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Along the western stretch of Bloor Line 2, a new bus terminal is taking shape as aging Islington station undergoes a multi-phased plan to renovate and redevelop the transit hub’s site and facilities. Situated at the northwest corner of Bloor Street West and Islington Avenue, the former terminal station has long been targeted for renewal due to its expansive commuter parking lots and aged condition.
Opened in 1968 in what was then the Borough of Etobicoke, Islington station served as the TTC's westernmost rapid transit station for 12 years, until Kipling station opened in 1980. Islington's construction occurred as part of a larger subway expansion in which Line 2 was extended west from its initial terminus at Keele station, and east at the Danforth end from Woodbine to Warden station. Adding six stations west of Toronto's West End to more suburban Etobicoke, the 1968 extension saw Islington station designated as the primary "park and ride" location for commuters coming from even further west. As a result, the majority of the station grounds were paved commuter parking, and remained that way even after the station ceased to be a terminus following Kipling station's opening.
Islington station's bus traffic, originally using six "silos" and one outdoor platform, all frequented by multiple routes, declined in two phases: most of the TTC bus routes moved to Kipling station in 1980 with its opening, allowing Mississauga's MiWay buses to use more Islington station silos, and then more drastically when MiWay operations also moved to Kipling station in 2021 when a new regional bus terminal opened there.
Following decades of intensive use, Islington station had both aged noticeably, now had surplus, underused land, and so the property became prime for renewal. As such, CreateTO — the public agency tasked with delivering new subsidized and market homes on underutilized municipal land — began drawing up plans for the site. In 2020, a proposal from the agency outlined a plan to drastically intensify the site with over 1,400 units spread over four new towers, aligned primarily on the site's southern frontage along Bloor Street West. Building a new, more efficient, and accessible bus terminal to the north would maximize buildable square footage. The proposal was approved by City Council in 2024.
Construction on the new bus terminal got underway in late 2023, resulting in the permanent closure of the northern commuter parking lot. The driveway off of Islington Avenue accessing the Passenger Pick-up and Drop-off (seen in the image below to the right of the existing bus terminal) was also closed shortly thereafter.
Phased demolition of the existing bus terminal — removing the northern silos first — will allow the driveway to be reworked to become a western extension of Aberfoyle Crescent which will west run through the site before turning 90° to the south to connect with Bloor Street West opposite Green Lanes. The new road will provide vehicular access to the new bus terminal as well as the new buildings coming to the site. Once the new bus terminal opens, the rest of the former bus terminal can be demolished, clearing access for phased work for the new towers. Timelines remain unclear, as CreateTO has yet to issue a formal market offering for the towers, a necessary step before construction phases would begin.
The new pedestrian entrance at the northwest corner of Islington Avenue and the extended Aberfoyle Crescent will be connected via a tunnel — to feature two new retail locations — to the existing concourse. A third retail location will be built in the new bus terminal. The new bus terminal will feature five bus bays, one of which will be dedicated to Wheel-Trans.
A public open house last week provided details on the progress, the TTC stating it expects the new entrance to open to the public by the end of 2026. The entrance will have a ramp to provide barrier-free access between the street and the station concourse, while a new elevator will extend the barrier-free access from the concourse to the subway platform level. Once the bus terminal opens, an elevator will provide barrier-free access from it to the concourse as well.
The elevators and ramp will finally remove Islington from the increasingly short list of accessibility-challenged stations on the subway network. (The five other stations still on the list all have elevator construction underway, and are all projected to meet the agency's accessibility standards by the end of 2026, other than Old Mill, which is expected to be complete in 2028.) Below, an image from January 2026, shows significant progress on the new pedestrian entrance, with glass panel installation nearly complete.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on the Islington Station Redevelopment and new CreateTO buildings 3326 Bloor West. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum threads or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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