You can now download TTC ringtones for your phone

Nothing gets a Torontonian running quite like the sound of a closing TTC door. Most of us instinctively jump whenever we hear that three note chime floating down a subway platform. That's why McGill graduate student Nick Uhlig thought it'd make the perfect ringtone.

"The entire purpose of those sounds is to cut through ambient noise and get your attention - just like a ringtone," says Uhlig via email. Uhlig, who's originally from Toronto, writes music in his spare time. For this project, he made all of the tones himself and even tried to mimic the characteristically disjointed and "off-tune" quality of the TTC notifications.

Along with the door closing chime, he also made ringtones based on the TTC alert tone as well as the door opening chime. You can hear all of them on Bandcamp. There's a limited number of free downloads available. Once those are gone, you can still get all of them for under $2.

Uhlig wishes he could have incorporated a streetcar bell into his work, however, he couldn't find a good sample of one. For now though, his existing options provide a creative and Toronto-centric alternative to the iPhone's ubiquitous Opening ringtone.

Would you download a TTC ringtone? Let us know in the comments.

Photo by Michael Monastyrskyj in the blogTO Flickr pool.