On-street test of TTC’s new streetcar

The Toronto Transit Commission has begun on-street testing of its new streetcar fleet, having successfully run its test vehicle last night from the TTC’s Hillcrest facility at 1138 Bathurst St. to Bathurst Station and back.

The plan is for the TTC to test the streetcar on Toronto streets again this evening, though that is subject to change and/or cancellation. There will be no onboard photos or rides for media – this is a photo opportunity from the street only.

The streetcar will depart the TTC’s Hillcrest facility and travel south to Exhibition loop, returning to Hillcrest. This will occur tomorrow morning (Friday, March 15) after 2:30 a.m. at the conclusion of streetcar service on St. Clair Ave. W. and Bathurst St.

Please call the TTC media line at 416-981-1900 to confirm.

Since the first test streetcar arrived in Toronto last fall, TTC and Bombardier engineers and staff have conducted static tests on functions such as air conditioning, heating, lighting, CCTV cameras, stop announcements, ergonomics and many other components of the vehicle.

The next phase of testing moves to Toronto streets and includes power, braking, coupling/towing, clearance, cameras, doors and much more before the streetcar can be commissioned for service, scheduled for the first quarter of 2014. Testing locations and times will broaden and occur across the city over the next several months.

Plans call for the new streetcar to serve the 510 Spadina line first. As production vehicles arrive and are commissioned by the TTC, more streetcar routes will begin to be serviced by the new car. Full deployment across the streetcar network is expected by 2018. TTC staff will update the TTC Board and public later this spring with its deployment plan.

For more information about the TTC’s 204 new low-floor, accessible, air conditioned fleet of custom-designed and engineered for Toronto streetcars, visit our New Streetcars pages.