The University of Toronto St. George Campus is so large that it’s within a 10 minute walk from four different subway stations: Spadina, St. George, Museum and Queen’s Park. It’s useful to know what area of the campus you are going to before deciding on a route.
— submitted by Theresa Aqui
The sway of the train can help you predict which platform the train will pull into at the terminus stations. This will allow you to choose the right door for exiting.
— submitted by anonymous
Standing at the exit door of the train, bus or streetcar as soon as you are one stop away from your destination allows you to be the first one off.
— submitted by anonymous
When traveling westbound on the 501 Queen streetcar toward Queen Station, it’s sometimes quicker to get off at Victoria Street and walk to the subway station rather than wait for the streetcar to inch the last few metres.
— submitted by Jason Paris
During rush hour, when traveling eastbound on King toward St. Andrew Station, it’s quicker to get off Simcoe Street and walk to the subway station rather than wait for the streetcar to inch the last few metres.
— submitted by anonymous
When going from Dundas and Yonge to any station north of Spadina, it’s usually faster to take the frequent Dundas streetcar to St. Patrick rather than taking the loop around.
— submitted by anonymous
When there is a disruption in subway service, it’s almost always a bad idea to board a shuttle bus. Alternatives:
— submitted by Jonathan Fuerth
Do up your shoes on the subway train to save time. Make sure you are seated while doing this or you may fall over when the train moves.
— submitted by Lisa Smolkin
If you have your fare ready, butt past people in line, insert your fare, and continue on your way while slower people buying their tickets take their time.
— submitted by Lisa Smolkin
If you are only one or two stops away from your destination or transfer point, sometimes it’s faster to just walk there.
— submitted by Michael Higginson
If you are in good shape and a fast runner, it’s often worth running to try and catch a bus or streetcar, even when it seems like you have little chance. You’d be surprised how often you can make a miracle catch — and it makes your whole trip feel special.
— submitted by Michael Higginson
When you’re running for a streetcar, wave at the driver as it passes you. Sometimes they’ll pull over at the stop and wait for you. A clear, confident signal lets them know it’s worth their while, and it probably also helps to have a non-aggressive, human connection. At the very least, if they don’t stop, you can feel justified in calling them a dickhead or bitch.
— submitted by anonymous
During peak times, it may be worth walking south and catching the Spadina streetcar southbound at Sussex Avenue instead of Spadina Station. During rush hour you may save five or more minutes. This is because if you have manners and stand in line for the streetcar at Spadina Station, the line is often so long that you have to let two or three cars go by before you can board one. By walking south to the next stop you’re likely to be one of the only people boarding at that stop, so they’ll let you on even if the car is jam-packed.
— submitted by Ontarian1976
When traveling between Scarborough Town Centre and Kennedy Station during rush hour, consider the Nugget Express (if you see it waiting in its bay) instead of the Scarborough RT. It’s often about equal to the RT’s travel time. The best thing about this is that you won’t have to go up to the RT platform and fight your way back down at STC — you stay at the bus bay level.
— submitted by scarberiankhatru
When crossing from the University/Spadina subway to the Bloor line, the options are to do this at Spadina or St. George stations. It’s much quicker to do this at St. George Station as the north/south and east/west platforms are directly above/below each other. At Spadina Station, there is a long walk between the north/south and east/west trains.
— submitted by anonymous
When near the bottom of the University line and you plan on transferring to the Bloor/Danforth subway (particularly eastbound), take the next train; whether it’s north or south. It’s the same number of stops from St. Andrew Station to Bloor/Yonge Station. Even at Osgoode or St. Patrick, if a train arrives going southbound first, you might save time by just catching that instead of waiting for the northbound train.
— submitted by anonymous
When traveling on the RT to Scarborough Town Centre, get up and wait by the doors before the train gets to Midland Station. Few people use Midland and by the time the train stops there, a lot of people are heading for the doors.
— submitted by anonymous
When riding to a downtown stop on the Yonge-University line, if your destination is on the opposite line, it’s usually faster to stay on the train and ride around Union than it is to switch to a Bloor/Danforth train and then switch back. For example, if riding south from Finch to Queen’s Park, stay on the train and go around Union, rather than getting off at Bloor, riding the train to St. George, and then getting back on a southbound University train.
