January 31, 2026 marks the 20th anniversary of this blog. Over the years, we have covered a lot of territory in transit discussions. I say “we” not as the royal plural, but to recognize the contributions of reader comments, and the many conversations I have had via social media or in person that collectively expanded my views.

The stats for the past year:

• About 120 articles pushing the total to 3,118
• About 1,300 comments pushing the total to 62,279

Yes, I’ve slowed down a bit, but as regular readers will know, some of the articles have grown longer and take more background work to prepare.

Those 1,300 comments do not include the bilge from various trolls who I suspect to be only a handful of people with their hobby horses, a very recognizable style, albeit many pseudonyms. I have an archive of their words but do not burden readers, most of the time, with what passes for “comment”.

Frankly, it is the wide range of comments, favourable or not, but civilized in tone that makes editing and publishing them worthwhile.

The community of “transit advocates” has certainly grown. We don’t all agree all of the time, and that’s natural, but we share a desire to see Toronto better served by transit.

Twenty years saw many changes, arrivals and departures, sadly more of the latter. Within the transit “fan” community we lost some of the original Streetcars for Toronto Committee members, and others whose photos and movies still grace various sites.

I don’t seek or collect accolades, but was pleased to receive an “Excellence Award” from the Canadian Urban Transit Association in late 2024 recognizing decades of advocacy including this blog. A real treat was the Jane Jacobs Prize back in 2005, the last year she was alive to bestow it in person. That actually happened before the blog started, but was part of the inspiration to write for an online audience. Kind words have come from others for which many thanks. You know who you are.

I went back to my first anniversary article to see what might have changed, and found this concluding paragraph.

The next years will be vital for transit in our city and region. Either we stop pretending that we can be transit oriented without serious investment in operations, vehicles and facilities, a real network of services, not a few baubles to get politicians re-elected, or we will slide into the car-oriented city that “Stop Spadina” and its era were supposed to prevent.

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