News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 02, 2020
 8.4K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 39K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 4.7K     0 

I love the 121 but it has been painfully empty for much of its short existence. Glad that it's picking up. I do wonder if it should just loop at Broadview too though and provide even more redundancy in the system (which is clearly needed on days like today).
 
I love the 121 but it has been painfully empty for much of its short existence. Glad that it's picking up. I do wonder if it should just loop at Broadview too though and provide even more redundancy in the system (which is clearly needed on days like today).
I don't know if it would make that much difference. Today they'd have been better to close Broadview north of Danforth to cars, and use police to keep cars off the track just south of Danforth.

Might be tempting to head it up Parliament too, from Gerrard to Castle Frank. Or if really radical north on Sumach and south on Sackville to Wellesley (though that's too narrow - though they could restore transit to Winchester).

I've suggested before that they should keep going up River, onto Bayview and loop at the Brick Works. But other say there'll be no ridership.

Still, nice to see some usage along River! Which will presumably only grow as the west side near Dundas gets occupied, and the piece of Regen Park at Gerrard gets rebuilt. Lots of redevelopment opportunities on the east side too!
 
In the spring, the TTC changed the bus routes around The Esplanade and, to my surprise, have actually got Astral to start removing the unused/unserved bus shelters. See: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/th...-neighbourhood-have-seven-not-being-used.html

I spoke too soon! In addition to removing several shelters on The Esplanade that are/were at no-longer-served stops, they also removed them from two busy active ones - Lower Jarvis and Lower Sherbourne. TTC and Astral at their finest!
After I (and others no doubt) complained and the wonderful Cycling Guys got involved, the two shelters that Astral removed in error are back again.
 
They can't even keep the Wellesley bus running on headway .

Screenshot_20220804-194212.jpg
 
Last edited:
Pape was the best station done during the whole station revitalization era which was originally slated for: Dufferin, Bloor-Yonge, Kipling, Islington, Museum, St. Patrick and Osgoode.

Of course in typical TTC fashion, they never saw the whole project through. Museum was cheaped out on, Dufferin had aspects changed from the original plan (platform level was cheaped out on), Kipling took forever and cant really call it a revitalization asides from platform panel replacement. Bloor-Yonge never happened, Islington never happened, St.Patrick never happened, and Osgoode is laughable.
 
Pape was the best station done during the whole station revitalization era which was originally slated for: Dufferin, Bloor-Yonge, Kipling, Islington, Museum, St. Patrick and Osgoode.

Of course in typical TTC fashion, they never saw the whole project through. Museum was cheaped out on, Dufferin had aspects changed from the original plan (platform level was cheaped out on),

No question Museum was VE'd.........and Dufferin was just sloppy at the platform level.

The University Line Stations were to be funded at least in part, by the Toronto Community Foundation, I'm not sure what happened to that funding source, but I will assume there was an issue there.

The budget per station for the base change in finishes, was wholly inadequate; I can't remember the number but I don't think it was even an 5M per station, which just doesn't work.


That said, while some might argue British taste is in decline, LOL........

The Guardian did publish a list saying Museum was among the most beautiful stations in the world. (I would beg to differ, but I do like the columns).........


Kipling took forever and cant really call it a revitalization asides from platform panel replacement. Bloor-Yonge never happened, Islington never happened, St.Patrick never happened, and Osgoode is laughable.

Kipling was not part of the TCF project, ever. I don't remember Bloor-Yonge being discussed either..........though it will now get a gut job for 1.5B.

Islington was always going to get a project in association with tearing down its bus terminal, like Warden.

That project moving forward earlier was tied to an office tower development with SNC Lavilin that collapsed.

Islington is now moving ahead.

****

St. Patrick and Queen's Park are getting completely new finishes over the next year or so, the tender was out earlier this summer.
 
Last edited:
I don't know i think that the columns that they put in look way better than the standard ones in every other station.

I like the columns too. They did, however, completely cheap out on the lighting and ceiling finishes over the columns, and they never did extend the project to the mezzanine which leaves it feeling a bit 1/2 done. Also, they repainted some of the tile around the Jail Cell area (soon to be the new second-exit, when they should have replaced it, the paint job looks cheap.
 
I like the columns too. They did, however, completely cheap out on the lighting and ceiling finishes over the columns, and they never did extend the project to the mezzanine which leaves it feeling a bit 1/2 done. Also, they repainted some of the tile around the Jail Cell area (soon to be the new second-exit, when they should have replaced it, the paint job looks cheap.
Maybe they will do something more when they do the second exit and elevator installation.
 
Kipling was not part of the TCF project, ever. I don't remember Bloor-Yonge being discussed either..........though it will now get a gut job for 1.5B.

Islington was always going to get a project in association with tearing down its bus terminal, like Warden.

That project moving forward earlier was tied to an office tower development with SNC Lavilin that collapsed.

Islington is now moving ahead.

****

St. Patrick and Queen's Park are getting completely new finishes over the next year or so, the tender was out earlier this summer.
The project was all over the place and was changed around a couple of times, so the original stations that were to be done were hacked out of the plan. This was the original plan which included Bloor-Yonge, as well as Islington and Kipling. Both Islington and Kipling were to receive platform upgrades similar to Victoria Park (ie: smaller scale and not on the level of say Pape, or Museum at the time):


You're right in that the reconstructions along the University line were to be a joint initiative between the TTC and Toronto Community Foundation. This was to consist of St.Patrick and Osgoode station, and they were the main joint initiative projects (the rest of the revitalization plan were TTC only from my understanding). Clearly that didnt go through well at all.
 
The project was all over the place and was changed around a couple of times, so the original stations that were to be done were hacked out of the plan. This was the original plan which included Bloor-Yonge, as well as Islington and Kipling. Both Islington and Kipling were to receive platform upgrades similar to Victoria Park (ie: smaller scale and not on the level of say Pape, or Museum at the time):


You're right in that the reconstructions along the University line were to be a joint initiative between the TTC and Toronto Community Foundation. This was to consist of St.Patrick and Osgoode station, and they were the main joint initiative projects (the rest of the revitalization plan were TTC only from my understanding). Clearly that didnt go through well at all.

Hmm, Kipling, I thought, was always tied to accessibility and the regional bus terminal. Islington, Warden and Victoria Park were all tied to the need to tear down their silo'ed bus terminals.

I thought VP was done well overall except, that they never did include a budget to comprehensively renew the interior finishes. So most of it is the original gray with a couple of wall segments redone with pops of colour and/or art.

But the bus terminal is one of the nicest looking in the TTC, I think.

****

Suffice to say, we can agree, that the TTC in recent years hasn't got a great track record on station renos.

I think Union was done well, a bit bland, but good quality finishes. I think the original Bloor-Yonge reno was fairly good, as far as i went, but it never did extend to the mezzanines or the Line 2 station, so its a bit of a mishmash.

I wonder if we could convince the City to refer subway station reno projects of any size to the DRP.
 

Back
Top