Toronto’s a great city to be a passenger
When not in a car, tag along on bikes, subways, elevators or even moving sidewalks
Iggy Pop’s 1977 song “The Passenger” was a wistful account of riding through the city. “I am the passenger and I ride and I ride / I ride through the city’s backsides / I see the stars come out of the sky.”
It’s good to be a passenger because we can relax and watch.
Most passenger experiences in the city are relatively stress free and happen without care because we outsource the worry to a professional that we trust, just like we have somebody else deal with our garbage and sewage.
Escalators, glass elevators, trains, rickshaws, illegal double-rides on bicycles, ferries to the island, the chair lift at Earl Bales Park; the list of ways to be a passenger in this city is long.
The one place I’m a bad passenger is in the car. I’ve been driving for more than two decades now, though a lot less frequently since I moved to downtown Toronto 15 years ago. It may be a consequence of getting older, but I’m finding I’ve become the absolute worst passenger, even if the driver is good. The loss of control is, well, uncontrollable.
I yell at the driver to watch out for brakes lights up ahead that they already see. Other times I think they’re accelerating when their foot is hovering over the brake pedal. Driving myself around is second nature: a calm experience where I’m in control. Being a passenger is terror, and it’s become worse as years pass. Never pick me up.
Unless the driver is particularly bad, being in a taxicab is different than other car experiences. Perhaps because the driver is a stranger, I don’t pay attention to them as closely as I do a friend or family member. A cab is a strange kind of bubble where I sometimes forget to put on my seatbelt, even though I wear one religiously. I’ve never tried an Uber X though; that may be a new Wild West of passenger experience.
Streetcars are the most elegant way to be a passenger, as long as it isn’t rush hour, where we glide through the city smoothly as if the heavy old trolley is a kind of street ship, the rails keeping order on the anarchic avenues. The new ones are low and accessible to all, a good thing, but the old high models gave the best view of the second floors of the city, something we miss out on at sidewalk level.
Riders are disconnected from the driving experience on the streetcar and less aware of their surroundings. Watch as people get off at stops that require them to walk through a lane of traffic: few look to see if the cars are going to stop. It can be dangerous to be an oblivious passenger.
Subways are even more detached from the movement, almost like being on a plane where we’re alienated from both the speed and mechanics of the machine. There’s also a disconnect from the city, and those of us who want to maintain some sense of control know exactly what’s above the subway at all times, like between College and Wellesley stations. Northbound, the tunnel veers right so it can run east of Yonge St. instead of directly underneath the street as it did from Union Station. It’s a nerdy obsession, but a bit of control.
Pearson Airport has the most space-age of all passenger experience: moving sidewalks. The international pier at Terminal 1 even has express sidewalks that speed up after stepping on them.
However, those ones require an expensive plane ticket to ride. A much-missed and cheaper passenger experience was the long, moving sidewalks that connected the two sections of Spadina subway station, removed a decade ago, sadly. That was a good ride.
“And all of it is yours and mine,” sang Iggy Popof the city. “So let’s ride and ride and ride and ride.” Shawn Micallef writes every Friday about where and how we live in the GTA. Wander the streets with him on Twitter @shawnmicallef