Join PTM staff, volunteers, and members for our Zoom series, Trolleyology! These programs feature Pennsylvania transit history topics and tales of our collection that you can experience from home. Registration is required but free of charge. Donations are welcome and encouraged.
3/20/2024 – 7 PM ET – Presented by Brian Doucet
Toronto has North America’s largest streetcar network. Its 10 routes carry around 200,000 daily riders, and they are a ubiquitous sight throughout much of the city. This presentation will trace the early history of transit in Toronto, including the municipalisation of the streetcar system in 1921. Toronto had the largest fleet of new and used PCCs in North America. Though the network contracted after World War II, this was predominantly due to subway expansion, rather than bus replacement. The system was saved in 1972 in large part due to a small group of dedicated activists, leading to the development of new generation of streetcars and new lines. Today’s system features a mix of new, low-floor LRVs and legacy operating practices which means that Toronto’s streetcars, while iconic, are a slow way of getting around the city. Across southern Ontario, light rail is expanding as a new wave of transit investment is shaping development in one of North America’s fastest growing urban regions.
Throughout this presentation, we will weave the story of the streetcars with one of an ascendant city which transitioned from a modest, predominantly British and provincial city, to Canada’s leading metropolis, its global mega-region and one of the world’s most multicultural cities. This presentation will feature many images taken by the late John F Bromley, a Toronto- based streetcar enthusiast who travelled extensively to photograph trams and trolleys between the 1960s and 2019. As a bonus, we will end with some of his Pittsburgh images from the mid-1960s!
Dr. Brian Doucet is a Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor in the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo. His academic research focuses on processes of neighbourhood change, such as gentrification, as well as mobility and transportation. He has a lifelong interest in streetcars and urban transportation, and is the co-author (with his father, Michael) of the book Streetcars and the Shifting Geographies of Toronto: a visual analysis of change (2022, University of Toronto Press). Born and raised in Toronto, Brian lived in the Netherlands between 2004 – 2017. He now resides in Kitchener, Ontario.
This program will be recorded and available at a later date on the PTM YouTube channel.
Trolleyology presentations will continue on a regular or semi-regular basis. Interested in presenting? Email Kristen at kfred@patrolley.org! We’re specifically looking for programs related to the Trolley Era in general, Pennsylvania transit history, or stories about our collection. Please join our e-mail list to stay up-to-date with program announcements and other PTM news!
*For the best experience, we recommend downloading Zoom in advance.
NOTE: This is a virtual event
