Toronto Spadina Subway Extension Emergency Exits | ?m | 1s | TTC | IBI Group

Big week for the extension coming up....first Rogers Cup tennis tournament since it opened! Hopefully this will lead to some bi-directional off peak traffic for the line.
I wonder how many people will get off at Sheppard west expecting to find a shuttle bus to get them there?
 
I wonder how many people will get off at Sheppard west expecting to find a shuttle bus to get them there?
Hadn’t thought of that.....I presume people going to an event at York University might apply logic and get off the subway at the station with the name York University....I hope some of them would check in advance and see that getting off at Pioneer Village is smarter.....never dawned on me they would get off st Shepard West.
 
York Region Transit is pulling out of York University as of September 2.

They're telling their passengers that only five routes - Route 3 - Thornhill, Route 20 - Jane, Route 96 - Keele-Yonge, Route 107/107B - Keele, and Route 165/165F - Weston will serve the Pioneer Village Station, and you'll have to walk across Steeles and into the campus to avoid a double fare.

Viva purple will be cut back to the Richmond Hill Centre Terminal - they're told to transfer at Richmond Hill Centre to Viva Orange, and then transfer to a YRT bus or pay a TTC fare at VMC to get to campus.

It's a failure of the subway to actually make it easier to get to campus from York Region, a failure of York Region Transit, which is cutting back service (the Viva Purple, which used to go to campus), and regional transit coordination in general.
 
York Region Transit is pulling out of York University as of September 2.

They're telling their passengers that only five routes - Route 3 - Thornhill, Route 20 - Jane, Route 96 - Keele-Yonge, Route 107/107B - Keele, and Route 165/165F - Weston will serve the Pioneer Village Station, and you'll have to walk across Steeles and into the campus to avoid a double fare.

Viva purple will be cut back to the Richmond Hill Centre Terminal - they're told to transfer at Richmond Hill Centre to Viva Orange, and then transfer to a YRT bus or pay a TTC fare at VMC to get to campus.

It's a failure of the subway to actually make it easier to get to campus from York Region, a failure of York Region Transit, which is cutting back service (the Viva Purple, which used to go to campus), and regional transit coordination in general.

York doesnt want busses on its campus. A fare integration agreement between yrt and ttc for the 4 subway stops from vmc to york u station should have long been worked out prior to the opening.
 
York Region Transit is pulling out of York University as of September 2.

They're telling their passengers that only five routes - Route 3 - Thornhill, Route 20 - Jane, Route 96 - Keele-Yonge, Route 107/107B - Keele, and Route 165/165F - Weston will serve the Pioneer Village Station, and you'll have to walk across Steeles and into the campus to avoid a double fare.
This is probably what BT/Zum should do too.

The southern entrance to the station is already on campus....so it is a pretty obvious place to take the buses to (assuming York wants them all off campus) and people have the choice of switching to the subway or walking under Steeles and onto campus.
 
York doesnt want busses on its campus. A fare integration agreement between yrt and ttc for the 4 subway stops from vmc to york u station should have long been worked out prior to the opening.

This is probably what BT/Zum should do too.

The southern entrance to the station is already on campus....so it is a pretty obvious place to take the buses to (assuming York wants them all off campus) and people have the choice of switching to the subway or walking under Steeles and onto campus.

Now if only GO buses were moved to Highway 407 Station completely, but that mean people going to YorkU MUST pay a second fare to get on the subway. YRT on the other hand can just terminate that Pioneer Village Station Terminal instead, which is a (not insubstantial) walk away. A true buses-less York Commons would be a great place and less noise.
 
Now if only GO buses were moved to Highway 407 Station completely, but that mean people going to YorkU MUST pay a second fare to get on the subway. YRT on the other hand can just terminate that Pioneer Village Station Terminal instead, which is a (not insubstantial) walk away. A true buses-less York Commons would be a great place and less noise.

At least GO passengers will pay $1.50 instead of $3 each way using Presto. Not the case for YRT and/or Zum passengers (Brampton Transit hasn't announced what's going to happen yet).
 
The southern entrance to the station is already on campus....so it is a pretty obvious place to take the buses to (assuming York wants them all off campus) and people have the choice of switching to the subway or walking under Steeles and onto campus.

