A public–transit system is a hands–on place, or one that’s foot– and arse–on. The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), which runs a 69–station subway line and a network of buses and streetcars, offers riders a typographic treasure in the form of the subway’s station names and original signage, which use a mid-century sansserif font not found anywhere else – upper case only and like Bernhard Modern in its crossbar heights and Art Deco curves. The font is still a spot–on choice 50 years after the subway opened; it reminds us just how generic Vignelli’s Akzidenz in the New York subway really was.
