The hustle and bustle of Canada’s largest city, Toronto, can be an adventure to navigate, especially if it your first visit there. While using your car to get you everywhere may be convenient, it could also take a bit of the fun away from experiencing everything this amazing city has to offer its visitors. Lets look at Transit Travel in Toronto: TTC and Taxi.
Using transit is often a great option to choose while getting around Toronto because it allows travellers to get a view of the city you would not get from your car. Visitors can also save a bit of green on parking fees and gas when giving their car a rest while using transit. Whether you are just visting or live in this metroplitian area, two of the more popular methods of transit in Toronto are the TTC and taxi. Take a look here to see why these forms of transit can make your next visit to Toronto convenient and memorable.
Transit Travel in Toronto – TTC and Taxi
The Toronto Transit Commission (or the TTC) is constantly evolving to make travel for the citizens of Toronto and those who live in the city’s suburban areas more convenient. Since 1921, it went from street cars to including buses and Canada’s first subway. It now has three subway lines that connect with each other at different points, one intermediate capacity transit line, over 160 bus routes, and 11 street car lines.
Costs and conveniences
Whether you are a visitor or a resident of Toronto, the TTC is a great way to get around the city. All of the stations downtown connect you to the pulse of this metropolis. The numerous bus routes and street cars are also helpful in getting people to the places in around the city to their destinations, either right in front or steps away from it.
The fare is not expensive for riders to pay. It is comparable to the fare commuters pay in other major cities across Canada. There are many options riders can use to get around Toronto. They can pay a one-time fare using cash, tickets (which are becoming phased out) or tokens. A more economical choice for one person any day or a family on select days can use a day pass to get around at their leisure.
Zooming across downtown on “The Rocket”
To get downtown, we took the UP Express from Pearson International Airport to Union Station. Once we wre finished seeing the sights around the this part of town, our next stop for the day was to the Royal Ontario Museum. This destination was a bit of a distance away. Since our kids were not up to walking this distance, we decided to hop on “The Rocket” to make the travel faster and easier. Other great features of the TTC is that travellers and visitors with cars are able to park their cars at select stations and accessibility is taken into consideration on buses, streetcars, and trains.
We were able to take a train from Union Station to Museum along the Young-University Line in a few minutes. Our kids loved zipping under the city to our stop in our train car to our next destination. For my younger daughter, it was her first time riding the subway in Toronto and she loved her subterranean adventure.
Once we reached Museum Station, we were amazed the sight that was waiting for us. Many of the stations around the downtown core along this subway line are themed with the main attractions found around this area of town. For us, Museum Station is one of the most impressive stops along the subway. The pillars are designed beautifully to mimic hieroglyphs and carved mummy caskets. We stayed here for a few minutes after the throng had left the station to get a snap with these pieces of art. We then exited the station and found ourselves just around the corner from the main entrance to the museum as well as to other must-see locations around the area.
The ability to get around Toronto while using the TTC was invaluable to all of the stops we had to make while in Toronto. It allowed us to get to so many of the points we wanted to see in a quick amount of time. The day pass made all of these stops more economical for us to do for the day as well.
There are times that travellers need to get from Point A to Point B without a break for stops. This is where a taxi (or cab) really comes in handy.
Costs and conveniences
Having the convenience of a cab is great when time is not on your side, you are wiped out from have had a fun-filled day of exploring, or when normal methods of transit are not feasible, or when weather suddenly turns for the worse. This method of transportation is also more costly than those previously mentioned, but it costs more for this premium service.
A great convenience after a day packed with fun
After our whirl-wind day around Toronto’s downtown core, our kids were whipped out. We had taken the subway to the end of the line to catch a bus back to the airport and then onto our short term rental apartment. We were able to see that a meltdown was on the horizon, and frankly, we were getting a bit weary from our day. We called a taxi service and they arrived to our location within minutes of contacting them. After giving our driver our destination, we zoomed to the doors of our weekend rental apartment to get our kids ready to end our day. It was great to know we were able to cut our commute short by hopping into a taxi to get “home” quickly.
Having a car is great to have for convenience when visiting Toronto, but it is not always the most practical. Transit Travel in Toronto, in many instances, is easier and more cost-effective. We did not have to worry about how long we were staying in a particular location, if parking was available, and how much it costs. Also, using a lot of gas to get from place to place is not a worry. Getting around the Toronto is a great idea because you can get to see the city instead of passing it by. My family really enjoyed ditching our car for a day and commuting on different methods of transit was an adventure within our adventure during our vacation. It made our time together memorable and fun.
Which mode of transit would you want to use in Toronto if you were giving your car a break?
Disclaimer: We were given fare to use the TTC and taxi service while visiting Toronto. The views I shared are my own.
I’d try this rocket, but I haven’t been to toronto, good to know
I’d definitely be using the TTC, there’s no way I want to be driving around downtown Toronto. I use our train system here too if I have to go downtown, parking costs an arm and a leg and the trains are convenient.
I think public transit is such a great way to get around no matter where you are! Each city has at least a couple of great routes 🙂
These all sound like great ways to get around the city but I live in a small city and we only have the bus as an option
I’ve also taken buses downtown before we moved, unfortunately there are no buses (nor anything else for that matter) from here. Unless you have a car, it has to be a taxi which ends up costing a fortune over time.
This article has tons of great info and tips. Visiting to Toronto is on my bucket list! I’m from Chi Town.
Certainly a great way to get around the city!