Destination Signage

[superman]

I always found that there is terrible inconsistency in the subway destination signage:
- The subway trains display the ultimate destination (e.g. Finch)
- On the Sheppard platform edge signs, you only get what the next station is (e.g. East to Bessarion)
- Some other signs only show what direction the cars are heading in (e.g. Eastbound Trains)

Here's my idea of standardizing these signs:
- It makes the destination signage match those on the front of the train
- It fixes the problem of having unreadable maps on the Sheppard platform edge signs
- It shows what stations are coming up and what were passed already.

 

[jwill]

I'll just point out the minor inconsistency here. If the platform edge signage should match the train destination sign, it should be 'south to finch' not Union. Its useful for the map, but it could be interpreted as a terminus, when in fact trains continue up to Finch.

But I agree with the point that the TTC should be standardizing these things to make the system easier to navigate.

 

[superman]

Woops. Forgot to mention that using the TR trains, we should have the signs say Union, then trip to Downsview when it passes Union... or else we wouldn't be able to use the compass directions for this.

 

[Jaye101]

How about South to Finch via Union?

 

[nfitz]

How about South to Finch via Union?

South to Finch is really going to confuse people

How about just putting the destination up. Works fine in Montreal.

Direction Snowdon

 

[Dan416]

Yeah Finch via Union and Vaughan via Union work as well.

 

[nfitz]

Yeah Finch via Union and Vaughan via Union work as well.

Not once the train is north of Union and heading north. Yes it should change ... but best to design something that doesn't depend on their being no failures.

 

[andrewpmk]

South to Finch is really going to confuse people

How about just putting the destination up. Works fine in Montreal.

Direction Snowdon

Maybe because if you are at Sheppard-Yonge, saying "To Downsview" is confusing because it suggests that it is the quickest way to get to Sheppard/Allen, but taking the 84 bus is much faster. Saying "To Downsview via Union" makes it obvious that it is a very indirect route. Though just saying "To Union" is confusing because it implies that you have to transfer to get to St. Andrew.

Also, Montreal probably uses the system of using ends of lines because north, south, east and west are meaningless in Montreal. "North" means west, "East" means north, etc. (though "west" means west once you go far enough west). Whereas, "north" in Toronto actually means (approximately) north (though it might get confusing if the subway is ever extended to Mississauga where "north" means northwest).

 

[EnviroTO]

It makes sense the signs on the subway say "South to Union" while the subway car signs continue to say their final destination (which is sometimes not Finch or Downsview).

 

[EnviroTO]

They should also rename the Yonge-University-Spadina line the Yonge-University line. Spadina is confusing considering the Spadina streetcar and the fact there are only two subway stations on Spadina.

 

[adma]

Though the name may be a vestige of the days when the Allen Road was known as the Spadina Expressway...

 

[samsonyuen]

^This brings a good argument. Does anyone think the lines should just be sorted by colour or number?

 

[Dan416]

^This brings a good argument. Does anyone think the lines should just be sorted by colour or number?

Don't most systems just refer to their lines by colour? Maybe it is time for us to do so as well. But what happens when you start to run out of primary colours?

 

[EnviroTO]

Most systems with that many lines have a letter or number associated with the route. London has managed with neither referring to their lines by colours nor letters.