[Mapleson]

No ... it was called North Greenwich from day 1. I seem to recall that instead of saying "for O2" on the maps it said "for the Dome".

I must be misremembering then. The last time I used the station was July '00 and I could have sworn it was "Millennium" to go along with the Millennium Wheel, Millennium Bridge, and Millennium Dome. I'd also thought there was some initial discussion about the "North Greenwich" name, as there another nearby station that had used the name previously.

I concur about it being "North Greenwich for The Dome" from 2001-2005 for sure, then them using a little sticker over it for The O2.

 

[ShonTron]

With all this talk i just realized that 3/4 of Toronto's Universities will soon be linked together by a single subway line...

It would be ridiculously easy if you could go from Ryerson to 'University of Toronto' to York University for the average commuter rather than the current situation.

All four universities - remember OCAD(U) at St. Patrick - but not satellite campuses such as Glendon, Scarborough or any of the community colleges except George Brown (at Dupont) and Seneca York campus.

 

[nfitz]

All four universities - remember OCAD(U) at St. Patrick - but not satellite campuses such as Glendon, Scarborough or any of the community colleges except George Brown (at Dupont) and Seneca York campus.

George Brown downtown is a shorter walking distance to King station than some distant parts of the sprawling York campus will be to York University station.

 

[adma]

Aren't We Naughty North York Centre Station?

 

[khris]

I really don't like the idea of changing the names of the stations. I think what should happen is they should have all rights to the advertising in the station. That I don't have a problem with.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Aren't We Naughty North York Centre Station?

Deco Labels & Tags Royal York Station? (The Ford brothers' company.) ...not.

 

[gweed123]

Deco Labels & Tags Royal York Station? (The Ford brothers' company.) ...not.

Nah, they should have one of the names on the Sheppard line extension instead...

 

[EMP1729]

Maybe Rob Ford can champion selling naming rights for city streets, schools, libraries and other public buildings as well. Why stop there? How about the city: Visit the Coco-Cola City of Toronto. Or better yet - the "Visit New York city of Toronto!!!" Lets rename Lake Ontario to the Aquafina Lake Ontario! All our budget woes will be over!

 

[gweed123]

Maybe Rob Ford can champion selling naming rights for city streets, schools, libraries and other public buildings as well. Why stop there? How about the city: Visit the Coco-Cola City of Toronto. Or better yet - the "Visit New York city of Toronto!!!" Lets rename Lake Ontario to the Aquafina Lake Ontario! All our budget woes will be over!

Pepsi Presents: New Zanzibar

 

[BMO]

Maybe Rob Ford can champion selling naming rights for city streets, schools, libraries and other public buildings as well. Why stop there? How about the city: Visit the Coco-Cola City of Toronto. Or better yet - the "Visit New York city of Toronto!!!" Lets rename Lake Ontario to the Aquafina Lake Ontario! All our budget woes will be over!

I honestly don't care if we rename everything if that allows us all to live comfortably without any city debt, and for subway expansion and essential services to be expanded.

 

[Mapleson]

I honestly don't care if we rename everything if that allows us all to live comfortably without any city debt, and for subway expansion and essential services to be expanded.

That's the problem, it won't. Let's say we could get $10m per year per subway station, that'd still only cover half of the TTC operating budget. Combine that with farebox revenue and you can cover operating costs, but not capital costs. I'm assuming naming rights for schools would go to the education budget, for fire/police stations to their budgets, etc. On top of that, this is advertising money, a cost that's passed on the end consumer as part of their product's cost.

I'd rather have my stations et al. named rationally and pay for their operation directly in taxes and fares, than indirectly through consumer inflation and advertisement. Either way, we all still pay at the end of the day.

 

[drum118]

If TTC is to get about $25m/y for advertisement, how much would it cost riders to cover that cost?

 

[andrewpmk]

sounds like a good idea and a good start in the right direction. i got some ideas:

dundas station = toronto life square or ryerson university (whichever one has the highest bid)
st. george station = uoft - st. george campus
north york center station = mel lastman square
union station = cn tower or air canada center or toronto city hall (again, whichever one has the highest bid)
sheppard west station = downsview park (this has already been planned)
don mills station = fairview mall
leslie station = north york general hospital
yorkdale station = yorkdale mall

Problem is, there are many stations that are near UofT. Spadina, St. George, Museum, Queen's Park, Bay, Bloor-Yonge, Wellesley and College are all within walking distance of UofT buildings.

Also there are two stations which serve the Eaton Centre. And Ryerson is pretty close to College station as well.

Finally, what do we do with Museum, York University and Yorkdale? Are they forced to pay up or else have their station name changed to something generic?

Allowing companies that are close to stations to pay for naming rights just confuses people because there are multiple destinations near a station and some major destinations may be served by multiple stations. Better to just abandon the idea and have a fare increase to pay the bills.

 

[Dan416]

Problem is, there are many stations that are near UofT. Spadina, St. George, Museum, Queen's Park, Bay, Bloor-Yonge, Wellesley and College are all within walking distance of UofT buildings.

Also there are two stations which serve the Eaton Centre. And Ryerson is pretty close to College station as well.

Finally, what do we do with Museum, York University and Yorkdale? Are they forced to pay up or else have their station name changed to something generic?

Allowing companies that are close to stations to pay for naming rights just confuses people because there are multiple destinations near a station and some major destinations may be served by multiple stations. Better to just abandon the idea and have a fare increase to pay the bills.

Totally agreed. I just don't see hte point in this. We might be able to sell like ONE station name, and then we'll regret it after when we realize how silly the name sounds.

 

[EMP1729]

What incentive does Mel Lastman Square, the ACC, UofT etc have to rename adjacent subway stations? It would seem that the TTC would be asking these venues to pay to rename a subway station out of the goodness of their heart. People aren't that stupid that they can't follow directions to the ACC. It's just a waste of money in my view. And those venues would just use taxpayer money anyways. Aren't street signs pointing to these venues paid by the city? MLSE is notorious for getting taxpayers to pay for things.

If I was going to buy naming rights, it would be to create exposure of my brand, or to associate a brand with a prestigious venue or cultural attraction.

In the case of Ryerson: they are trying hard to get exposure to show it can be a prestigious university, which makes sense in them asking to rename Dundas station. UofT and York are already prestigious, they have no trouble attracting talent - those institutions are more interested in going after alumni for donations or hiring "all-star" researchers.

The reality is companies like Apple, Google, Pepsi, Bell, the Banks, Beer companies etc would be interested in renaming stations. They have the money and want to advertise. Thinking or hoping that public institutions (that are often cash strapped) would be willing to pay for naming rights is naive.