diff --git a/spacy/syntax/arc_eager.pyx b/spacy/syntax/arc_eager.pyx
index b705086e8..e5a7406f6 100644
--- a/spacy/syntax/arc_eager.pyx
+++ b/spacy/syntax/arc_eager.pyx
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ cdef class ArcEager(TransitionSystem):
     cdef int preprocess_gold(self, GoldParse gold) except -1:
         for i in range(gold.length):
             gold.c_heads[i] = gold.heads[i]
-            gold.c_labels[i] = self.label_ids[gold.labels[i]]
+            gold.c_labels[i] = self.strings[gold.labels[i]]
 
     cdef Transition lookup_transition(self, object name) except *:
         if '-' in name:
diff --git a/spacy/syntax/parser.pyx b/spacy/syntax/parser.pyx
index 45bb61103..4a925dd8c 100644
--- a/spacy/syntax/parser.pyx
+++ b/spacy/syntax/parser.pyx
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ from thinc.features cimport count_feats
 from thinc.learner cimport LinearModel
 
 from ..tokens cimport Tokens, TokenC
+from ..strings cimport StringStore
 
 from .arc_eager cimport TransitionSystem, Transition
 from .transition_system import OracleError
@@ -67,10 +68,10 @@ def get_templates(name):
 
 
 cdef class GreedyParser:
-    def __init__(self, model_dir, transition_system):
+    def __init__(self, StringStore strings, model_dir, transition_system):
         assert os.path.exists(model_dir) and os.path.isdir(model_dir)
         self.cfg = Config.read(model_dir, 'config')
-        self.moves = transition_system(self.cfg.labels)
+        self.moves = transition_system(strings, self.cfg.labels)
         templates = get_templates(self.cfg.features)
         self.model = Model(self.moves.n_moves, templates, model_dir)
 
@@ -89,7 +90,7 @@ cdef class GreedyParser:
             scores = self.model.score(context)
             guess = self.moves.best_valid(scores, state)
             guess.do(&guess, state)
-        tokens.set_parse(state.sent, self.moves.label_ids)
+        tokens.set_parse(state.sent)
         return 0
 
     def train(self, Tokens tokens, GoldParse gold, force_gold=False):
diff --git a/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pxd b/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pxd
index 35eba0bd7..58aa90d99 100644
--- a/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pxd
+++ b/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pxd
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ from thinc.typedefs cimport weight_t
 from ..structs cimport TokenC
 from ._state cimport State
 from .conll cimport GoldParse
+from ..strings cimport StringStore
 
 
 cdef struct Transition:
@@ -24,8 +25,8 @@ ctypedef int (*do_func_t)(const Transition* self, State* state) except -1
 
 
 cdef class TransitionSystem:
-    cdef readonly dict label_ids
     cdef Pool mem
+    cdef StringStore strings
     cdef const Transition* c
     cdef readonly int n_moves
 
diff --git a/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pyx b/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pyx
index 5c3a6fd72..72e9cedf8 100644
--- a/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pyx
+++ b/spacy/syntax/transition_system.pyx
@@ -12,20 +12,18 @@ class OracleError(Exception):
 
 
 cdef class TransitionSystem:
-    def __init__(self, dict labels_by_action):
+    def __init__(self, StringStore string_table, dict labels_by_action):
         self.mem = Pool()
         self.n_moves = sum(len(labels) for labels in labels_by_action.values())
         moves = <Transition*>self.mem.alloc(self.n_moves, sizeof(Transition))
         cdef int i = 0
         cdef int label_id
-        self.label_ids = {'ROOT': 0}
+        self.strings = string_table
         for action, label_strs in sorted(labels_by_action.items()):
             for label_str in sorted(label_strs):
-                label_str = unicode(label_str)
-                label_id = self.label_ids.setdefault(label_str, len(self.label_ids))
+                label_id = self.strings[unicode(label_str)]
                 moves[i] = self.init_transition(i, int(action), label_id)
                 i += 1
-        self.label_ids['MISSING'] = -1
         self.c = moves
 
     cdef int first_state(self, State* state) except -1:
diff --git a/spacy/tokens.pxd b/spacy/tokens.pxd
index efc03c368..169ed0b1b 100644
--- a/spacy/tokens.pxd
+++ b/spacy/tokens.pxd
@@ -38,8 +38,6 @@ cdef class Tokens:
     cdef list _py_tokens
     cdef unicode _string
     cdef tuple _tag_strings
-    cdef tuple _dep_strings
-    cdef public tuple _ent_strings
 
     cdef public bint is_tagged
     cdef public bint is_parsed
@@ -71,13 +69,11 @@ cdef class Token:
 
