Comedy·TORONTO

Queen streetcar to stop running for summer, but on purpose this time

The Toronto Transit Commission issued a press release today announcing that the Queen streetcar will not be running for the entire summer.
(Shutterstock / DayOwl)

TORONTO, ON—The Toronto Transit Commission issued a press release today announcing that the Queen streetcar will not be running for the entire summer. They then issued a quick follow-up press release to clarify, saying that the difference from literally every other summer in Toronto is that this time they are intentionally planning for that to be the case.

TTC CEO Andy Byford announced that the decision was made after realizing that if in operation this summer, the Queen streetcar would be regularly obstructed and short-turned by numerous planned construction projects, rather than the usual situation when it is obstructed and short-turned by, hmm, who knows really.

"We thought it was important to let people know that the Queen streetcar would be an unpleasant experience this summer," said Byford. "Why don't we announce every day that the Queen streetcar won't be a pleasant experience? That's a good question. Also King. But look, we've announced this one, so please give us credit for that."

Brad Ross, the Executive Director of Corporate Communications for the TTC, said that he's not sure why they didn't think of doing this earlier. "Every one of the last few summers, we could have said, 'The Queen streetcar will not be running today,' without even checking construction plans or heck, telling the drivers about it. It's just what happens. Rather than fixing it, per se, we've decided to just be more direct about it."

At press time, someone who was trying to go from Dufferin to University on the car was now standing around on the corner of Bathurst, not totally sure what to do next.

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