The TTC has approved a $1 billion plan to purchase 50 new low ride streetcars and perhaps 150 more after that.

While our streetcar system can blend into the background for us locals, every so often I'll notice a group of tourists pull out their cameras and stare in wonder at our system of cars, tracks and wires and then I think, yeah, damn right, our streetcars are pretty nifty. On other days, I'm crushed in the back of a car when it breaks down and I end up walking to work with other riders stuck in cars behind me. So the idea of getting brand new, bigger and quieter cars fills me with transit-nerd happiness (especially because they could look like the low-ride streetcar pictured above from Portland).

I'll hold off on my excitement for now - prototype testing is five years away and the plan still needs city counsil approval.