TTC CLRV and ALRV Streetcars During Rear Door Loading at King and University

In this video from exactly 10 years ago in January 2013, watch TTC CLRV and ALRV streetcars during rear door loading at King Street and University Avenue outside St. Andrew Station.

As this was before the widespread adoption of Presto and Proof of Payment on streetcars off of Queen Street, the majority of passengers travelled using tokens and Metropasses. Regardless of the method of payment for single fares, riders' second or third rides were boarded using transfers. TTC operators and other staff would be assigned to rear door loading at a number of busy bus and streetcar stops throughout the system in order to reduce dwell times. These staff were often surplus to operating requirements, on modified duties, graduated returns to work or otherwise unable to conduct the usual duties of their normal job. In turn, they were able to speed up loading times by allowing transfers and passes to be displayed to them in order to load the bus or streetcar by all doors. Most of the locations that rear door loaders were assigned were at busy subway stations which lacked the ability to accommodate transferring riders within fare paid zones.

While only exactly a decade has gone by between the recording and uploading of this video, it's really interesting to see everything that has changed in the city. Viewers of this channel will probably focus on the replacement of the CLRV and ALRV Streetcars with the new LFLRV fleet, but notice how bad the traffic is on King Street as this predates even the pilot project for King Street Transit Priority. Pedestrians are carrying large bags for laptops and other belongings, often with newspapers, and very few people are focusing on smartphones or even cell phones. Finally, taxis are still very prevalent in this video, as this predates the explosion in popularity of rideshare apps and subsequent collapse of the taxi industry.

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