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

Perhaps. Has it been reported on elsewhere? Construction looked pretty well done last I looked.

I remember when the Line 2 (then called the Bloor-Danforth Subway) extensions opened up, the Jane Station looked unfinished with missing tiles in the stairwells. Today, the Jane Station still looks "unfinished" with missing metal strips which supposedly replaced the tiles.
 
I remember when the Line 2 (then called the Bloor-Danforth Subway) extensions opened up, the Jane Station looked unfinished with missing tiles in the stairwells. Today, the Jane Station still looks "unfinished" with missing metal strips which supposedly replaced the tiles.

To be fair.. the entire Sheppard line still looks unfinished with its concrete walls.
 
To be fair.. the entire Sheppard line still looks unfinished with its concrete walls.

Agreed!

I've spent my share of time expressing my displeasure at the trackside concrete walls on the TYSSE a year back.

I don't wish to be repetitive, but I actually had a reason to be up at York U last week and so egressed at Pioneer Village and when returning from the far reaches of the hinterlands, re-boarded at York U station.

In looking at both in greater detail and in seeing all the stations up to that point.............

I am once again deeply annoyed by the over abundance of concrete and the trackside walls in particular.

At the platform level many of these stations are all but indistinguishable from one another, particularly from inside a train.

Between that, and being cold, monotonous and frankly veering far too close to ugly (at the platform levels); I struggle to imagine how this decision made it past the drawing board. At the bare minimum, they should have dyed the concrete in different colours to suit each station.

Though I would vote strongly for better quality finishes on the trackside walls all together.

Additional observations, I like the Cor-Ten Steel at PV far more than I thought I would and am particularly impressed by its use at the overbuilt TTC bus terminal.

The use of red as a contrast colour at PV really works well at the surface level as well. The lower levels, which are largely red-free would have benefited greatly from that pop of colour.

York U has pretty good traffic levels, suprised the retail isn't occupied. Don't like the choice to have one escalator to each entry point.

Finally, the entire TYSSE, best I can figure, doesn't have any of the one-stop screens. Instead, Transit Information Screens dominate, which are ad-free, continuously offer the time, and the next three train times.

I like this, I also like they ar emuch more frequent, so you've always gone one in readable distance. Let's ditch one-stop at go this route everywhere.
 
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Finally, the entire TYSSE, best I can figure, doesn't have any of the one-stop screens. Instead, Transit Information Screens dominate, which are add-free, continuously offer the time, and the next three train times.

Would you rather have the Subway Online signs?

subway-sign.jpg
 
FTFY:


Anyways, the current 'info" screen is just a sad excuse for ads.

AoD
but it gives you the information you need when the nest train is com0ing. You don't need to know when the trains are coming after that. The TTC has a big problem now of trying to add too much information onto screens or displays. For example on buses now the next stop sign is now starting to give out not just the next stop but the time and the operator number the other two are completely uncesary.
 
To be fair.. the entire Sheppard line still looks unfinished with its concrete walls.
I've never seen the Sheppard Subway, or the TYSSE one....just no compelling reason to venture into those regions. Bypass them, sure. That's what GO is for.

Now if there were a Relief Line, that would be attractive.

I am once again deeply annoyed by the over abundance of concrete and the trackside walls in particular.
It's 'bomb-shelter modern' a peculiar finish native to Canadian basements and subway stations. Also used in underground car parks. The locals barely know the difference, it's so ingrained.

At least world class cities use white concrete with a proper sealant on it. It costs a tad more, but what a stunning difference. You'll notice that the TTC always uses white concrete in their rendered pics, and then the cheapest grey when actually building.
The main difference between grey cement and white cement is the raw materials used in making respective cements. Grey cement contains higher concentration of oxides of iron, manganese and chromium as compared to white cement.
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-grey-cement-and-white-cement

The irony of the use of slightly more expensive white concrete in visual settings is that it would offset the need to 'brighten the place up', be easier to keep clean, allow the use of bleaching agents when doing so, (it won't streak like grey does) and accentuate good design when present.

Most architects and users are also badly let down when the extra effort was made to render wonderful shapes and design out of concrete, only for it to looks like a basement. From the original renderings of York U Station to the finished product, it's like day and night.
 
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but it gives you the information you need when the nest train is com0ing. You don't need to know when the trains are coming after that. The TTC has a big problem now of trying to add too much information onto screens or displays. For example on buses now the next stop sign is now starting to give out not just the next stop but the time and the operator number the other two are completely uncesary.

Does it? Or does it just throw up a number that may or may not reflect the actual arrival time given how the system works? On top of that, you missed my point - that is, the amount of space devoted to actual transit-related information is minuscule relative to the riff-raff on the screen.

AoD
 
but it gives you the information you need when the nest train is com0ing. You don't need to know when the trains are coming after that. The TTC has a big problem now of trying to add too much information onto screens or displays. For example on buses now the next stop sign is now starting to give out not just the next stop but the time and the operator number the other two are completely uncesary.

