T.O. Streetcar Line Named One Of World’s Top 10 Trolley Rides
Saturday December 29, 2007
CityNews.ca Staff
One of Toronto’s most iconic – and slowest – portions of public transportation history has been named one of the world’s top 10 trolley rides.
The 501 or “Queen” Streetcar made the National Geographic list, as part of an upcoming coffee-table book “Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World’s Greatest Trips,” set to come out in October.
According to the book, the car got the nod for being one of the longest in North America, and also because it traverses such a wide swath of the city, including more than a dozen neighbourhoods.
“You see a lot of activity and a lot of colour on the streets and a lot of interesting things as you go from one end of Queen Street to another,” commented TTC rider David Stevenson.
At just under 49 kilometres, the stretch fruns from Long Branch at the city’s border with Mississauga all the way along Queen Street to where it loops at Neville Park and Scarborough emerges.
To be sure it’s a nice honour for the TTC, but the 501 has also been one of the city’s most troubled lines. Ridership is way down in recent years and just this month an advocacy group held a “Fix the 501” forum at Metro Hall, complaining of overcrowding and lengthy delays.
“There are good days and bad days,” Stevenson added. “I think the TTC needs to shape up and there’s a real inconsistency with the 501.”
Many of the other top trolley rides hailed from places including Seattle, New Orleans and Melbourne, Australia, but most other selections were tourist rides, less vital to the daily operation of a city’s transit system.
From Journeys of a Lifetime:
“Route 501 boasts one of the longest streetcar routes in North America. Starting on Lake Shore Blvd., it whisks through lively downtown Toronto and into the Beach district with its distinctive red-and-white Articulated Light Rail Vehicles.”
The full list of tram rides, in no particular order:
Toronto’s 501 Queen Street car
Seattle’s George Benson waterfront streetcar
New Orleans’ St. Charles streetcar tour
San Francisco’s Streetcar F
Hong Kong’s trams
Melbourne’s Tram 96
Budapest No. 2 tram
Berlin’s Tram 68
Amsterdam’s No. 2 tram
Lisbon’s No. 28 tram
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_18116.aspx
Toronto streetcar among ‘journeys of a lifetime’
THE CANADIAN PRESS WASHINGTON – It’s a journey that thousands of Toronto commuters do each day, without much pleasure.
But the 501 Queen streetcar has now acquired lofty status, having been included in the new coffee-table book “Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World’s Greatest Trips” (National Geographic).
The 501, boasting one of the longest streetcar routes in North America, is listed among the top 10 trolley rides on the planet. Others include Berlin’s Tram 68, Lisbon’s 28 Tram, Seattle’s George Benson Waterfront Streetcar, New Orleans’ St. Charles Streetcar Tour, Hong Kong’s trams and San Francisco’s Streetcar F.
National Geographic lists trolleys as “the best way to see a city from an insider’s perspective.”
Also highlighted in the book is Montreal’s underground city, with shopping malls, banks and offices – “the largest man-made underground network in the world.”
It’s among the top 10 underground walks, along with the Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam, Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland, the sewers of Paris and the catacombs in Rome, among others.
Cruising from Seattle or Vancouver to Alaska – a trip that features the sight of bald eagles, fiords and waterfalls cascading down mountainsides – is listed among the world’s top trips by water.
Other leading water trips include Canada’s Trent-Severn Waterway, airboating in the Florida Everglades and the Orinoco River Cruise in Venezuela.
Top road trips include the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper, Alta.; crossing the Andes from Bolivia to Chile; the route from Delhi to Agra, India; and the Takenouchi Highway in Japan.
This story was posted on Wed, December 5, 2007
http://travel.canoe.ca/Travel/News/2007/12/05/4708987-cp.html
