The TCC’s subtle racism

The TTC  is racist. Or at the very least elitist.  It’s a strong statement I know, but if you spend any amount of time riding the TTC you can see it.  For example I have a completely unscientific but convincing study going of subway maps on the trains.  I travel East-West Bloor/Danforth line. I used to right the Yonge/University line This line has some ancient cars on it.  If you look at the bench seats in this black and white archive photo, you will find the same seats on cars on the Bloor/Danforth line.  Orange vinyl seats that fell out of the 50’s and 60’s. You will not find these older cars on the Yonge/University line.

If you have an opportunity to ride both lines, make sure you look around in the cars themselves.  Look at the different advertisements, and note the number of TTC subway maps.  The number of maps is crucial.  On the Yonge/Universityline there will be at least 2 on every car, usually 4 one over each set of doors alternating sides.

The Danforth/Bloor line does not have the same number of maps, there is frequently only one per car which means if you need to check it, you may need to give up your seat and walk the length of the car to find it.  The advertisements are also different.  Now that probably has to do with the neighborhoods that the lines pass through but the Yonge/University line has higher end advertising.

Speaking of neighbourhoods… Here are some real estate average house prices from Toronto Life broken down into the Yonge/University lines and the Bloor/Danforth line

Yonge/University

  • Newtonbrook East-Newtonbrook West – $410,268
  • Willowdale East – 379,798
  • Lansing-Westgate – $459,001
  • Willowdale East – $379,798
  • St. Andrew- Winfields – $1,094,057
  • Lawrence Park North – $749,936
  • Lawrence Parth South – $1,021,634
  • Yonge-Eglington – $799,152
  • Yorkville – $813,533
  • Bay Street Corridor – $367,374
  • University – $585,159
  • Annex – $793,471
  • Casa Loma – $1,160,773

Average price in the list: $693,381

Bloor/Danforth

  • North Jamestown – $330,441
  • Church-Yonge Corridor – $353,574
  • Cabbagetown – South Jamestown – $408,810
  • North Riverdale – $639,598 Danforth Village – $457,336
  • Blake-Jones – $428,966
  • Greenwood- Coxwell – $377,064
  • Woodbine Corridor – $427,250
  • East end Danforth – $431,534
  • University – $585,159
  • Little Italy – $550,060
  • Dufferin Grove – $456,019

Average Price in the list: $453,818

This isn’t a scientific study, nor is this list complete, nor does it include the racial make ups but if you wanted you could look into Toronto’s neighborhood profiles and break down the ethnicities in each.  I can tell you that the Bloor line goes through a Muslim neighborhood with lots of immigrants (Danforth village) , a Greek neighborhood,  aCaribbean neighborhood, and a Korean neighbourhood.  The Yonge/University line goes through Korean/Persian at Finch, then Caucasian all the way until downtown.

The reason for writing all of this is the TTC is getting new subway cars, and low and behold they are putting them on the Yonge/University line, here the rich white people live. Surprise, surprise. One would think they would be looking to get rid of the oldest cars and replace them with new ones but this is apparently not the case which leads me to wonder, is the TTC racist on purpose or is this just a gross oversight?

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2 Comments

  1. Ian

    Dave, while I’m not an apologist for the TTC (and it pains me to think that I might be considered as such), I have to disagree with you’re assessment. I come in on the Bloor side (and used to live on the Danforth side) and come down University and up Yonge on a daily basis.

    Yes the old cars are predominant on the B/D line, but they do exist on Y/U/S, which is the line that carries much more traffic. I for one am looking forward to the cascading of the ‘red’ Yonge trains to replace (hopefully) all the old yellow/orange ones on Bloor/Danforth. When I go north on Yonge, I get on at King, and I’m glad that I do, because at all the other stations up to Bloor many people have to wait for 2 or 3 trains to find a spot to fit.

    I don’t agree with the current policy of continually extending the subway lines (How about a Downtown Relief Line?) but I know people that get on Yonge at North York or Sheppard and are packed in, while Bloor may not be like that until Dufferin.

    Regarding the ads, I noticed the same thing too, and thought that maybe the TTC is having problems selling ads and the ones that have the most eyeballs get sold first.

    Enjoy the holidays!

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  2. admin

    Hi Ian,

    Thanks for the comment. To be honest I don’t think they are really racist, it just seems to be that you would logically replace the oldest cars. I think the socio-economic situation is merely correlated, not causal.

    The fact that there are few line maps on the B/D line causes some concern, I mean surely they could add a few, maybe one at the ends of each car?. I noticed it years ago, and have written them about it, but I haven’t bothered trying a proper study, just my own observation.

    The eyeballs on ads is a good point, but then how can we increase ridership on the B/D line, not by using old cars that’s for sure.

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