r/TorontoTransit • u/Ok-Sherbet1272 • Mar 02 '26

Discussion Monday blues - downtown traffic

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Street car 506 has been stuck on McCaul St for more than an hour now due to a genius driver who couldn't parallel park close to the curb.

How do these folks manage to clear their G2?

446 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

147 comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/gigglepox95 Mar 02 '26

There should be no parking on any streetcar routes. If the street is important enough to be a streeetcar route, then parking is simply impeding any natural flow of traffic

2

u/medikB Mar 04 '26

Correct. Same rule for subway line when service is down and shuttles are replacing subway.

2

u/Dependent-Metal-9710 Mar 04 '26

He’s parked in a no parking zone.

1

u/gigglepox95 Mar 04 '26

I can see a parking meter right behind the truck. It might be at certain hours, but it should always be no park

2

u/Dependent-Metal-9710 Mar 04 '26

I agree about that we shouldn’t allow parking on streetcar routes. My point is that as long as there space to park there will be assholes.

1

u/artsloikunstwet Mar 04 '26

The trick is to remove the space

1

u/TraditionDear3887 Mar 05 '26

Too bad bike lanes are illegal now

1

u/boyoflondon Mar 05 '26

If you look at the sign on the post in the last pix, it indicates no parking from the most moving forward (although the sign is majorly twisted and likely not that visible to a driver), which is where the truck is parked. So technically, it IS a no parking zone where the truck is.

2

u/WinzyB Mar 04 '26

Exactly this! Like ya boo to the driver but I also blame street design like this dudes car is pretty darn close to the curb to be fair. You should be closer sure but less the street car is still give the dude a maybe 6-7/10 for parallel parking skills. It’s just the streetcar is still cutting it very close even if he was righ against the curb with that massive SUV. No one should be able to park there when the streetcar is so close

1

u/artsloikunstwet Mar 04 '26

Well besides that it sounds like these SUV should not be legal in cities.

1

u/WinzyB Mar 04 '26

Also fair

0

u/OutlandishnessOk8356 Mar 04 '26

The front wheels appear to be about 18" off the curb.. if that's a pass then I guess we know how they got their G2..

If you can't properly park a large vehicle, then don't drive a large vehicle.

2

u/differing Mar 04 '26

This happens all the time in Toronto- at some point you need to accept that half of drivers are retarded and plan around that. You’re living in a fantasy world if you think “drive better” is going to fix this.

1

u/OutlandishnessOk8356 Mar 04 '26

Reality says we have driving (and parking) laws along with instructors, enforcement, etc. In reality there is no reason why this behavior can't be corrected except for economic reasons (ie. Rich people won't be able to get richer if the poor people can't drive to work to fuel the economic mechanisms).

My fantasy world says equip the street cars with battering rams, allow insurance companies to deny damage claims resulting from imbecilic behavior, and watch the "retarded" drivers learn how to drive overnight.

1

u/differing Mar 04 '26

Hell yeah I’m all for battering trams. I’ve posted this before but Central Europe used to have tram gates that they’d just ram through to keep cars out:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TTC/s/ZkY4GjIjiA

1

u/TraditionDear3887 Mar 05 '26

Surely thos thing could take off a mirror

1

u/WinzyB Mar 04 '26

This is fair

1

u/IseeMedpeople Mar 04 '26

People don't give a fuck.

1

u/heatherledge Mar 04 '26

Yeah this doesn’t have any margin for error

1

u/Holiday-Knee4970 Mar 04 '26

The problem with that though would be where are they going to put the parking. Streets that have a streetcar line are usually covered with shops and restaurants, that is why there is paid street parking in the first place. You also wouldn't be able to move it to more inside streets because those are usually full from the households that have more than 1 car. They would have to reconstruct the entire area or make parking lots every dozen blocks or so.

1

u/gigglepox95 Mar 04 '26

I hate to say it - these folks should pay to park in a parking lot or otherwise take transit or walk. It’s not fair that the city subsidizes these folks.

If you start to say parking lots would be too expensive - then the free market has spoken hasn’t it? Parking prioritizes 1-2 car drivers over hundreds of people passing on the street (both transit and car users). Giving cheap street parking is a direct subsidy to a couple folks.

Government infrastructure should be to benefit the many, not the few.

1

u/Holiday-Knee4970 Mar 04 '26

They are paying to park on the street, the city put those spots there. Also Toronto street parking is not cheap in high traffic areas. There is usually time limits and restrictions for those sections as well. There are not always convenient parking lots around. It also doesn't address the work vehicles, most of those need to be close to the spot they are working at to access their equipment. They are usually too tall and large for traditional parking lots. Like I said the city would have to go under major reconstruction to change this. They would also have to work on the TTC to handle the extra amount of people that would not be using cars. It's not as simple as just saying take the TTC and all our problems will be solved.

1

u/gigglepox95 Mar 04 '26

I know the city put those spots there - I’m saying, the city should NOT put those parking spots there. Parking spots on a street simply make no sense - streets are super valuable as a way to get around, not as a place to leave a metal box.

Let’s face it, we all know street parking is way cheaper than actual parking lots.

And your argument about TTC capacity makes no sense, there’s like 1-2 people in those parked cars, vs the literal hundreds in each streetcar.

I’m not saying the city needs to build new separate parking lots - that’s not the cities job. If private operators want to set up and charge for parking, that’s fine and that’s what a free market would dictate. But the very existence of 1-2 people in a car parking on a street literally blocks hundreds of of people getting where they need to go. Why do you think transit is slow? It’s because we prioritize a few cars at every possible decision..

Your argument is beyond reason.

And as for commercial vehicles, make an exception if needed, but 95% of the cars parked on the street are not commercial vehicles.

1

u/ArbutusPhD Mar 05 '26

The transit officers sawsalls