First Air Conditioned TTC Streetcar Unveiled
Posted July 26, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Red Rocket just upped its ‘cool’ factor.
The Toronto Transit Commission just put its first air-conditioned streetcar out on the streets – and considering the plus-30 degree temperatures this city’s been suffering under lately it couldn’t come a moment too soon.
Streetcar number 4041 has been in service for about a week, initially running in early July on the Queen 501 route and then switching to the Spadina 510 a week ago.
It’s easily identifiable by the large hump on its roof.
Lucky driver Stanley Mamaraj is one of the first to take the controls at the cool new streetcar.
“The cool air comes down. You can feel it, it’s nice and cool,” he described. “The air just goes right through the car.”
The second such streetcar will reportedly be ready by December of next year – and though the air conditioner won’t be needed at that time of year it has a heating unit as well.
The fleet’s new additions are part of a $5 million project to chill the rides, one part of an overall fleet refurbishment program.
About half of the TTC’s 196 streetcars are reportedly due to be made over over three years. The plan is to put air conditioners in 15 streetcars for starters.
But the plans aren’t without controversy – the city apparently prefers the idea of refurbishing the entire TTC fleet, while the transit commission wants to buy brand new streetcars to replace 96 of them.
