Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

Mr Tumaneng has now told me that this project is to install a new emergency generator in the moat area. And I was hoping for a whole new subway station. Ah well ......

Dare I ask where they will put the thing?

I doubt they are putting in a Generac.
 
Some shots of the recently opened Sephora. Quite busy inside.
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By Sephora standards, that's downright calm!
Give it some time. Today I took the train into Union and every seat was filled. People are returning. When I left this afternoon, traffic chaos on Bay as usual and hordes of people going to catch their trains. Not back to pre-pandemic but much more than before.
 
I mean I took a 4:45 LSW train on Friday and the train was half-full at best.. Union is far busier than it has been since 2019, but it's still got a long way to go.
The peak trains out of Union have a ways to go - probably directly related to downtown office occupancy (reoccupancy?). Off-peak recovery seems better to me - which would be more likely not to work downtown. Car traffic certainly seems back to normal.
 
Some shots of the recently opened Sephora. Quite busy inside.
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That's great but the VIA concourse is still a disaster with the way they board customers. Business class customers are given this paper tag to identify that they are travelling bus class. The lounge is too far from the boarding area and should be moved to the VIA Boarding area.

Also the washrooms are a disgrace with broken doors and urinals. I sent a message to 311 twice in 6 months and they said they would notify Union Station Management. Nothing happened.

The VIA concourse needs to be rebuilt like the York Concourse if they want to attract customers. There should be a central check in and then a specific waiting area for each train like for a airplane. And then there are no retail shops in the VIA concourse either which doesn't help the fact that it looks abandoned.
 
That's great but the VIA concourse is still a disaster with the way they board customers. Business class customers are given this paper tag to identify that they are travelling bus class. The lounge is too far from the boarding area and should be moved to the VIA Boarding area.

Also the washrooms are a disgrace with broken doors and urinals. I sent a message to 311 twice in 6 months and they said they would notify Union Station Management. Nothing happened.

The VIA concourse needs to be rebuilt like the York Concourse if they want to attract customers. There should be a central check in and then a specific waiting area for each train like for a airplane. And then there are no retail shops in the VIA concourse either which doesn't help the fact that it looks abandoned.
The lounge was moved FROM the VIA concourse for more space, ironically. I like it’s current spot though so I don’t have an issue with it.
 
The VIA concourse needs to be rebuilt like the York Concourse if they want to attract customers. There should be a central check in and then a specific waiting area for each train like for a airplane. And then there are no retail shops in the VIA concourse either which doesn't help the fact that it looks abandoned.
It's not THAT bad. There's lots of retail a short walk away. It's certainly a bit disappointing, compared to the new Bay and York concourses - but I really don't think that improving the concourse is going to have much impact on ridership.
 
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One thing it would help is to take away the display cases, they could set up more seating or move the lines in their place.

Parks Canada would throw a fit if they did. The vitrines are original to the station and cannot be removed due to heritage rules. Don't forget there are several layers of protection on Union Station from being on the City of Toronto heritage roster to being a National Historical Site.
 

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