West End Dumplings: Transit Tom turns 65!

Tuesday, 6 September 2022

Transit Tom turns 65!

The Greater Winnipeg Transit Commission's Transit Tom was introduced in 1957 to convince more Winnipeggers to take the bus and keep riders current on route and fleet information.

The caricature was likely created by Ruben Herscovitch, a partner in a commercial art silkscreen ad company called JMR Sales Promotions, that did work for the commission.

GWTC bus bench, 1957 (City of Winnipeg Archives)

Transit Tom made his newspaper debut in a series of ads starting on September 7, 1957 though his usage declined in 1971 when the Transit Department of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg became the city-owned Winnipeg Transit System.. Every decade or two, his face would make a brief comeback and you can sometimes see handwritten signs at Transit stops signed "T.T."

I wrote a column about the history of Transit Tom in a 2014 Winnipeg Free Press column. There was only so much artwork that I could include, so here are more glimpses of Transit Tom from over the years.

For more transit heritage related images, check out my Flickr album and the Manitoba Transit Heritage Association website.

The initial GWTC ad campaign featuring Tom: