Toronto’s network of pedestrian tunnels

Climate, Comfort, and Purpose

• Many see Toronto’s cold, windy, slushy winters as a primary driver of the PATH’s development and value; others argue Toronto is “mild for Canada” and that the climate is being exaggerated.
• Beyond temperature, “road snot” (dirty snow–salt–slush mix) and ice make surface walking unpleasant, especially at intersections.
• Tunnels are also appreciated in summer heat and humidity; some condo residents reportedly live, commute, and run errands without going outside.
• A macro argument: PATH connects a hyper-dense financial district to Union Station (~300k daily passengers), preventing dangerous sidewalk crowding at rush hour.

Comparisons to Other Cities

• Similar systems cited: Montreal’s Réso, Winnipeg Walkway, Calgary’s +15 and +30/+45 levels, Minneapolis Skyway, Chicago Pedway, Sapporo and other Japanese undergrounds, Seoul, Hong Kong, Helsinki, and various university tunnel networks.
• Quality varies: some (Toronto, Tokyo, parts of Montreal) feel like high-end malls; others (Chicago Pedway, Philadelphia concourse) are described as dingy, underfunded, or underused.

Design, Origins, and Economics

• PATH grew piecemeal via one-to-one deals between buildings, motivated by leasing valuable basement retail and connecting to subway/commuter rail.
• Early links reportedly predate mass car culture (e.g., between department stores), though later expansions intersect with car-dominated planning.
• Retail is heavily oriented to 9–5 office workers; many shops close evenings/weekends and suffered after COVID, leaving noticeable vacancies.

Navigation, Scale, and Everyday Use

• Users describe PATH as vast, maze-like, and poorly signed—effectively a chain of basements and malls; multiple routes turn trips into a “shortest path problem.”
• GPS is unreliable; specialized apps exist, and one commenter experimented with Wi-Fi–based positioning before Android tightened APIs.
• A 5K race in the tunnels highlighted both their utility (all-weather exercise) and their navigational complexity (runners got lost).

Urbanism, Cars, and Trade-offs

• One camp sees tunnels/skyways as car-era band-aids that siphon life from streets and help office workers avoid the poor and the weather.
• Others argue they complement, not replace, surface streets, and are justified by harsh or highly variable climates and extreme downtown density.
• Broader debate spills into North American car dependence vs. European/Asian transit and walkability, with sharp disagreement over how much climate vs. policy and design truly matter.