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TTC Museum / Visitor Centre

I'm with the Lower Bay suggestion above. The building with air rights above Bay station (the Bellair entry at least) isn't particularly stellar. Sounds like a good opportunity to me!
 
I'm with the Lower Bay suggestion above. The building with air rights above Bay station (the Bellair entry at least) isn't particularly stellar. Sounds like a good opportunity to me!


But...the building is serviceably functional. And besides, you forgot something that stands in the way between it and Lower Bay: Upper Bay.

Personally, I'd rather that Lower Bay be maintained for standby and occasional film/artistic purposes. By comparison, Lower Queen might actually have more potential...
 
who would visit this museum? :S

The same people that visit the London Transport Museum, tourists, people like us, schools, etc.
If it's done in an interactive and innovative way, it could be a really cool place for people to visit.
 
By comparison, Lower Queen might actually have more potential...

If Old City Hall were to be turned into a full-fledged Toronto urban past/present/future museum, they could connect Lower Queen to its basement and stick the TTC stuff down there.
 
If Old City Hall were to be turned into a full-fledged Toronto urban past/present/future museum, they could connect Lower Queen to its basement and stick the TTC stuff down there.

Lower Queen is not very big at all. Since it was built, much of it has been has been filled in by the two walkways under the tracks as well as the two elevator shafts and their mechanical rooms. While it's a great location in the heart of downtown, there's really not enough room to fit much else in there, and it's certainly not enough to display any vehicles, even if you could somehow get them down there.
 
Lower BAY to me makes the most sense. PPL would visit it if it was close downtown.. CoXwell is way too far away... It should be central. PLus it would allow people to check out the old subway station... Only problem is might not be big enough and the fact that I think they occasionally use the tracks here still... But theres no point in making a museum somewhere that no ones going to go too.. Downtowns the way to go. If they want to do this they need to find away to make it work..
 
I've been to both the London and NY transit museums. New York's really stands out for being in an abandoned subway station. The entrance is down through a classic hole in the street subway entrance. The artifacts and displays are all on the concourse level, and at platform level they have a few historic cars on the tracks that you can go in. It was a much more unique experience than the traditional museum setting.

Of course, we don't really have any abandoned stations. Lower Bay and Queen are really not very big. I would consider the old Vincent Yard at Dundas West station as a possible site. They could even run some of the old trains out of there on the weekends for all the railfans.
 
Another Giambrone pet project: 120k to study the creation of a TTC museum...

Approved by city hall.


http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/767846--wheels-turning-on-transit-museum

Spending our tax dollars wisely.

Can't wait to see the operating and capital budget it will need.

I guess Giambrone and the other councillors are back to business as usual.

It will however make great grade school field trips.

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Cities such as New York, San Francisco and London, England, attract tourists, history buffs and transit fans to museums dedicated to their unique transportation systems.

The Toronto Transit Commission is considering doing something similar, preserving the TTC’s history in the city’s own transit museum.

While the idea is still being studied, a vacant bus garage across from the Coxwell subway station is considered the frontrunner location for what’s being called a transit visitor or interpretation centre.

Councillors on the TTC approved Wednesday the second phase of a study that would look at how the facility could be governed, including the possibility of a not-for-profit board that would have a TTC representative and raise funds to support the venture.

Attendance revenues and capital costs will also be considered in the second part of the study that was initiated last year.

Not all transit museums are mass-market attractions, said Ted Silberberg of Lord Cultural Resources, the company hired to study the idea. The firm has designed museums and cultural centres around the world, including Ontario House at the Vancouver Olympics.

“We see (the Toronto centre) as more than a place to display historic vehicles,†he told the commission.

The concept could be widened to include both science and history, and the present and future of public transit.

But not all TTC commissioners agreed with the plan. Peter Milczyn, referring to the TTC’s recent poor public relations and ongoing financial challenges, said, “This certainly should not be a priority for the commission now.†He voted against a second phase of the $120,000 study.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, TTC chair Adam Giambrone stressed that it would be a transit interpretation centre, not a museum.

“This allows us to address some of the issues we’ve been hearing from the community about the role that transit plays, both past, current and future,†he said.

“It is expected that a substantial amount, if not all of it, would come from outside funding. This is what happened in New York (and) London; the major transportation companies are usually partners in these,†Giambrone said.

The consultant looked at 23 potential locations, but few were considered both sufficiently accessible and suitable because of the size requirements of such a facility.

A visitor centre would require between 4,100 and 7,500 square feet and a museum between 3,800 and 10,800 square feet, according to Silberberg’s report.

It would probably require five to eight staffers, plus volunteers. A modest admission fee would likely be appropriate, with special incentives for token and Metropass users.

A collection of decommissioned TTC vehicles and those from other regional transit services are already housed in the Halton Radial Railway Museum near Milton. That museum, which runs mainly on volunteer power, was founded about 50 years ago by the Ontario Electric Railway Historical Association.
 
Personally I don't think spending money on a transit museum is the best idea when there are so many more worthwhile capital projects with tangible benefits to riders are on the hopper.

AoD
 
I would agree with AoD. This would be a little more palatable if it weren't directly tied to transit funding. Besides, there already is a wonderful museum for Toronto transit enthusiasts in Halton - it's just privately run and you need a car to get there.
 

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