronto and York Radial Railway was a transit operator providing services to the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was a subsidiary of the Toronto Railway Company. The company was created by merging four Toronto-area interurban operations. The company was part of the empire of railway entrepreneurs Sir William Mackenzie and Donald Mann which included the Canadian Northern Railway and the parent Toronto Railway Company.
Toronto Civic Railways (TCR) was a streetcar operator created and owned by the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to serve newly annexed areas of the city that the private operator Toronto Railway Company refused to serve. When the Toronto Railway Company's franchise expired in 1921, its services were combined with those of the Toronto Civic Railways, and are now assumed by the new Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC). The first route of the TCR started operation on December 18, 1912.
The Metropolitan Street Railway was the operator of the Metropolitan line in the Toronto area that started out as a local horsecar line and transformed itself into an electric radial line extending to Lake Simcoe, following an old stage coach route. In 1904, the railway was acquired by the Toronto and York Radial Railway (T&YRR) and became the T&YRR Metropolitan Division. In 1922, the City of Toronto acquired the T&YRR and contracted Ontario Hydro to manage the four T&YRR lines including the Metropolitan. In 1927, the TTC took over the operation of the Metropolitan Line to Sutton, and renamed it the Lake Simcoe line. In 1930, the TTC closed the Metropolitan Line but shortly reopened the portion between Glen Echo and Richmond Hill operating it as the North Yonge Railways until 1948.
The North Yonge Railways was a radial railway line operated by the Toronto Transportation Commission from 1930 to 1948 between Glen Echo (Toronto) and Richmond Hill. The line was created by reopening the southern portion of the TTC's Lake Simcoe radial line that had closed in 1930.
The Toronto streetcar system is a network of nine streetcar routes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is the busiest light-rail system in North America. The network is concentrated primarily in Downtown Toronto and in proximity to the city's waterfront. Much of the streetcar route network dates from the 19th century. Most of Toronto's streetcar routes operate on street trackage shared with vehicular traffic, and streetcars stop on demand at frequent stops like buses.
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) uses buses and other vehicles for public transportation. In 2018, the TTC bus system had 159 bus routes carrying over 264 million riders over 6,686 kilometres (4,154 mi) of routes with buses travelling 143 millionkilometres in the year. As of 2021, the TTC has 192 bus routes in operation, including 28 night bus routes. In 2021, the system had a ridership of 203,319,000, or about 874,300 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2022.
Gray Coach was a Canadian inter-city bus line based in Toronto, Ontario, from 1927 to 1992. It was founded and initially owned by the Toronto Transportation Commission, until sold to Stagecoach in 1990. In 1992 the business was sold to Greyhound Canada and the brand was retired.
The history of public transportation in Toronto in Canada dates back to the middle 19th century under many different private companies, organizations and owners, which were all later unified as a single government-run entity during the 1920s.
Markham Transit was a public transit system for the town of Markham, Ontario, Canada. It was created in 1973 and operated by Travelways and Miller Transit Limited after 1984 on behalf of the then Town of Markham. The service was merged into York Region Transit in 2001 with Miller Transit continuing to operate most Markham routes.
The 512 St. Clair is an east–west streetcar route in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It operates on St. Clair Avenue between St. Clair station on the Line 1 Yonge–University subway and Gunns Road, just west of Keele Street.
Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company was established in August 1892 to provide street railway service to the Upper Beaches district within the City of Toronto, Ontario and to the neighbouring Township of Scarborough. Except for two branches, the line ran as a radial along Kingston Road.
The Toronto Railway Company Belt Line was a streetcar route that operated in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The route was created by the Toronto Railway Company in 1891 and taken over by the Toronto Transportation Commission in 1921, which cancelled the route in 1923 as part of its reorganization of streetcar routes.
The Toronto Transit Commission operated the Bloor streetcar line along Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue, extending at its longest from Jane Street in the west end of the city to Luttrell Avenue in the east. Both Luttrell and Jane loops at the termini were transfer points between streetcars and suburban bus routes. The line was abandoned in 1966 with the opening of the Bloor-Danforth subway line, except for two stubs of the line abandoned in 1968.
Beginning operation in 1861, the Yonge streetcar line was the first streetcar line in Toronto and the first in Canada. It started off as a horsecar line and closed in 1954 operating two-unit trains of Peter Witt motors pulling a trailer. Under the Toronto Transportation Commission, the Yonge line was the busiest and most congested streetcar line in the city leading to its replacement in 1954 by the Yonge Subway line, also Toronto's first and the first in Canada.
The Rogers Road streetcar line was a streetcar line that operated mainly within the Township of York from 1924 to 1974. The line was owned by the Township of York Railways, which in turn was owned by its namesake municipality. The Township of York Railways contracted with the Toronto Transportation Commission, later the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), to operate the line.
Public transportation in Toronto dates back to 1849 with the creation of a horse-drawn stagecoach company. Today, Toronto's mass transit is primarily made up of a system of subways, buses, and streetcars, covering approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) of routes operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and inter-regional commuter rail and bus service provided by GO Transit.
Toronto-gauge railways are tram and rapid transit lines built to Toronto gauge, a broad gauge of 4 ft 10+7⁄8 in. This is 2+3⁄8 in (60 mm) wider than standard gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in which is by far the most common track gauge in Canada. The gauge is unique to the Greater Toronto Area and is currently used on the Toronto streetcar system and the Toronto subway, both operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. As well, the Halton County Radial Railway, a transport museum, uses the Toronto gauge so its rail line can accommodate its collection of Toronto streetcars and subway trains. Several now-defunct interurban rail systems also once used this gauge.
The St. Clair Carhouse was a streetcar facility in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was located south of St. Clair Avenue on a parcel of land bounded by Wychwood Avenue on the east, Benson Avenue on its north side and Christie Street on the west side. It was opened by the Toronto Civic Railways in 1913, taken over by the Toronto Transportation Commission in 1921 and closed by its successor, the Toronto Transit Commission, in 1998. The carhouse was subsequently transformed into a community centre called the Wychwood Barns.
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