They can't even do that, as there's no single concourse level at PV station.

PS: Did anyone go the tennis event to see the ridership at the station? I think it was this weekend.
 
At least GO passengers will pay $1.50 instead of $3 each way using Presto. Not the case for YRT and/or Zum passengers (Brampton Transit hasn't announced what's going to happen yet).

Well, Vaughan's five wards could be merged as one ward in the City of Toronto, to get the bus routes into the same zone as Toronto. That should happen with the PC Premier after Ford.
 
They can't even do that, as there's no single concourse level at PV station.

PS: Did anyone go the tennis event to see the ridership at the station? I think it was this weekend.
Tennis this weekend was just qualifying for the main draw which started Monday....it is why I was at Pioneer Village Station last night....and yes (I would not have believed it until I saw it with my own eyes) we managed to spend however many millions of dollars building a station that is best described as a homage to the Flintstones....essentially it is two stations in one, each with separate and distinct buildings and bus terminals.....complete with the high soaring ceilings we seem to need and the artistic flair that is so important.....the only elements that the stations seem to share are Passenger Pick Up and Drop Off and the parking lot....both of which are on the north (Vaughan) side.....

....we did all that and somehow did not manage to provide a pedestrian link in a non-fare zone between the north side and the south side.....it has to be done above grade, outside, across Steeles Avenue....and, if that was not inconvenient enough.....the west side of the street on the campus side of Steeles does not have a sidewalk....so when you cross from the north building (the Vaughan part of the station) you have to cross over to the east side to be met with a sidewalk......total "I have never actually used any of the things I am building" buffoonery on exhibit here!

As for the crowd on the train.......I left my office at 5:30 and got on a NB train at St Andrew.....was standing room only (as usual) to St. George but the crowd thinned out to no more than 1/2 full at that time (I often think we overestimate the stations north of St. George when "judging" the new extension)....anyway, crowd stayed relatively consistent (with people coming and going) to about Yorkdale...north of Yorkdale it was probably 25% full to Pioneer Village when a lot of people got off......there was a steady stream of people (from my train and the ones before/after) in the walking path from the station to the Aviva Stadium.....it would appear it is being used to get to the stadium.

For reference, it took me about 4o minutes total to get from my office to the stadium.......my friend I was going with drove from downtown to campus and it took him about 1:20 (which included the time waiting for and using the free shuttle from his designated parking spot to the actual stadium). So it saves some time....not a ton, but some.
 
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Tennis this weekend was just qualifying for the main draw which started Monday....it is why I was at Pioneer Village Station last night....and yes (I would not have believed it until I saw it with my own eyes) we managed to spend however many millions of dollars building a station that is best described as a homage to the Flintstones....essentially it is two stations in one, each with separate and distinct buildings and bus terminals.....complete with the high soaring ceilings we seem to need and the artistic flair that is so important.....the only elements that the stations seem to share are Passenger Pick Up and Drop Off and the parking lot....both of which are on the north (Vaughan) side.....

....we did all that and somehow did not manage to provide a pedestrian link in a non-fare zone between the north side and the south side.....it has to be done above grade, outside, across Steeles Avenue....and, if that was not inconvenient enough.....the west side of the street on the campus side of Steeles does not have a sidewalk....so when you cross from the north building (the Vaughan part of the station) you have to cross over to the east side to be met with a sidewalk......total "I have never actually used any of the things I am building" buffoonery on exhibit here!

As for the crowd on the train.......I left my office at 5:30 and got on a NB train at St Andrew.....was standing room only (as usual) to St. George but the crowd thinned out to no more than 1/2 full at that time (I often think we overestimate the stations north of St. George when "judging" the new extension)....anyway, crowd stayed relatively consistent (with people coming and going) to about Yorkdale...north of Yorkdale it was probably 25% full to Pioneer Village when a lot of people got off......there was a steady stream of people (from my train and the ones before/after) in the walking path from the station to the Aviva Stadium.....it would appear it is being used to get to the stadium.

