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What makes Toronto... Toronto?

Mystic Point said:
You can usually spot an outsider by their shoes and hairstyles. Outsiders often wear fanny packs and wear cell phones on their belts. And they're always looking up at the buildings.

I can't believe you can't tell the difference between a townie and an outsider.
Click to expand...

Hey, I always look up at the buildings in the CBD. What urban geek wouldn't?
 
Mystic Point said:
You can usually spot an outsider by their shoes and hairstyles. Outsiders often wear fanny packs and wear cell phones on their belts. And they're always looking up at the buildings.

I can't believe you can't tell the difference between a townie and an outsider.
Click to expand...

I don't mean tourists... I mean newly arrived citizens of Toronto, who blend in far more than they would in other places because of a) Toronto's diversity; and b) the fact that almost everyone already here is an immigrant or from a recently-immigrated family and hence is not fazed by the arrival of newcomers.

and ^: yeah, I'm always looking up too. :)
 
Outsiders often wear fanny packs and wear cell phones on their belts
Click to expand...

A ton of guys wear cellphones on their belt to make them look important.
 
Northern Light said:
...
...As best I can figure 3 of Canada's Big 5 are now in the worlds' biggest 15 banks

All 5 are in the top 25

That makes for one hell of a share of Financial services...
Click to expand...

Are you sure about this? According to a 2009 CBC article, Canada's biggest bank, RBC, is #26 in the world. Link here.

Northern Light said:
...
We have a transit system that for all its faults produces the second highest modal split for transit in all of North America.
And make no mistake, while we all rightly nitpick the details, this system is about to undergo more growth in the next decade that the last 3 combined.
(Union Station, Massive GO improvements, one for sure, maybe as many as 3 subway projects, A new GTA farecard, major new LRTS in inner and outer burbs Etc. Etc.)
...
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but I just came back from Hong Kong and Japan in which we extensively took public transit and have also taken the transit extensively in London and Paris a few years ago and the TTC/Go systems are WAY WAY WAY short in every way (I can't think of an exception).

Lets just take Hong Kong for example. Public transit consisting of subway, streetcars, big buses, mini buses, double decker buses, trains, ferry boats, etc. are all run by many different companies but everything is connected by what is called an Octopus card. This is like a debit card in that you buy and can top up indefinitely and you keep it in your wallet or purse or school bag and you can swipe it without taking it out of your wallet, purse or bag - very convenient!

Each time you swipe, they deduct from your card the fare amount. So, for example, your Octopus card is topped up to $100 and your fare costs $2, when you swipe, the machine that you swipe on will say something like Fare = $2 you have $98 remaining. And then when you're low, you just go to any convenience store or other outlet and top up to $20 or $100 or whatever amount. And while you're there, you can even buy milk with your Octopus card!

And lets talk subway which is the core of every major city's transit system. At every station in HK the tracks are completely walled off with transparent plexiglass or something so it's impossible for anyone to jump or be pushed onto the tracks. There are designated spots to line up and in these designated spots there are sliding doors that will open onto the tracks to let passengers in/out. When a subway train enters a station it always stops at exactly the same spot so that the train doors align with the wall doors and both open at the same time! And they let you know when that the next trains come in 2min 45sec, etc. and when you're inside, they not only announce what the next station is, but also which side of set of doors will open... something like... next station is xyz, doors to the left will open. Or if you're hard of hearing, the subway map inside the trains will light up to indicate what station is next and which side door will open.

And you can talk on the cell phone everywhere in the subway system. I can go on and on but suffice to say the TTC has a LONG way to grow before they're even in the same league as some other transit systems.
 
Cells, Farecards and Platform edge doors

Tacoma said:
I'm sorry but I just came back from Hong Kong and Japan in which we extensively took public transit and have also taken the transit extensively in London and Paris a few years ago and the TTC/Go systems are WAY WAY WAY short in every way (I can't think of an exception).

Lets just take Hong Kong for example. Public transit consisting of subway, streetcars, big buses, mini buses, double decker buses, trains, ferry boats, etc. are all run by many different companies but everything is connected by what is called an Octopus card. This is like a debit card in that you buy and can top up indefinitely and you keep it in your wallet or purse or school bag and you can swipe it without taking it out of your wallet, purse or bag - very convenient!

Each time you swipe, they deduct from your card the fare amount. So, for example, your Octopus card is topped up to $100 and your fare costs $2, when you swipe, the machine that you swipe on will say something like Fare = $2 you have $98 remaining. And then when you're low, you just go to any convenience store or other outlet and top up to $20 or $100 or whatever amount. And while you're there, you can even buy milk with your Octopus card!
Click to expand...