Having the times of the next two or three trains allows passengers to decide whether to get on the next crowded train or the next nearly-empty train, especially if they are timed close together. Wouldn't we like to know if the following trains shows it to be 10 minutes behind or 1 minute behind. As long as they show "real time" and not "scheduled time".
 
I've never seen the Sheppard Subway, or the TYSSE one....just no compelling reason to venture into those regions. Bypass them, sure. That's what GO is for.

Now if there were a Relief Line, that would be attractive.

It's 'bomb-shelter modern' a peculiar finish native to Canadian basements and subway stations. Also used in underground car parks. The locals barely know the difference, it's so ingrained.

At least world class cities use white concrete with a proper sealant on it. It costs a tad more, but what a stunning difference. You'll notice that the TTC always uses white concrete in their rendered pics, and then the cheapest grey when actually building.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-grey-cement-and-white-cement

The irony of the use of slightly more expensive white concrete in visual settings is that it would offset the need to 'brighten the place up', be easier to keep clean, allow the use of bleaching agents when doing so, (it won't streak like grey does) and accentuate good design when present.

Most architects and users are also badly let down when the extra effort was made to render wonderful shapes and design out of concrete, only for it to looks like a basement. From the original renderings of York U Station to the finished product, it's like day and night.

An odd statement. Are "the locals" in this area dumber or less sophisticated than in other parts of the city?
 
... and yet, I'm sure that won't stop on commenting how you don't like the visual aspects of something you've never seen ...
No it won't...the pictures are very clear, and I'm far from the only one to have made comment on it. Ever been to see, Billy?

Do you like grey concrete? Have you seen it all?
Britain's urban environment has been blighted by grey, stained crumbling concrete monstrosities. A Radio 4 documentary investigates why concrete was used so badly in post-war Britain.
Concrete is one of the most versatile building materials we have and is used by modern architects to create some of their most imaginative buildings.

Yet the concrete jungle became a metaphor for all of our urban ills. [...]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2016161.stm


startquote.gif

It wasn't concrete's fault that there was bad planning and bad design in the 1960s
endquote.gif
Sarah Gaventa
"Concrete is the most vilified material on the planet, and for no real good reason. It wasn't concrete's fault that there was bad planning and bad design in the 1960s," says Sarah Gaventa, curator of a concrete exhibition in the Royal Institute of British Architects.

I don't have to witness brutalism first hand to not recognize it in pictures. White concrete is what the TTC renderings showed, grey is what the stations got. The pics don't lie.

And I repeat, there's nothing that I've seen to even remotely interest me in taking a trip up there for the sake of it. I'll enjoy the lost joys of stations like Dupont and even the ex-Eglinton West and others already extant on the first Spadina extension. Toronto had it, and Toronto lost it.

Wal-Marts aren't my thing.

Here's where 'white cement concrete' was used:
York%20Station%20on%20subway.jpg


York University subway station street level entrance
http://www.stmaryscement.com/Pages/Media Centre/News/Building-to-last.aspx

The unofficial story I've read is that due to being grossly over-budget, and costs for the palaces of opulence being out of control, a lot of slashing had to happen.

So the bells, trinkets and whistles remained, but the structural materials themselves paid a price. And some wonder why opulence isn't attractive to some?

GO Transit is still repeating the mistake...lipstick doesn't make-up for utilitarian beauty of form.
 
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An odd statement. Are "the locals" in this area dumber or less sophisticated than in other parts of the city?
No, but as stated, there's nothing to attract me in those regions. And the transit architecture really doesn't attract me. I'm either a city dweller, or a country dweller. I don't own a car, haven't for forty years, (edit: In this nation) I'm a distance cyclist, typically do jaunts of over 50 kms in clement weather, did a couple well over a 100 km this Summer, why would I want to take a subway up into the nether regions? I walk in the winter, and there's *really* very little of interest for me in the regions mentioned, save for when the route crosses a ravine that can get me somewhere, like the Don or Humber. Then I can hike down to the lake and across, with dog. And see interesting things beside endless sub-divisions, malls and eight-lane arterials.

UPX does that for me, to Weston. Simple station, simple train, simple trip. And priceless in being steps from the Humber and the trail. Another destination is Old Mill Station, beautiful design, save for the tiles, but the platforms with windows over the Humber is superb. And a very utilitarian and affordable construction. Excellent gateway to Nature. More of those, and less of the Soviet Tractor Factories with fascinators and shiny objects, not to mention a route that actually pays its way. Being ostentatious costs a fortune, and merely indicates what a terrible sense of value some have. GO Transit also provides a walking escape to Rouge Hill and Long Branch, very humble albeit original stations, unpretentious, but gateways to Nature. Nice walk back to the centre of town. And of course, GO to K/W, Peterborough, Barrie, Hamilton etc. Get right out of town and do rail trails and lovely back roads. But subway to the burbs? That's Ford's specialty.

The car as we know it is dying folks, time to concentrate on pedestrians and transit instead massive statements of excess built in grey concrete.
 
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