For reference, it took me about 4o minutes total to get from my office to the stadium.......my friend I was going with drove from downtown to campus and it took him about 1:20 (which included the time waiting for and using the free shuttle from his designated parking spot to the actual stadium). So it saves some time....not a ton, but some.
Let's just hope some sensible station modifications will be done when the underground Steeles/Jane BRT/LRT station gets build, though I doubt they'll move the fare gates.
 
A few notes from today's experience:


First time using the new Presto reload machines and I'm loving them so far! Super fast reload and transaction speed. I look forward to seeing these in the rest of the TTC stations and possibly other GTA locations (eg. Richmond Hill Centre, Promenade...etc.).


The new fare gates at York University seem to have been fine tuned for a much faster operation speed from the "tap" to the opening of the gates. I don't know if the exit process has been fine tuned.


Now for a few rants.

I had to the take the GO bus today out to Oakville. What annoyed me a lot is the lack of connectivity between the subway station, GO transit and YRT. You see, I had to catch the GO bus from York but GO transit has not resume operations to the bus loop; a) either I walk to Founders & Steeles and risk getting caught in a thunderstorm with no shelter, b) go to Pioneer Village and wait for the YRT 20 Jane bus and take it to 407 Station, or c) pay the $3 for the subway instead of risking the wait for the YRT bus and missing the connection at 407. I ended up paying the $3 fiefdom fee (didn't have the Metropass today) to avoid missing the GO bus.


407 Station:

The new announcements by Seth Rogen are absolutely annoying. I listened to one and it was already way to long to get the point across. The last thing the TTC needs is for passengers to be dawdling around a station to catch the P.A. message especially during rush hour.


GO Transit's infamous culture of lack of wayfinding and mapping details strikes again at the 407 Station. It's literally impossible to find any immediate information on route platforms when inside the terminal. You have to either ask the ticket attendant (which I did) or need to pop your head out to view every one of the outdoor platform signage. They should've installed a platform map inside the terminal such as the top of the escalators.

IMG_3167.JPG

^incredibly hard to read from the distance!
 

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A few notes from today's experience:


First time using the new Presto reload machines and I'm loving them so far! Super fast reload and transaction speed. I look forward to seeing these in the rest of the TTC stations and possibly other GTA locations (eg. Richmond Hill Centre, Promenade...etc.).


The new fare gates at York University seem to have been fine tuned for a much faster operation speed from the "tap" to the opening of the gates. I don't know if the exit process has been fine tuned.


Now for a few rants.

I had to the take the GO bus today out to Oakville. What annoyed me a lot is the lack of connectivity between the subway station, GO transit and YRT. You see, I had to catch the GO bus from York but GO transit has not resume operations to the bus loop; a) either I walk to Founders & Steeles and risk getting caught in a thunderstorm with no shelter, b) go to Pioneer Village and wait for the YRT 20 Jane bus and take it to 407 Station, or c) pay the $3 for the subway instead of risking the wait for the YRT bus and missing the connection at 407. I ended up paying the $3 fiefdom fee (didn't have the Metropass today) to avoid missing the GO bus.


407 Station:

The new announcements by Seth Rogen are absolutely annoying. I listened to one and it was already way to long to get the point across. The last thing the TTC needs is for passengers to be dawdling around a station to catch the P.A. message especially during rush hour.


GO Transit's infamous culture of lack of wayfinding and mapping details strikes again at the 407 Station. It's literally impossible to find any immediate information on route platforms when inside the terminal. You have to either ask the ticket attendant (which I did) or need to pop your head out to view every one of the outdoor platform signage. They should've installed a platform map inside the terminal such as the top of the escalators.

View attachment 152803

^incredibly hard to read from the distance!
Something like this with the GO routes would be nice:
Terminals_Highway407_Dec2017-v2.jpg

Also, is that platform sign static or a screen?
 
For reference, it took me about 4o minutes total to get from my office to the stadium.......my friend I was going with drove from downtown to campus and it took him about 1:20 (which included the time waiting for and using the free shuttle from his designated parking spot to the actual stadium). So it saves some time....not a ton, but some.

That's an enormous time saving. My entire morning commute is 40 minutes. It's a big chunk of time even from a 2 hour commute.
 

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