This man retains racing Toronto streetcars and successful 

Mac Bauer and his spouse have been heading residence from a good friend’s home in Toronto at some point once they had an all-too-familiar expertise.

The streetcar they have been on was chugging alongside at a snail’s tempo, and the 12-kilometre journey took nicely over an hour. 

“My spouse and I are fairly energetic individuals and prefer to run,” Bauer advised As It Occurs visitor host Rebecca Zandbergen. “We simply each checked out one another and went: ‘We may outrun this, no downside.'”

Seems, they have been proper. Bauer has now raced 5 Toronto streetcars, on foot, and beat all of them — normally by a sizeable margin.

He says his victories, which he is documented on Instagram, are emblematic of the truth that the Toronto Transit Fee (TTC) is not preserving apace with development within the metropolis, the place public transportation usually finds itself pitted in opposition to visitors from automobiles. 

The TTC didn’t reply to CBC’s request for remark. 

The primary race within the sequence, which Bauer calls “Man Versus Machine,” noticed him tackle the 509 Harbourfront, which runs from Exhibition Loop on town’s waterfront, to Union Station downtown, a journey of roughly 3.1 kilometres.

Bauer took off similtaneously the streetcar, and arrived at his vacation spot in 14 minutes. The streetcar pulled up 7 minutes and 32 seconds after that. 

Every week later, on a brutally scorching July day, Bauer began working from Bathurst Station whereas his good friend hopped on the 511 streetcar. A sweaty Bauer reached Exhibition Loop, 4.7 kilometres away, in 18 minutes. His good friend, wanting way more dry and relaxed rolled up on the streetcar 22 minutes later. 

From there, the streak continued.

He beat the 510 Spadina by 10 minutes, though that streetcar has a delegated lane, so it would not must compete with visitors. 

He gained his gruelling 13-kilometre race from Broadview Station to Dundas West Station in opposition to the 504 King by 18 minutes.

And, lastly, he beat the 505 Dundas by 13 minutes on a quiet Saturday morning, and even had time to cease at Tim Hortons. 

Lest you suppose solely a seasoned runner may tackle a Toronto streetcar so successfully, in late July, Bauer raced the 509 once more, this time with a CityTV reporter in tow, and the duo beat it collectively.

“It exhibits that it is not solely educated athletes which might be in a position to beat this streetcar, but it surely’s your on a regular basis individual that may,” he mentioned. 

Bauer admits there are advantages to taking the streetcar, which could be a extra leisurely expertise than reserving it on foot as quick as you possibly can. 

The streetcar’s timing, he says, additionally varies relying on the time of day, how a lot visitors there’s, and the way many individuals are getting on and off at every cease. Bauer, alternatively, would not must cease in any respect, save pink lights and catching his breath. 

Nonetheless, he says he is assured that just about anybody in Toronto may get the place they are going sooner on foot than taking a streetcar throughout 5 p.m. rush hour. 

Whereas the experiment has been enjoyable, Bauer says the outcomes of his races are, in the end, form of a bummer. He says town simply is not preserving tempo with the rising inhabitants of the downtown core. 

“After I was youthful, the streetcar was nice. I liked taking the streetcar. So cool to be on these trains that simply run by town. However now the expertise is simply horrible,” he mentioned. 

“If we’re not going to improve the infrastructure, individuals are simply going to proceed to show to automobiles, which in flip goes to make the TTC a fair worse expertise.”

His subsequent problem, he says, is the 512 St. Clair, which has a delegated visitors lane and, he says, a status for clipping alongside at a good velocity. 

“So we’ll see how shut that one really comes all the way down to,” he mentioned. “I’ll say I will be fairly disenchanted if I beat that one by any form of notable margin.”