— submitted by holypotato
The orange dot on six-car subway platforms can be used as an easy way to remember where to wait for the train on the platform, so that when you get to your destination station, you’re lined up near the stairs or escalators. The orange dot is attached to the wall in each subway station and lines up to approximately the 3rd car, 3rd door of each train.

Destination stations where the orange dot is useful:


A simple way to remember which stations are orange dot stations is to remember them as an acronym:
B­B­B­C­C­C­C­D­D­D­D­D­E­F­I­J­K­K­M­N­O­P­Q­R­S­S­S­S­S­U­V­W­W­W­Y
Pronounce it out like a word and remember it by the way it sounds.
— submitted by Hayley Watson
If there’s a flight of stairs next to an escalator that goes in only one direction (e.g., an up escalator, but not a down escalator), take the stairs only if you are not going in the same direction as the escalator, otherwise you may be beaten back by the traffic coming from the opposite direction.
— submitted by anonymous
To know what door will be used at the end of the line, upon pulling into the last station, look at the signals in the tunnel before the crossover: For example, when the Yonge train arrives at Finch, as the train arrives on the northbound track, if the signal is Yellow over Green, the train will remain on the northbound track and the doors on the west side will open. If the signal is Yellow over Yellow, the train will crossover to the southbound track and the doors on the east side will open. Note that you need to be at the front of the lead car to look out the window to see the signals.
— submitted by orion_9430
If you are going from a station on the Yonge line to a station on the Spadina line (or vice versa), it’s often faster to take the subway down to the Bloor line and back up than to take the bus over to the other subway line. For example, when going from Eglinton to Yorkdale, it’s slightly faster to go down to Bloor, take the Bloor line over to St. George, then take the Spadina line up to Yorkdale, than it is to take the bus over to Eglinton West and the subway up to Yorkdale.
— submitted by anonymous
Most of the time, it’s best to choose the route with the fewest transfers; otherwise you’ll spend more time waiting for the next bus, streetcar or subway than you’ll save in travel distance. e.g., if you’re on St. Clair between Bathurst and Dufferin, and you’re going south to catch the College streetcar, take the Dufferin bus, as it will go straight down to College in on trip, where as the Bathurst route would mean transferring from the Bathurst bus to the Bathurst streetcar at Bathurst Station.
— submitted by Zanis Valdmanis
Generally, take a route that maximizes subway use — subways were built for speed and are usually about twice as fast as surface routes.
— submitted by Zanis Valdmanis
If your destination is between Bathurst and Spadina anywhere south of College, take the Bathurst streetcar over the Spadina one. It’s faster.
— submitted by Zanis Valdmanis
Before pulling into the station at Finch, sometimes the operator will say platform 1 or platform 2. Platform 1 means that the train will go to the west side of the platform, meaning the doors will open facing east. Platform 2 means that the train will go to the east side of the platform, meaning the doors will open facing west.
— submitted by Dennis Yip
When exiting College Station through College Park to catch eastbound streetcars, you will pass through a transitional area between the subway exit and the actual mall. Instead of going through the glass doors that lead to College Park, veer left to the unmarked door. This leads to a back hallway where the food court washrooms are located, and the other end of the hall exits much closer to the base of the escalators that take you up to ground level. It’s a shorter route, you avoid any lineups at the TD cash machines, and you don’t collide with people coming off the descending escalator.
— submitted by Chris
Passengers transferring from the bus area onto the subway at Eglinton Station use the southernmost stairs on the platform. In rush hour, the area with the fewest waiting passengers is in the middle of the platform.
— submitted by Sio McLaughlin
If you are on the street at Yonge and Queen, and you want to ride northbound, the best way to enter the subway is through the CIBC building on the southeast corner of the intersection, which does not have a noticeable TTC sign. If you take the obvious entrance through the Eaton Centre you have to take a detour under the tracks to get to the northbound platform.
— submitted by Nick Dingle
When traveling down the University line to Union, if you are heading east into the PATH, stand on the platform so that you get into the second car from the front, then exit the second door from the back for stairs, or the rear-most door of the second car if you want an escalator.
— submitted by Rob Stewart