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TTC from 25 years ago

Man it seems like just yesterday. There are several shots there of Eaton Centre's Dundas Street Parkade which would have only been a few years old 25 years ago. I have memories of the old Eaton's store down there when I was a kid, and I'm not that old!
Maybe I am...
 
I didn't know the TTC had trolley buses! I've always wondered how trolley buses stay connected to the lines above. Like what if the driver turned too much to the left or right?
I love those old streetcars, they're so awesome. I wish we had somehow kept more of them.
 
phunky said:
I didn't know the TTC had trolley buses! I've always wondered how trolley buses stay connected to the lines above. Like what if the driver turned too much to the left or right?
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They got out of the bus and reattached the pole. They did this frequently in my recollection; I never spent much time in downtown Toronto when the trolley's were running, but it seems everytime I did, there was a driver running outside to fix his pole. But surely it's the same in other cities that use trolley buses?

Didn't know ... has it really been that long?
 
The TTC stopped running trolley buses in 1992, though there was a brief stay of execution for the Bay and Annette routes.

And I never rode a TTC trolley bus, even though I lived here. The first time I got to ride one was in Vancouver, and then again earlier this year in San Francisco (a transit fan's dreamland).
 
I rode the Bay trolley sometimes. The ride was pretty quiet, compared to diesel, and the vehicle accelerated and decelerated pretty smoothly. The poles did have a tendency to pop off the wires, as already mentioned, and the driver would have to get out and place the poles back into position on the wires, sometimes while listening to choice comments from car drivers behind.
 
One of the former trolleybus routes, either the 74 Mt. Pleasant or 61 Nortown, required the drivers to make a turn before they reached a downhill. Apparently quite a few times the driver failed to make the turn, dewired, and rolled down this hill. Getting the bus back to the wires required the TTC to get a diesel bus to push the trolleybus back up.
 
TTC Trackless Trolleys-Not bad!

Everyone: Good memories here with the TTC trackless trolley film! I did not realize that the TTC discontinued trackless trolley service in 1992. The reason you have two poles is that there is one positive and one negative for the return circuit. With streetcars that run on rails,the return circuit is the ground rails. One memory I have from my Spring 1990 trip is a too-high box truck coming into contact with the overhead lines in the vicinity of Bay Street S of Old City Hall by First Canadian Place. It caused lines to stop as well as traffic disruptions until TTC wire crews showed up to restore power.
What did the TTC do with its trackless trolleys? I am in Philadelphia posting this-SEPTA has its 5 Trackless routes running now with regular diesel buses-they are purchasing New Flyer vehicles to renew these routes. One memory that comes to mind is how light these electric buses are-much lighter than a Diesel bus. LI MIKE
 
They had to restart trolley buses after the initial cancellation because they had leased a number of vehicles from Edmonton and they couldn't cancel the lease, so they decided to run them again til the lease ran out. There are a few remnants of the trolley system in Toronto. If you head down to the Loblaws at Lakeshore/Jarvis, there's the random curved poles along Lakeshore, which trolley wires used to hang from.

Edmonton and Vancouver still have their trolley systems. Edmonton is debating what to do about their system when their vehicles reach the end of their lifespan; however, Vancouver has reinvested into theirs with brand new vehicles (retrofitted New Flyer Low Floors) which also feature off-wire battery operation if a bus becomes stuck.

I wish trolleys would come back. They offer a certain level of flexibility that streetcars can't provide, and there's plenty you can do (ROWs, etc.) to make it as attractive as streetcars/LRTs. However, the cost is high, since very few cities still operate them, and in terms of vehicle capacity, doesn't offer the same, since it's just a retrofitted bus.
 
Those are really interesting points, 299 bloor. I think trolley buses were always a hard sell because the average person would simply ask why a bus couldn't do the same job with much more flexibility. On the other hand, there is really something to be said for permanent infrastructure making a transit service more popular.
 
Anyone notice how nicely paved all the roads are- no potholes, clean painted lines etc.- wow, those were the times eh..I agree that it would have been great had the TTC kept a good chunk of the old streetcars- or at least ten- run them along the King and Queen lines- great for tourists and city dwellers alike.

p5
 
They actually tried it for the Queens Quay line. Unfortunately, the neigbours complained that they were loud and I believe the maintenance problems started to become too problematic.
 
p5connex said:
Anyone notice how nicely paved all the roads are- no potholes, clean painted lines etc.- wow, those were the times eh..I agree that it would have been great had the TTC kept a good chunk of the old streetcars- or at least ten- run them along the King and Queen lines- great for tourists and city dwellers alike.

p5
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I, too, noticed the high quality of the roads. For me, it's either streetcar or bus, the hybrid of those two is just too quirky. A rational argument for the trolley bus is the fact that you don't need to worry about rails or switching. But you don't get the capacity and they're more expensive to maintain, as was mentioned. All in all I like the current lineup of vehicles, even if it is more limited than in the past. The jack of all trades trolley bus is master of none.
 
junctionist said:
I, too, noticed the high quality of the roads. For me, it's either streetcar or bus, the hybrid of those two is just too quirky. A rational argument for the trolley bus is the fact that you don't need to worry about rails or switching. But you don't get the capacity and they're more expensive to maintain, as was mentioned. All in all I like the current lineup of vehicles, even if it is more limited than in the past. The jack of all trades trolley bus is master of none.
Click to expand...

Seems to be master of some out west. Its greatest advantage is its hill climbing ability - something that has no real use in Toronto.
 
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