The TTC is getting this. PRESTO Cards are to be rolled out extensively, it has already begun. Full implementation should be done by 2011 on non-TTC systems, and limited TTC. Shortly thereafter, the whole TTC. It will work on GO/TTC/YRT/Viva/DurhamMississauga/Brampton/Oakville/Burlington and Hamilton Transit.

Link is here.

http://www.prestocard.ca/en/


And lets talk subway which is the core of every major city's transit system. At every station in HK the tracks are completely walled off with transparent plexiglass or something so it's impossible for anyone to jump or be pushed onto the tracks. There are designated spots to line up and in these designated spots there are sliding doors that will open onto the tracks to let passengers in/out. When a subway train enters a station it always stops at exactly the same spot so that the train doors align with the wall doors and both open at the same time! And they let you know when that the next trains come in 2min 45sec, etc. and when you're inside, they not only announce what the next station is, but also which side of set of doors will open... something like... next station is xyz, doors to the left will open. Or if you're hard of hearing, the subway map inside the trains will light up to indicate what station is next and which side door will open.
Click to expand...
[/QUOTE]

Platform edge doors require automatic train control. This is coming too. The TTC has begun converting the Yonge Subway to ATC; Sheppard is already ready. There is no approval for the doors yet; and they probably have to wait until a downtown relief line is built as they actually do reduce capacity slightly.

But keep in mind this is not cheap, we need to prioritize. Full ATC and platform edge doors in all subway stations is $1-2B(illion)

And you can talk on the cell phone everywhere in the subway system. I can go on and on but suffice to say the TTC has a LONG way to grow before they're even in the same league as some other transit systems.
Click to expand...

This is in progess. The TTC has awarded the first contracts for cell service.

*****

Don't just compare the TTC with the biggest, most successful system though.

Compare it with ANY other system in North America....it shines. Only New York rivals it for size, and let me tell you the New York subway experience is not quite as nice as the Toronto one, in rolling stock or stations.
 
Urban Shocker said:
Indeed. And - with the exception of a few marquee foreign starchitects who touch down here briefly between flights to tell us ( Alsop is particularly fond of doing this ... ) that things are soooo much better in our dull little burg since they started building here - our better local designers understand this; they've kept the faith with a practical Modernist mode of building that perfectly represents those same values.
Click to expand...

It seems painfully insular, indeed parochial, to not value or want to welcome artists, designers and bright minds from all over the world to the city, especially one with such a relatively short history and tradition (it's a little early, not to mention a little limiting, to declare post-war modernism the unquestioned preeminent vernacular form in the city). An exchange of a diversity of ideas is what will make Toronto great and the great cultural 'meeting place' its very name destins it to be, no matter how much we do already love the local stalwarts of design.
 
It goes without saying, Tewder, that foreign architects have worked in Toronto/York/Toronto - since day one: 1793. We're a major North American cultural centre and employer of people in the design industry. What timeo, bleepbluuup and I are talking about is the character of the city as a neutral medium within which locals can live as they wish, and become who they want to be, with minimal pressures to conform. We find our own ways in life, celebrating our differences freely, live and let live. We'd be a parochial city indeed to limit the possibilities of our citizens by imposing a "melting pot" concept - at various levels - that's contrary to those values of comfort with diversity and not opting in if one doesn't want to. timeo identifies that Toronto characteristic as not sexy, and I think the generally understated and neutral characteristic of Toronto's locally-designed architecture is another expression of that character - regardless of whatever foreigners build while they're passing through.
 
what makes toronto ,toronto?



long streets, street cars, new street signs, street art!
tall tower, condo tower, mega city boom town grow up
spacing magazine, independent scene , yorkville celeb seen,
crystals, blue titanium, ravines, beaches, laneways, subways, suburban retrofits, green roofs, grey concrete, red splashed on city tv building, multi coloured taxis, immigrants settling, chinese mall explosion, temples, rotis, gays lesbians and bankers, turbins and spandex, funky and bland,
caribana, victorian streets, modernism, jane jacob wisdom, rich florida like/dislike, franks a.g.o., street food,
David Miller, mill st. brewery, steamwhistle brew, fashion shoe on queen west, look south waterfront transform, look east to the don valley, look north to north york, city center expansion, sushi, university, honest ed, the city that takes naps, patios, homeless people, media, cold winters,hot summers, cant wait till summer take a trip to alan gardens to taste tropics, diverse topics,
toronto- open , shy, hey whats up guy? t-dot, jungle, jane finch, graff, r t , drummer, grange, islands , growing skyline, hustling,


and loves and hates the words world class
 
Toron Toe ring




toron toes

tor torry on toes


tor ontarionto

t or on the toe
 
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