From “Not Just Bikes”. ( YouTube / Nebula )
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Relevant Videos
The Absolute Best Transportation for Cities (Trams)
https://nebula.tv/videos/notjustbikes-the-absolute-best-transportation-for-cities
This Train Station Has No Business Being This Good
https://nebula.tv/videos/notjustbikes-this-train-station-has-no-business-being-this-good
More Lanes are (Still) a Bad Thing
https://nebula.tv/videos/notjustbikes-more-lanes-are-still-a-bad-thing
How Toronto Got Addicted to Cars
https://nebula.tv/videos/notjustbikes-how-toronto-got-addicted-to-cars
A Plan to fix Toronto’s Streetcars [RMTransit]
https://nebula.tv/videos/rmtransit-how-to-fix-torontos-streetcars
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References and Further Reading
Photos of Historic Streetcars courtesy of Transit Toronto, Richard Glaze, Howard Wayt (used with permission):
https://transittoronto.ca/streetcar/4114.shtml
https://transittoronto.ca/streetcar/4116.shtml
https://transittoronto.ca/streetcar/4133.shtml
https://transittoronto.ca/streetcar/4120.shtml
https://transittoronto.ca/streetcar/4118.shtml
https://transittoronto.ca/streetcar/4136.shtml
https://transittoronto.ca/streetcar/4138.shtml
Historical streetcars in Canada
https://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~wyatt/streetcar-list.html
Shuffle Demons – Spadina Bus
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=QOlpwwfamSo
Toronto: Let’s Talk About the Streetcars.
https://nextmetro.substack.com/p/lets-talk-about-the-streetcars
Cost of running buses instead of streetcars on Queen Street
https://web.archive.org/web/20170611182254/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/queen-street-without-streetcars-the-city-might-give-it-a-look-1.4152158
Streetcar Stop Spacing
Wheelchairs
Changes to Amsterdam tram lines
https://www.at5.nl/nieuws/231818/gvb-wil-tramlijnen-fors-wijzigen-wethouder-vraagt-aanpassingen-aan-plannen
Switches
Streetcar Frequent Dewirement Spot (Lithic Halcyon)
As usual, the YouTube Description is not nearly long enough for all of the references. You can find the full list on Nebula or at this link:
https://notjustbikes.com/references/torontostreetcars.txt
Thanks to RM Transit for helping with the research for this video.
Thanks to Extra Credits for the quote read!
The vast majority of the content in this video was filmed on location by Not Just Bikes, with some images licensed from Getty Images, RM Transit, and other sources.
No generative AI or AI voices were used in the making of this video.
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Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:17 Brief History
4:10 Trams vs streetcars vs LRT
5:28 Stuck in traffic and at red lights
8:04 I’m sorry, but I needed a "winter" segment or Canadians will just blame winter and stop listening to every other argument. It’s a cultural flaw of Canadians. Make fun of them for it every time you see it, please.
9:09 Dedicated lanes are still slow
11:36 Streetcar stops and wayfinding
13:55 Level boarding and wheelchair access
18:25 Streetcars vs buses vs subways
19:52 Pedestrianisation and great urbanism
22:05 Streetcar streets should not have through traffic
23:04 King Street Transit Priority Pilot Project
25:33 Suburban sabotage of the streetcars
28:27 The results of the King Street project
33:03 Toronto is addicted to cars
34:28 The solutions to improve the streetcars
35:46 Eglinton Crosstown & Finch West LRT
38:39 Cobbling together 100-year old technology
43:38 The streetcar network is frozen in time
45:54 The right-wing attacks on the streetcars
47:07 Concluding thoughts & how to support the channel
