It's available online. They also did episodes on Rome, Dubai, Sydney, San Francisco, and a couple others. I did have to kind of laugh about the whole "ice city" thing. Toronto has some of the weakest winters in Canada, and they make it all dramatic.
Heh. Here's the production company's blurb:
Each winter temperatures plummet to an arctic minus 40 degrees and the city is pummelled by savage snowstorms.

How did this metropolis grow to become the largest city in Canada in such an extreme environment?
Er, what? We rarely hit -20 anymore!
 
^ even Montreal/Ottawa seldom plummet to minus 40 degrees. This year so far we don't even have anything below minus 10 yet, and it will be +13 this weekend.

Toronto is a cold city in general, but it doesn't have "extreme environment" and is seldom "pummelled by savage snowstorms". I would say it has better weather than many American southern states such as Louisiana or Mississippi. We often think being cold is an undesirable thing, but often forget 35C with high humidity is as bad as, if not worse than, a crispy cold winter day at -15C.

I am from a city where the lowest temperature in the winter is probably -5C, slightly warmer than Vancouver. But we have long, humid and oppressively summer which lasts from late May to mid Sept, mild but very wet winter in Jan and Feb and probably early March, where -2C feels colder than -10 here in Toronto. Spring is short and often rainy, and the only comfortable seasons are probably from late March to mid May, and from late Sept to mid Dec. It doesn't look cold or snowy, but is its weather better than Toronto's? Hardly.

I more more appreciate the fact that weather in Toronto is not nearly as bad as its reputation. Late April all the way to late Nov are mostly agreeable,with a few uncomfortable hot days. In Dec it usually doesn't get too cold until about Christmas. And even in Jan and Feb, we usually have quite a few warm spells where temp shoots up to positive or even double digits (like this weekend).

Florida may sounds warm in the winter, but do we really like all those months of 30C/90F? It is just as uncomfortable as -10C with windchill.
 
Each winter temperatures plummet to an arctic minus 40 degrees and the city is pummelled by savage snowstorms.

How did this metropolis grow to become the largest city in Canada in such an extreme environment?
Er, what? We rarely hit -20 anymore!
Anymore? I don't think it's ever been close to -40 in Toronto in centuries. The all-time record low was only -32.8°C, and that was January 1859.
 
Perhaps they confused Toronto with Iqaluit? It's an easy mistake to make if you don't know how to type and mash the keyboard often enough.
 
I finally completed my editing of my Europe trip and have this shot of the Vaughan area on my way home on Aug 30. Its the first time I have come in this way home.
8370393607_0f3b17d244_b.jpg
 
To see that photo and be reminded of where they're building these new subway stops is just infuriating.
Look at the bright side. Service at the terminal station is always crap with the trains crawling in and out. This way service to York won't have this infuriating crawling you see from Islington to Kipling, Warden to Kennedy, or Wilson to Downsview.
 
Look at the bright side. Service at the terminal station is always crap with the trains crawling in and out. This way service to York won't have this infuriating crawling you see from Islington to Kipling, Warden to Kennedy, or Wilson to Downsview.

Ah the old terminal stations make me sad schtick. Haven't seen that in years... Unless you want to create a loop terminal stations are going to be a necessity.
 
Ah the old terminal stations make me sad schtick. Haven't seen that in years... Unless you want to create a loop terminal stations are going to be a necessity.

As I understand it, a loop isn't the only solution -- short-turning some trains can ease the congestion at the terminals too. Although I guess to do that properly you'd want a dedicated third platform at the turnback station.

It can really be ridiculous though. Sometimes you crawl all the way from Lawrence West to Downsview in the evening rush.

Extending the subway to Vaughan is a rather expensive way to solve to the problem, but hey, if it works... :D
 
Ah the old terminal stations make me sad schtick. Haven't seen that in years... Unless you want to create a loop terminal stations are going to be a necessity.

Besides loop terminal, why don't they try a Y-type terminal where the train will arrive to the left platform, then continue to the appendix, and then arrives back to the right platfrom. It works well in many east European subway systems. Well, maybe it is a type of loop terminal that you suggesting...
 
Besides loop terminal, why don't they try a Y-type terminal where the train will arrive to the left platform, then continue to the appendix, and then arrives back to the right platfrom. It works well in many east European subway systems.

It creates its own set of problems - for instance, it prevents trains from jumping sequence in the event that it is necessary (and in reality, it happens on a daily basis here in Toronto). It also requires more tunnel, and therefore, is more expensive. It can also make things tricky if you need to store a train in the tailtracks. And finally, it makes crewing quite a bit more complicated, as you need to take into account the crews needs to have a quick break at each end.

All that being said, its main advantage is that if used properly it can decrease the headways between trains, allowing for more trains per hour. There was an idea to use the system at Finch after a number of other but related improvements were made, but I don't know what's become of it.

As car4041 wrote, another way to increase headways on the main part of the line is to short-turn half of the trains somewhere else on the line - in the case of the morning rush hours, St. Clair West (soon to be Glencairn). The problem with this idea is that it simply falls apart if you don't have a short-turn location that logically works - where can you short-turn trains on the Yonge side without inconveniencing thousands upon thousands of passengers?

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
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