     
     cdef Tokens _seq
-    cdef tuple _tag_strings
-    cdef tuple _dep_strings
 
     @staticmethod
     cdef inline Token cinit(Vocab vocab, unicode string,
                             const TokenC* token, int offset, int array_len,
-                            Tokens parent_seq, tuple tag_strings, tuple dep_strings):
+                            Tokens parent_seq, self._tag_strings):
         if offset < 0 or offset >= array_len:
 
             msg = "Attempt to access token at %d, max length %d"
@@ -92,8 +88,6 @@ cdef class Token:
         self.array_len = array_len
 
         self._seq = parent_seq
-        self._tag_strings = tag_strings
-        self._dep_strings = dep_strings
         self._seq._py_tokens[offset] = self
         return self
 
diff --git a/spacy/tokens.pyx b/spacy/tokens.pyx
index 677f7a101..696e14ea3 100644
--- a/spacy/tokens.pyx
+++ b/spacy/tokens.pyx
@@ -93,8 +93,6 @@ cdef class Tokens:
         self.is_parsed = False
         self._py_tokens = []
         self._tag_strings = tuple() # These will be set by the POS tagger and parser
-        self._dep_strings = tuple() # The strings are arbitrary and model-specific.
-        self._ent_strings = tuple() # TODO: Clean this up
 
     def __getitem__(self, object i):
         """Retrieve a token.
@@ -110,7 +108,7 @@ cdef class Tokens:
         bounds_check(i, self.length, PADDING)
         return Token.cinit(self.vocab, self._string,
                            &self.data[i], i, self.length,
-                           self, self._tag_strings, self._dep_strings)
+                           self, self._tag_strings)
 
     def __iter__(self):
         """Iterate over the tokens.
@@ -121,7 +119,7 @@ cdef class Tokens:
         for i in range(self.length):
             yield Token.cinit(self.vocab, self._string,
                               &self.data[i], i, self.length,
-                              self, self._tag_strings, self._dep_strings)
+                              self, self._tag_strings)
 
     def __len__(self):
         return self.length
@@ -148,7 +146,7 @@ cdef class Tokens:
                     label = None
                 elif token.ent_iob == 3:
                     start = i
-                    label = self._ent_strings[token.ent_type]
+                    label = self.vocab.strings[token.ent_type]
             if start != -1:
                 yield (start, self.length, label)
                 
@@ -252,10 +250,6 @@ cdef class Tokens:
         self.is_parsed = True
         for i in range(self.length):
             self.data[i] = parsed[i]
-        dep_strings = [None] * len(label_ids)
-        for dep_string, id_ in label_ids.items():
-            dep_strings[id_] = dep_string
-        self._dep_strings = tuple(dep_strings)
 
 
 cdef class Span:
@@ -265,6 +259,15 @@ cdef class Span:
         self.start = start
         self.end = end
 
+    def __richcmp__(self, Span other, int op):
+        # Eq
+        if op in (1, 2, 5):
+            if self._seq is other._seq and \
+               self.start == other.start and \
+               self.end == other.end:
+                return True
+        return False
+
     def __len__(self):
         if self.end < self.start:
             return 0
@@ -310,7 +313,7 @@ cdef class Token:
     def nbor(self, int i=1):
         return Token.cinit(self.vocab, self._string,
                            self.c, self.i, self.array_len,
-                           self._seq, self._tag_strings, self._dep_strings)
+                           self._seq, self._tag_strings)
 
     property string:
         def __get__(self):
@@ -411,7 +414,7 @@ cdef class Token:
                 elif ptr + ptr.head == self.c:
                     yield Token.cinit(self.vocab, self._string,
                                       ptr, ptr - (self.c - self.i), self.array_len,
-                                      self._seq, self._tag_strings, self._dep_strings)
+                                      self._seq, self._tag_strings)
                     ptr += 1
                 else:
                     ptr += 1
@@ -430,7 +433,7 @@ cdef class Token:
                 elif ptr + ptr.head == self.c:
                     yield Token.cinit(self.vocab, self._string,
                                       ptr, ptr - (self.c - self.i), self.array_len,
-                                      self._seq, self._tag_strings, self._dep_strings)
+                                      self._seq, self._tag_strings)
                     ptr -= 1
                 else:
                     ptr -= 1
@@ -453,7 +456,7 @@ cdef class Token:
             """The token predicted by the parser to be the head of the current token."""
             return Token.cinit(self.vocab, self._string,
                                self.c + self.c.head, self.i + self.c.head, self.array_len,
-                               self._seq, self._tag_strings, self._dep_strings)
+                               self._seq, self._tag_strings)
 
     property whitespace_:
         def __get__(self):
@@ -497,7 +500,7 @@ cdef class Token:
 
     property dep_:
         def __get__(self):
-            return self._dep_strings[self.c.dep]
+            return self.vocab.strings[self.c.dep]
 
 
 _pos_id_to_string = {id_: string for string, id_ in UNIV_POS_NAMES.items()}