This man keeps racing Toronto streetcars and winning 

Mac Bauer and his wife were heading home from a friend’s house in Toronto one day when they had an all-too-familiar experience.

The streetcar they were on was chugging along at a snail’s pace, and the 12-kilometre journey took well over an hour. 

“My wife and I are pretty active people and like to run,” Bauer told As It Happens guest host Rebecca Zandbergen. “We just both looked at each other and went: ‘We could outrun this, no problem.'”

Turns out, they were right. Bauer has now raced five Toronto streetcars, on foot, and beat them all — usually by a sizeable margin.

He says his victories, which he’s documented on Instagram, are emblematic of the fact that the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) isn’t keeping apace with growth in the city, where public transportation often finds itself pitted against traffic from cars. 

The TTC did not respond to CBC’s request for comment. 

The first race in the series, which Bauer calls “Man Versus Machine,” saw him take on the 509 Harbourfront, which runs from Exhibition Loop on the city’s waterfront, to Union Station downtown, a journey of roughly 3.1 kilometres.

Bauer took off at the same time as the streetcar, and arrived at his destination in 14 minutes. The streetcar pulled up 7 minutes and 32 seconds after that. 

A week later, on a brutally hot July day, Bauer started running from Bathurst Station while his friend hopped on the 511 streetcar. A sweaty Bauer reached Exhibition Loop, 4.7 kilometres away, in 18 minutes. His friend, looking much 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, even though that streetcar has a designated lane, so it doesn’t have to compete with traffic. 

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

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

Lest you think only a seasoned runner could take on a Toronto streetcar so effectively, in late July, Bauer raced the 509 again, this time with a CityTV reporter in tow, and the duo beat it together.

“It shows that it’s not only trained athletes that are able to beat this streetcar, but it’s your everyday person that can,” he said. 

Bauer admits there are benefits to taking the streetcar, which can be a more leisurely experience than booking it on foot as fast as you can. 

The streetcar’s timing, he says, also varies depending on the time of day, how much traffic there is, and how many people are getting on and off at each stop. Bauer, on the other hand, doesn’t have to stop at all, save red lights and catching his breath. 

Still, he says he’s confident that almost anyone in Toronto could get where they’re going faster on foot than taking a streetcar during 5 p.m. rush hour. 

While the experiment has been fun, Bauer says the results of his races are, ultimately, kind of a bummer. He says the city just isn’t keeping pace with the growing population of the downtown core. 

“When I was younger, the streetcar was great. I loved taking the streetcar. So cool to be on these trains that just run through the city. But now the experience is just horrible,” he said. 

“If we’re not going to upgrade the infrastructure, people are just going to continue to turn to cars, which in turn is going to make the TTC an even worse experience.”

His next challenge, he says, is the 512 St. Clair, which has a designated traffic lane and, he says, a reputation for clipping along at a decent speed. 

“So we’ll see how close that one actually comes down to,” he said. “I will say I’ll be pretty disappointed if I beat that one by any kind of notable margin.”