Jane Loop

Jane Loop was an important Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) streetcar turning loop and bus station, prior to the completion of the Bloor Danforth Subway line.[1] It was the western end of Bloor Streetcar line. The loop was at a boundary between two zones in the TTC's zoned fare system. Half a dozen or so buses and trolleybuses terminated at the loop.[2]

A bus exiting the outer ring of the Jane Loop and a bus bay serviced by two routes

The Bloor Streetcar line was extended to Jane Street on December 31, 1923.[3]

Design

By the 1960s the facility had two structures. The facility had two concentric loops with a covered crescent shaped structure that protected passengers from the sun and rain as they boarded, unboarded, or waited for their vehicles. The inner loop was reserved exclusively for streetcars, which entered the inner loop in a counter-clockwise direction, so their doors opened onto the inner edge of the crescent shaped structure. Buses and trolleybuses entered the outer loop in a clockwise direction, so their doors opened onto the outer edge of the crescent shaped structure.

Passengers could ask for paper transfers when they boarded the first vehicle on their route, if they planned to transfer to another vehicle in the same zone.

A small structure in the center of the loops housed a ticket agent and coffee shop. The TTC owned and operated a subsidiary, Gray Coach, which ran intercity buses throughout southern Ontario. Tickets for intercity Gray Couch routes could be purchased there.

Legacy

In 2017 Graham Jackson published a coming of age novel, entitled The Jane Loop, which revolved around the gateway the loop posed between the sleepy suburbs and Toronto's more sophisticated downtown.[4]

References
  1. James Bow (2013-07-07). "The Bloor Streetcar (Deceased)". Transit Toronto. Archived from the original on 2013-12-09. Retrieved 2014-02-17. Starting out at Luttrell Loop at the eastern city limits of Toronto's Danforth Avenue, the Bloor Streetcar picked up passengers deposited by suburban buses stopping at the terminal. There, the car trundled west along Danforth Avenue, across the Prince Edward Viaduct and along Bloor Street to the western city limits at Jane Street. There, cars turned at Jane Loop, another terminal where passengers from west suburban buses disembarked to transfer for the journey east.
  2. Kenneth Springirth (2017). Toronto Streetcars Serve the City. Fonthill Media. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  3. Mike Filey (1996). "From Horse Power to Horsepower: Toronto: 1890-1930". Dundurn Press. p. 74. ISBN 9781554881734. Retrieved 2014-02-17. Over the years this route was extended westerly, first to Runnymede Road, then, two years after the TTC was formed, the new JANE loop that opened on the last day of 1923.
  4. Jade Colbert (2017-04-13). "Emily Bitto's The Strays, Graham Jackson's The Jane Loop and Simon Roy's Kubrick Red, reviewed". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2020-04-25. Until the construction of Toronto's second subway line in the late 1960s, the western terminus of the Bloor streetcar at Jane Street marked a psychological border. To the east, the streetcar, the bright lights and hubbub of downtown. To the west, the bus through sleepy suburbs, an escape from the city's perceived seaminess.

Media related to Jane Loop at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.