Can a gate keep drivers out of streetcar tunnel?

TTC says ‘enough is enough’ after yet another car gets stuck in the Queens Quay entrance

After numerous wrong turns, the TTC says it will be installing gates to stop drivers from entering the Queens Quay streetcar tunnel.

Spokesperson Brad Ross announced the move in a tweet Saturday morning, a few hours after yet another car had to be removed from the tunnel.

“Enough is enough,” he said. “It’s incredibly disruptive and inconvenient to customers, and it requires TTC crews to go down there with equipment and spend time extracting the car.”

Since 2014, the TTC said, there have been 26 incidents of cars driving into the tunnel. Ross added that this frequency had sparked early talk of setting up a gate system, but the TTC hesitated over technical concerns.

“The reason we’ve been reluctant is because they are mechanical, and mechanical things can fail,” Ross told the Star on Saturday. “Yes, (a gate) can pre- vent cars from entering, but if it shuts down, it can also prevent streetcars from moving.”

Police and TTC crews dealt with another car that entered the tunnel, on Queens Quay near Bay St., around 4 a.m. Saturday. The 24-year-old driver of a blue BMW was arrested and charged with impaired driving.

The driver had “his foot on the gas, and the wheels were spinning,” said Toronto police Const. Allyson DouglasCook.

Drivers seem to get confused when driving near the tunnel, Douglas-Cook said.

“In the past, I know it’s just been sheer confusion among drivers,” she said. “The last incident was because of an impaired driver — but typically those are the only two factors as to why people are getting stuck … people just don’t know what they’re doing.”

Mayor John Tory tweeted his thanks Saturday to first responders who aided in removing the car. He also vented his frustration with motorists who have made the mistake of en- tering the tunnel: “Glad the TTC is taking action to install a gate but disappointed bollards, signs, rumble strips, flashing lights & raised track aren’t already enough to stop some drivers.”

Ross said these incidents can cause hours-long delays, and the extraction process is not easy. “We have to use a swing crane — it’s a piece of equipment that we use with a big arm, typically to move rails in our subway tunnels because they’re very heavy,” he said.

Crews spent more than six hours removing the vehicle from the tunnel early Saturday, Ross said.

“You have to think about people who are using transit — it’s a huge delay,” he added. “By the time we assemble a crew at an hour like 4 a.m., then get them down there, that’s a couple of hours already.”

Ross added that crew members get paid overtime for such cases.

Despite frustration from officials, people on social media can’t get enough of the tunnel mishaps. A tongue-in-cheek Facebook event titled “Drive your car in Queens Quay streetcar tunnel” is set to take place on April 11, with more than 2,000 people saying they’ll attend and 7,100 interested.

“Join up with some fellow pleasure cruisers and take a scenic drive through historic Queens Quay streetcar tunnel on a lovely spring day,” the event description reads.

Conor Beer, an organizer, said he was blown away by the reception the Facebook page received, adding that it’s good to poke fun at Toronto every now and again. “I wasn’t expecting it to take off like this, but at the same time I’m not surprised,” he said. “Torontonians love complaining about transit.”

He added that the group has “absolutely no intention” of actually driving cars into the tunnel.