TTC 1943 Route Maps, Fares, Wages

LC Gagnon obtained this map of Toronto Transit Commission services in 1943. 

At various times, his grandfather - a dairy farmer living near Lachute, Quebec - sent 'a car' of livestock down to the Royal Winter Fair to show them - or to sell them in some cases. This was in the period when livestock could ride in boxcars with attendants. However, there was no 'Royal' in Toronto during the Second World War as the military had taken over the exhibition grounds. So the reason for this map acquisition is not clear.

The first of the TTC's 700-odd PCCs arrived in 1938. In an official 1953 history of the TTC, they were identified repeatedly as 'Streamliners' and not PCCs. The period of Art Deco styling and aviation-style streamlining influenced the design of many items in the 1930s and 1940s. 'Streamliners' they remained into the 1950s. Unless they were operating along an urban canyon into a howling blizzard, we can guess that their aerodynamics were never employed to advantage.

The cheap, resource-sparing wartime printing and dyes are evident in the image below. Before minor computer-tweaking to bring out detail, the prevailing colour of this cover today is almost a uniform, muddy brown. 

In wartime, or at any other time, there can be no obvious reason why someone would wear a Robin's egg blue suit when coal smoke and soot were ever-present features of urban life ... unless they needed to stand out when posing in front of the dark interior of a PCC streetcar.

As Toronto would have been an important centre for the intake of civilian personnel into the military, we can imagine that incredible numbers of these maps were produced to help these newcomers navigate in the Big Smoke. As Toronto citizens went into the military from their local civilian jobs, we can also assume that many replacement workers were also coming as newcomers to replace them in Canada's second city.

The TTC information (all of it is reproduced below) is on one side and a generic gas station streetmap (by the HM Gousha Company) of the city appears on the reverse. As usual, the latter provides no interesting information on the location or features of particular railway facilities. 

A Canadian dollar in 1943 is the same as $19 today, compensating for inflation.

Below, you'll find fares.

At the very end, you'll find wages from a 1953 TTC-published history.

Today, based on 1943 data and using 2026 dollars ...

A single ticket for the main system would cost $1.18 .

Operators of single-operator streetcars, and buses received wages of $13.87 to $14.82 per hour.

One week of vacation per year.

Two weeks of vacation were provided in 1946 ... until 20 years of service was achieved.

end of TTC map

*  *  *

From: Wheels of Progress; 1953; Toronto Transportation Commission.

end

TTC 1943 Route Map

My father obtained this wartime map of Toronto Transportation [sic] Commission routes in 1943 - the printing date of October 1943 can be seen on the last map image. 

In addition to showing the usual attractions, the map is of historical interest because it shows the locations of organizations supporting military personnel in training and/or travelling through Toronto.

As you have likely noticed with other wartime publications shown on this blog, the printing and folding of this map was not done to perfection. With wartime demands and limits on the usual materials and workers ... you can imagine that quickly printing a great number of these maps for all those coming to Toronto was an exercise in quantity rather than quality.

The location key below is also reproduced with the city-wide maps farther below.
It shows organizations supporting service personnel and their families.

The city-wide map is posted in two halves to give you the most legible presentation,
while compensating for the idiosyncrasies of the Google blogging platform.
Bloor Street and its neighbouring streets are duplicated on both images.

You will notice that streetcar turning loops are shown for each line.
As usual, please scroll to the right to see the entire image.

Considering the route map's era,

a couple of examples of the latest technology are shown below.

from: Wheels of Progress; 1953; Toronto Transportation Commission.

' ... since the complete rehabilitation of the system in 1923. ... Outstanding among the achievements of these years was the introduction, in the Fall of 1938, of 140 new streamlined street cars that completely revolutionized all former ideas of street car design and performance.'

from: Wheels of Progress; 1953; Toronto Transportation Commission.