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TTC: Stations that Need Improvements

Garish tiles or poor state of repair I can grudgingly handle, but the tacky, embarrassing amateurism of Museum and Queen grate even more than the TTC's Microsoft-Word-produced ad campaigns. Shameful. The worst part about Museum is that the station was in great shape before they turned it into a theme park.
 
Anth said:
Garish tiles or poor state of repair I can grudgingly handle, but the tacky, embarrassing amateurism of Museum and Queen grate even more than the TTC's Microsoft-Word-produced ad campaigns. Shameful. The worst part about Museum is that the station was in great shape before they turned it into a theme park.
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The problem with Museum is that they stopped at the stairway... and never fixed things like the broken To Trains light just above.

I can live with Museum station, but poor state of repair is inexcusable. It brings the perceived quality of the whole system down. They have got to fix the flaking tiles at Islington, fior example.
 
DHLawrence85 said:
If they were open to public use, would you use them? :eek:
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Yes, indubitably. I can't count the number of occasions that I've been stuck on a bus for an hour commuting to a station, wanting to relieve myself the whole trip only to have to then travel a stop or two in the wrong direction just to use the bathroom. This used to happen to me a lot when I commuted to Lawrence West Stn and had to go to Wilson or when commuting to the Scarborough Centre and had to hold it in til Kennedy. So assuming the TTC doesn't want any of its riders to be in discomfort, they could easily permit both personnel and the riding public to use those bathrooms.
 
Missing stations

Add to the list of existing stations, how about stations that are missing and should be built?

Glen Echo — 1 Yonge subway, halfway between York Mills and Lawrence stations. Near the site of the old Glen Echo streetcar loop, opposite Yonge Boulevard.

Blythwood — 1 Yonge subway, halfway between Lawrence and Eglinton stations. Near Blythwood Road, Alexandra Boulevard, or Glencairn Avenue.

The current 97 Yonge has maybe a 15 minute headway, in the non rush hour. Terrible, when compared with the 1 Yonge headway. There should be stations, at least, at those two locations.

streetcar-4706-46.jpg
 
Anth said:
Garish tiles or poor state of repair I can grudgingly handle, but the tacky, embarrassing amateurism of Museum and Queen grate even more than the TTC's Microsoft-Word-produced ad campaigns. Shameful. The worst part about Museum is that the station was in great shape before they turned it into a theme park.
Click to expand...

Yes, Museum was much better before. I especially hate the colour of the walls; it reminds of dirty Silly Putty. They looked dingy even when they were newly installed.
 
Transforming Museum was really a compromise to me; on one hand, the station platforms are cleaned up (it was filthy last time I visited; and was tacky in aesthetics), and it gives a attraction to first-time museum-goers along TTC. On the other hand, the mischievous play of redesigning this station makes me puke occasionally, and the job isn't complete. I'd rather see this alternative design; have Daniel Libeskind redesign the station, in parallel style to Mike Lee-Chin Crystal. Much better sense of showing what ROM is really like than tedious pole statues.
 
On the one hand it livens up the subway experience and the columns are not theme park tacky as some might suspect. But in execution it's thoroughly disappointing. The painted concrete sections of wall look quite cheap, the sophisticated metal ceiling seen in the renderings was completely scrapped, the two small custom benches have a finish that makes them always look dirty and are so low as if designed only for kids. A thin strip of wall cladding over the large metal panels now has thousands of small cracks running along the entire length of the platform, looking about 30 years old. The emergency assistance sign looks like it was thrown together by someone without much design experience.

Maybe it would have been better to have Libeskind design larger enclosed entrances. Anyway, that's a future improvement.
 
So before I offer my thoughts on new priorities, I thought it good to make sure people know what is or is not already happening or being contemplated:

Full Station Renos (Modernization)

Happening Now:

Victoria Park
Pape
Dufferin
Union (begins early 2010)

Comp. Designs/prelim approval, awaiting construction (modernization):

Warden (new bus terminal, exit, elevators, washrooms, misc.)

Islington (new bus terminal, exit, elevators, washrooms, misc.)

In Queue (preliminary drawing looked at), next on modernization list,)


Bloor/Yonge - delayed for detailed planning vs. DRL (how big an expansion of the station is required)

Woodbine - delayed due to budget constraints

System Wide - Elevators

Every Station by 2020 approved, planned for, and legislatively required

System Wide - Washrooms

Gutting of Eglinton Washrooms underway

Others were planned at one set per year through 2015, delayed due to budget constraint

Second Exits

Planned for 14 stations to get second exits (compliance with building/fire code)

Castlefrank is underway, completion early 2010.

Wellesley second exit is funded for construction.

Pape and Dufferin will get second exits in their modernization programs.

Woodbine would also get a second exit when modernized

College - Second exit in conjunction with Aura condos

Dundas - Second exit in conjunction with Ryerson Student Learning Centre

Museum - Second exit in conjunction with Planetarium redevelopment (prelim).

