Yonge Street at St. Clair Avenue, 1922. The TTC was busy in its first few years joining together the various street railway systems together and expanding services. Here, work is underway to extend city streetcar service to Glen Echo
Yonge Street at St. Clair Avenue, 1922. The TTC was busy in its first few years joining together the various street railway systems together and expanding services. Here, work is underway to extend city streetcar service to Glen Echo Loop and connect with the former Toronto Civic Railway’s St. Clair line. City of Toronto Archives Fonds 16, Series 71, Item 1571
In 1921, the Toronto Transportation Commission was established to provide all transit services within the City of Toronto, on a complete cost-recovery basis. Within the City, there would be a single fare for all regular services, including free transfers, with additional fares for services outside the city limits.
The TTC immediately took over the operations of the Toronto Railway Company and the city-owned Toronto Civic Railways and began to unify the two systems. It bought new equipment, and replaced worn-out rail, carhouses, and other facilities. It introduced the first transit buses to Torontonians, and three decades later, Canada’s first subway.
Toronto’s streetcar system expanded through the 1920s, but stagnated through the 1930s, including the loss of almost all of Toronto’s radial railways. But it wasn’t until 1947-1948 that Toronto’s street railway network entered an era of decline, as trolley coaches, diesel buses, and subways chipped away at the streetcar’s dominance.
By the late 1960s, the TTC was looking to eliminate streetcars entirely by 1980, once the Queen Street Subway opened. Of course, that subway line never opened, and the streetcars remained. It wasn’t until the 1990s, though, that the network entered a renaissance.
Within two years, the TTC quickly modernized the streetcar system. New streetcars — known as Peter Witts — were ordered and the oldest of the Toronto Railway Company’s cars were immediately scrapped. The TTC unified the TRC and Civic systems, replaced the radial railways within city limits with city services, and added new routes such as Coxwell and Bay. The City took over the Toronto & York radials as well, but handed their operation over to Ontario Hydro. The TTC also replaced much of the worn out rails, and built new turning loops at the end of streetcar lines replaced crossovers and wyes. This improved operations and allowed for larger, single-ended streetcars to operate on more routes.
The TTC also introduced buses. In the early 1920s, buses were were slow, small and less comfortable than streetcars, but they had their advantages. The TTC’s first bus route, 1 Humberside, provided a direct, single-fare ride through the South Junction neighbourhood to TTC streetcars at Dundas Street; the Toronto Suburban’s Crescent streetcar line couldn’t compete and was soon abandoned. The TTC also experimented with a trolley bus route on Merton Street and Mount Pleasant Road between 1922 and 1925; it was replaced by an extension of the St. Clair streetcar.
Trolley bus on Merton Street, June 20, 1922. City of Toronto Archives, Series 648, Fonds 227, Item 1
The TTC continued to modernize and expand the street railway network. Through Bloor-Danforth streetcar service between Jane Street and Luttrell Avenue was finally possible with the completion of two railway underpasses in the west end. The Winchester streetcar route was replaced with a direct Parliament service, though the Ashbridge streetcar was replaced by buses after the bridge over Keating Channel was condemned.
The TTC also expanded operations into the suburbs. The Township of York contracted the TTC to operate the former Suburban lines on Dundas West and Weston Road, and to build new car lines on Oakwood Avenue, Eglinton Avenue, and Rogers Road. The Township of York Railways lines required a separate fare. The little-used Schomberg and Aurora spur line was abandoned in 1927.
The Toronto Suburban, owned by Canadian National Railways, was left with a short suburban line to Woodbridge and the Guelph interurban, which had a new high-speed route to Keele and St. Clair.
On the eve of the Great Depression, Toronto’s street railway system was at its peak. The TTC replaced the inner-most sections of the Mimico and Scarborough radials, offering city service as far east as Birchmount Road and as far west as Long Branch, though it charged a suburban fare beyond the city limits. However, the TTC abandoned the short Lambton car between Runnymede Road and the Humber River in 1928, replacing it with buses, and the Woodbridge radial was abandoned in 1927.
In 1929, the TTC operated 23 regular service streetcar routes in the City of Toronto, the Township of York, and the towns of Weston, Mimico, New Toronto, and Long Branch. The TTC also operated 10 peak period routes, three rural radial lines, and several bus routes.
On March 15, 1930, the last Yonge Street radial arrived in Toronto from Sutton. The radials couldn’t compete with auto traffic and coach buses, including the TTC’s own Gray Line Coach service. But on July 17, 1930, rail service resumed as far north as Richmond Hill. The Scarboro radial was cut back from West Hill to Scarborough Post Office at Markham Road, and Canadian National cut the Guelph Line in 1931.
Within the City of Toronto, the TTC cut service levels and eliminated some rush hour “tripper” services, but did not abandon any streetcar rou