ttc toronto

This downtown streetcar lane is the new Queens Quay tunnel as drivers keep getting stuck on it

Toronto doesn't need unfettered access to a gaping streetcar tunnel — like the one people kept driving into on Queens Quay — to prove that motorists in the city are pretty darn bad at abiding by signage to keep them from getting trapped where they shouldn't be.

The latest pain point appears to be the designated transit lanes on Spadina Avenue near Lake Shore Blvd. W, where passersby have witnessed multiple vehicles accidentally turning into the streetcar-only alley that runs between north and southbound traffic, some of them getting stuck halfway over the curb in the process.

One resident shared a photo of one such mishap to Reddit on Sunday, eliciting dozens of comments about Toronto roads, and whether the issues at the intersection are due to bad design, bad driving, or both.

"Happens at least once a week," one person said, with another claiming that they live in the area and see it virtually every day.

ttc toronto

A close-up of the incident from Sunday. Photo from u/Mojachee on Reddit.

While some argue that paying attention and following the lines on the street can easily prevent such a snafu, others feel that it is quite confusing for Toronto to have some streetcar tracks you can drive on, and some you can't.

And, given that the location serves as the main off-ramp into the downtown core for visitors looking to access the city's most touristy attractions, the infrastructure can naturally lead to problems, with so many road users unfamiliar with the turn.

"I see this so often. Even if they are bad drivers, if it happens this often, the City should do better to foolproof it," one person suggested, perhaps unaware that gateslights, pavement markings and bollards added to keep cars out of the Queens Quay tunnel still didn't completely prevent these types of incidents.

"As we learned with the Harbourfront tunnel, where there's a will, there's a way," TTC spokesperson Stuart Green jokes, adding that the commission hasn't actually noticed an increase in issues at Spadina and Lake Shore.

"It does happen from time to time that people end up on the ROW despite the signage and elevated curbs. When we become aware of repeated instances in a certain area, we'll work with the City to make changes to road markings or increase signage if needed."

Along with cruising down lanes reserved for transit vehicles, those behind the wheel have managed to crash into streetcars in various ways, collide with LRT trains that aren't even in service yet, and somehow lodge themselves between a rock and a hard place (in this case, a streetcar and a pole) in recent memory.

Lead photo by

u/Mojachee


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