At the news conference he held Wednesday after Toronto city council defeated his transit plan, a defiant Mayor Rob Ford said he would continue making the case for subways.

He didn’t say he planned to do so immediately after he left City Hall for the night.

Ford’s news conference ended before 8 p.m. More than five hours later, at about 1:10 a.m., one of his communications assistants posted a photo of him sitting on the Scarborough RT, still dressed in his suit and tie, speaking to a lone rider.

“1:10 and Mayor Ford is still talking subways on the SRT!” wrote the assistant, Isaac Ransom.

At 1:26 a.m., Ransom posted a photo of Ford standing on a station platform. “Mayor Ford waiting for the last ride of the night on the SRT heading west,” he wrote.

A third photo, posted by Ransom at 1:58 a.m., showed Ford on a bus, standing alone. “Taking the Eglinton bus west,” Ransom wrote.

The mayor, who usually drives around town, frequently stays up past midnight returning phone calls. Such one-on-one conversations, he has said, help him relax.

Some late-night tweeters expressed admiration for Ford’s passion and energy. Some suggested he was riding the rails to help himself cope with the loss. Others, pointing to Ransom's presence, sniffed a publicity stunt.

“So we have two possible explanations: Publicity or psychodrama,” wrote journalist Ivor Tossell.

“This is like legends you hear about politicians of yore,” wrote City Hall pundit Jonathan Goldsbie.

“Is Rob Ford okay? This is kind of concerning,” wrote City Hall blogger Matt Elliott.

Council voted to move part of the Eglinton Ave. LRT to street level, to build an LRT on Finch Ave., and to appoint an expert panel to offer suggestions for Sheppard Ave., where Ford wants to build a subway extension.

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The defeat was the most significant of Ford's mayoral term. At the news conference, however, Ford seemed unwilling to concede that he had been defeated. He said council’s vote was “irrelevant,” drawing rebukes from both council allies and foes.

“I think that the mayor may have misspoke,” said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, a conservative who voted with him. “I don’t believe that he thinks it’s — well, I respect the will of council, we made a decision today, and I respect that decision...you don't always get the vote that you'd like to get, but we all have to move forward.”