Chester - Second exit concept approved - unfunded

Stations still requiring plans/concepts

- Greenwood, Coxwell, Donlands, Summerhill

I think that covers most of the work proposed/budgeted for already.

There are also a number of pilot projects underway for ceiling and wall finishes, but to my knowledge, no funding for full implementation.

* Theoretically - Osgoode and St. Patrick are going to be facelifted under the 'Renaissance' program, primarily through funds from the Toronto Community Foundation (the same program that did Museum); I'm not clear on the status of funds or detailed drawings.
 
Now for my wish list:

First:

Finish what's already approved, and no cheaping out! It concerns me that with over 45M for Vic Park, they actually don't plan to redo the platform level walls.

Pape new's tile is getting anchored onto the existing tile (dubious construction technique in my opinion)

Do it right!

Second:

Let's get that washroom program back on track, the TTC's washrooms are, on the whole, uniquely awful. They should hire the people that did the nice mall washrooms at Scarborough Town Centre! It show's high traffic doesn't have to mean ugly or dirty.

Third:

Add additional exits for further convenience. I remember in Paris that you enter the subway on some lines on virtually every block, because the stairs flowed off the extreme ends of the platforms, as well as the center, you were never more than 350M from a subway entrance.

This should be done after second exits for safety; and prioritize stations that further apart, ie. eastern Bloor line, Woodbine - Main and Main - Vic Park.
By adding exits for Woodbine at Cedarvale; and from Main to Chisolm and Barrington would cut walk times to the subway, not a big deal in nice weather for the young and healthy, great for the elderly or anyone caught in a T-Storm.

Fourth:

Station Renos (Modernizations)

Purely on aesthetic grounds:

- Queen's Park ( re tile in sandstone to match Queen's Park, with copper plates on the ceiling)

- Dundas West (its just ugly)

- Sherbourne (its just ugly)

I think those would be my big 3, I just find the grey on green, and grey and grey colour schemes dreary.
 
Northern Light, read your post about the stations being modernized and I see the work being done on Victoria Park almost every day. I use Warden Station mostly and have always hoped they got rid of the seperated bus bays like what is happening at Victoria Park Station. I hope they build some kind of an island type of bus bay and keep the street access routes for the buses. I was wondering if you have a link to what they have planned for Warden Station? I have seen what they have planned for Victoria Park and I think is going to improve VP station ten-fold.
 
May I ask were you got this information? Like how do you know they're tiling over Pape like they did with Yonge line stations? Personally, I'm glad they aren' redoing the tiles at Vic Park's Platform, they'd probably tile over and make a mess like rosedale, davisville, just to name a few...

Also lets hope they'll keep the TTC font, and Sandblast into pape's new tiles, no painted metal/plastic panels PLEASE
 
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Thankfully Islington is about to undergo modernization from inside and out. I would also nominate Kipling in need of more elevators as well.

Any time line for the other stations in addition to ones already mentioned?
 
In Answer to various questions:

Some of the information is available publicly here:

http://www3.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Pr...dernization/Station_Modernization_Details.jsp

Other bits are buried in various reports such as:

(Pape and Chester)

http://www3.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Co...6/Sept_20_2006/Other/Fire_Ventilation_Upg.jsp

(Museum, Wellesley, College, Castlefrank)

http://www3.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Co...05/Aug_31_2005/Other/Fire_Ventilation_Upg.jsp


(Warden Station - partial)

http://www3.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Co...05/Aug_31_2005/Other/Fire_Ventilation_Upg.jsp

(more on Warden)

http://www3.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Co...7/Sept_19_2007/Other/Bicycle_Kiosks_Victo.pdf

***

Someone asked about how I know how they're going to do the tile work.

I attended the consultation on Pape station and I asked the architect/engineers on hand.

They indicated that it would not be done in the manner as Yonge, which is to say, that it would not be cemented/glued to the existing tile work, but instead would be on a some sort of metal lattice/bracket system so that each tile would be 'hooked' on to the new metal structure.

This way each tile could be individually replaced by un hooking it from the bracket or at least that was there theory. But I'm not fond of mounting the weight of all the new tile and a bracket system into the existing tile/wall, meh, that's me.

****

On order of work in other stations:

Warden phase I is underway, phase 2 is likely pending a developer partnering/buying the surplus lands.

Islington got slowed down by the cancellation of the SNC Lavelin Tower; but is tied to the Kipling work now underway and will probably still happen in 2010.

Yonge-Bloor was previously announced for modernization and the initial conceptual plan came out......

Don't ask me when/where, but I've seen it.

But with the Yonge extension debate and the DRL the station options are now being rethought as the initial proposal was good, but relatively small. So now they're costing out the 'big' options.

The report should be out in Dec or Jan I would think.

****

Woodbine was moved up to take the place of Bloor-Yonge while they retooling the design choices there, so it was scheduled for 2010. I believe its now 2014 in the budget but don't hold me to that.

I don't know the timing of most of the rest, if in fact its even been decided on.
 
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