Meet "The Streetcar"

Before moving to Toronto, I never used the Streetcars except for one touristic ride in San Francisco, and now I take the streetcar more than I take the Subway, and it’s making my life, to go around downtown, much easier..

My first ride was interesting, because I didn’t have 3 dollars change which is the fare for a trip, I only had 50 dollars so the driver was kind enough and let me stay until I reached my destination.

The Toronto streetcar system comprises eleven streetcar routes in Toronto, and is the largest such system in the Americas in terms of ridership, number of cars, and track length. The network is concentrated primarily in downtown and in proximity to the city's waterfront. Much of the streetcar route network dates back to the 19th century. Unlike newer light rail systems, most of Toronto's streetcar routes operate in the classic style on street trackage shared with car traffic, and streetcars stop on demand at frequent stops like buses.

Toronto’s streetcars are not heritage streetcars run for tourism or nostalgic purposes; they provide most of the downtown core’s surface transit service, and four of the TTC's five most heavily used surface routes are streetcar routes. Toronto’s streetcar network carries 250,000 passengers each day, more than GO Transit’s entire daily ridership.

Over the past 90 years the TTC has had four streetcar vehicle series, but the first streetcars hit the road before the TTC even existed. Horse-drawn streetcars arrived in Toronto in 1861, followed by the first electric- powered vehicle in 1892. The TTC was established in 1921 and the “Peter Witt” streetcars began driving the streets until they were retired in 1963. The familiar “PCC” or “Red Rocket” was introduced in 1938, and the last of this fleet was retired in 1995. The current fleet includes the CLRV and the ALRV – ready to retire after over 30 years of service, to introduce the made for Toronto Bombardier Flexity.

The streetcars in Toronto are another element to add life to the city, and keeping it buzzing with people and making their life a bit easier, and for me it’s another friend, where we meet almost daily, giving me the chance to go around while escaping the crazy never ending cold.

Meet "The Subway"

During my 9 years in Dubai, I had my car and taking Dubai Metro (which was inaugurated on the 09/09/09) was more of a touristic ride to show around friends and family visiting Dubai, so it was never part of my daily routine. But I was always a big fan of the underground, especially when visiting London or Paris, and believe it saves traffic hassle and money, and decided that when I move to Toronto I don't want to buy a car at least the first year and use instead the public transportation to go around which it seems it s accessible and covers big part of Toronto city..

And when I was looking for an apartment, one of the main criteria I had to judge a place on was how close it is to the Subway, and especially that the first few weeks after I landed were extremely cold, so I felt the closet I can be to the subway the less I have to suffer outside walking in the snow and the insane low temperature..
 

I was lucky to find a place where the entrance to the Subway was right at the entrance of my building, and I started a love story with the subway.. A story that will last for very long time..

I remember the first trip I did was from Bloor/Yonge Station to Union station and since then I rarely remember a day passed without me taking the subway at least once, and it feels nice when you know you will reach your destination without the hassle of driving..
 

Every time I take the subway I like to look around at people, try to imagine their stories, their lives.. Observing people is my number one source on inspiration for my work, because when you only understand the behavior of people you can come up with real human ideas..
 

Even though I miss my car, and sometimes the delays or sudden closure of stations for emergencies can be annoying but I think the subway will be my friend and my way of going around for the years to come, and I like it.