Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Spadina Streetcar. Steve Munro provides a fine tribute and look back at how it came about on his website (with links to everything else you ever wanted to know about Spadina). He was part of the group that proposed returning streetcars to Spadina 25 years before it finally opened.
As an activist, my involvement with Spadina came in 1973 when the Streetcars for Toronto Committee proposed converting the line back from bus to streetcar operation. I must admit that I was a bit of a skeptic on this front, but Howard Levine, another SFTC member, convinced me that this would work. We proposed the line (including a loop at Adelaide, King and Charlotte that would wait three decades to be built) to favourable reception, in principle, at the TTC, but the project quickly ran into stiff opposition.
As Munro mentions, in these dark days of budget crisis and threats of cuts everywhere, it’s worth reflecting on this successful line.
(Photo by Kevin Steele)
