OTHER CITIES: VANCOUVER MONTREAL

TTC - The Lifeline of Toronto

Posted by Jerrold
Filed in City
May 31, 2007

Transit nerds... be prepared to gush! This recent promo video by the TTC is full of fun stuff for you (and it's pretty cool even if you're not a self-proclaimed transit nerd).

Once you endure the first part (the streetcar repairs), the video highlights:
- the future of the street car in Toronto
- a behind-the-scenes look at the new high-tech transit control center
- explanations on how automated subway control might one day be implemented
- plans for more CCTV safety camera systems
- the York University extension, and
- the future (some say pipedream) city-wide LRT network.

The many time-lapsed video segments are really neat, too.

Watch it while you can, it might get the YouTube copyright infringement yank at any time. Runs 11mins. Enjoy!

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Well I guess this officially makes me a transit nerd.

Posted by: Matt at June 1, 2007 8:52 AM

This video is also available on the city of Toronto website

Posted by: Jonathan at June 1, 2007 10:24 AM

Here's the LINK to the video on the TTC website. Cheers!

Posted by: Jerrold at June 1, 2007 10:28 AM

It is hard to determine the intended audience for this boring video, which looks like it was shot in the 60s, right down to the porn-film background music.

What is the point of this video? What was it meant to achieve? Contrast it with the ATU video at www.wemovetoronto.ca, which is shorter, punchier and far more engaging.

As this TTC video progressed, I kept asking myself: When are they going to show a bus? Alas, not a single bus was shown. The very word was not mentioned. This had to have been deliberate but why? An outsider viewing this would assume the whole of Toronto's public transit system was streetcars and subways. Very strange.

Posted by: Bill Reno at June 1, 2007 11:08 AM

The video was intended for transit enthusiasts rather than the general public but one can still winkle out enough information to learn what the future plans are and the current challenges are.
My only quibble was the American pronunciations of "route" and "data".
Informational videos of this type are helpful for citizens to understand exactly what the different functions and departments are and how they help us. It'd be interesting to see the waterworks and parks and forestry videos. Where are they?

Posted by: David E

at June 1, 2007 6:39 PM

Porn-film background music? I don't know what porn you've been watching, but I sure wouldn't describe it that way... it seems more like infomercial music to me.

I got on a bus yesterday, I believe the first westbound 52 of the day once the blue night runs were done, and the entire thing was soaking wet inside... the floors, the seats, the windows all appeared to have just been blasted with a powerwasher and then not given time to dry.

Is that how they clean the interior of buses?

Posted by: Chris Orbz at June 2, 2007 5:35 AM