Compiled by Peter Coulman
Originally posted by Alan Gryfe

In December 1946, the City of Toronto banned all daytime parking on all main thoroughfares in the downtown area. In conjunction with this, the City asked the Toronto Transportation Commission to install a PARKING AREA bus service looping through the downtown area, serving parking lots south of the railway viaduct located south of Front Street.

December 30, 1946

Service begins, with buses operating around a clockwise loop from Harbour and Bay via north on Bay, east on Temperance, south on Yonge and west on Harbour. Service provided daily (except Sundays and holidays) from 7:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.

January 1, 1947

Parking ban comes into effect.

April 1, 1947

Under pressure from downtown merchants, the City of Toronto restores most of the banned parking. Service continues.

July 14, 1947

Service revised to operate from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Mondays through Fridays and from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturdays. Buses operate every 6 minutes during rush hours and 7 minutes, 30 seconds at other times.

The cost of providing this service is estimated at 21 cents per passenger ($21,400 per year), resulting in an operating loss of $16 cents per passenger. Over the next five years, the TTC considers the following statistics.

Year	Miles operated	Passengers Carried	Revenue per mile (cents)
1947	53,333	105,685	9.91
1948	35,877	104,676	14.59
1949	35,808	119,779	16.73
1950	35,747	102,818	14.41
1951	35,935	100,503	13.98

The TTC estimated that, if the decline in ridership continued, the annual deficit for the route in 1952 would be $17,000.

May 31, 1952

Last day of operation.

Parking Area Image Archive

	Gray Coach Twin Coach bus #660 pauses westbound on Harbour, on the last days of PARKING AREA service. The photographer is unknown and the image is courtesy the John Knight collection.
	A map of the TTC's PARKING AREA service, posted on January 8, 1947. Image courtesy Rob Pineault.