Toronto Man Beats Streetcar on Foot to Highlight Traffic Delays

Runner Mac Bauer says he hopes his project spurs the city to improve transit speed and reliability.

1 minute read

January 2, 2026, 6:00 AM PST

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Red Toronto public transit streetcar.

JuliaDorian / Shutterstock

A Toronto man has repeatedly outrun the city’s streetcar in an effort to highlight how much traffic delays the transit system, reports Leyland Cecco in The Guardian.

“And yet as of late December, in head-to-head races against streetcars, the 32-year-old remains undefeated in his quest to highlight how sluggish the trams, used by 230,000 people daily, truly are.” Mac Bauer says his project of “lay[ing] bare the absurdities of Toronto’s beleaguered public transit system” has struck a nerve with the public, who follow his races on his Instagram account. 

City councillors have taken note, bringing up Bauer in an argument for “more aggressive” signal priority for Toronto’s streetcars. Bauer hopes he has helped the city understand the value of dedicated lanes and signal priority for public transit.

Tuesday, December 30, 2025 in The Guardian

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