I am not sure if this is just people prefer to stick with what we are used to.
There are other metro systems that do not show the metro line name/number at the entrances. I believe Montreal Metro doesn't, and same goes for Vancouver's Skytrain.
The place where putting line numbers at entrances makes perfect sense is NYC's subway because of the way it operates. Now guess where TTC's wayfinding had its inspiration from.
 
The wayfinding guide indicates that the outside signage should indicate the modes available at the station, and once inside the station the guidance would show you to your route. It does make sense in that if you are looking for a subway at Mount Pleasant you just need to know that this is the subway entrance. I doubt anyone is going to be standing at Mount Pleasant wanting to take a subway but only if it is line 3.

I like the wayfinding guide. I agree that the "transit symbol" of a circle with a T in it is underwhelming, but most other aspects of the wayfinding standard are good. It does keep the Toronto Subway font for trackside station names and the Eglinton LRT has Toronto Subway typeface on the station platform.
 
EnviroTO said:
The wayfinding guide indicates that the outside signage should indicate the modes available at the station, and once inside the station the guidance would show you to your route. It does make sense in that if you are looking for a subway at Mount Pleasant you just need to know that this is the subway entrance. I doubt anyone is going to be standing at Mount Pleasant wanting to take a subway but only if it is line 3.

I like the wayfinding guide. I agree that the "transit symbol" of a circle with a T in it is underwhelming, but most other aspects of the wayfinding standard are good. It does keep the Toronto Subway font for trackside station names and the Eglinton LRT has Toronto Subway typeface on the station platform.
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It's all garbage designed by an overpaid person who should never have been asked to do the job in the first place. Metrolinx is going to have to realize that they are going to have a problem with people not knowing that line 5 is part of the TTC. Designing there own wayfinding only adds to the confusion just look at how bad it is in union station unless you know that you have to go to the Scotiabank arena main entrance to get to the bus terminal you will be lost trying to find your way to it from the York concourse.
 
EnviroTO said:
The wayfinding guide indicates that the outside signage should indicate the modes available at the station, and once inside the station the guidance would show you to your route. It does make sense in that if you are looking for a subway at Mount Pleasant you just need to know that this is the subway entrance. I doubt anyone is going to be standing at Mount Pleasant wanting to take a subway but only if it is line 3.

I like the wayfinding guide. I agree that the "transit symbol" of a circle with a T in it is underwhelming, but most other aspects of the wayfinding standard are good. It does keep the Toronto Subway font for trackside station names and the Eglinton LRT has Toronto Subway typeface on the station platform.
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Yeah, that's great but why then did Metrolinx put the number symbols on surface stops? It's inconsistence.

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TTC Subway stations used to not show what line serviced the station. Now they do. These should match that.

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Around the platform they always have the route number. The goal of the wayfinding guide is to provide the information you need when you need it and not to overwhelm people with information they don't need. At the entrance indicate there is a subway and bus station inside, at the moment there are two paths say this way to bus and this way to subway, at the moment you need to choose a subway route eastbound or westbound to find the right platform to tell you that, and in the bus terminal tell you which bus routes at which door. If routes are important on the front door then Union Station needs all the train letters, UP, 1, 509, 510, GO bus route numbers, and eventually the route number for Waterfront East. The wayfinding guide basically says keep it simple... enter here for a station that provides trains, subways and buses and as you walk you will be provided the relevant information when you need it.
 
EnviroTO said:
Around the platform they always have the route number. The goal of the wayfinding guide is to provide the information you need when you need it and not to overwhelm people with information they don't need. At the entrance indicate there is a subway and bus station inside, at the moment there are two paths say this way to bus and this way to subway, at the moment you need to choose a subway route eastbound or westbound to find the right platform to tell you that, and in the bus terminal tell you which bus routes at which door. If routes are important on the front door then Union Station needs all the train letters, UP, 1, 509, 510, GO bus route numbers, and eventually the route number for Waterfront East. The wayfinding guide basically says keep it simple... enter here for a station that provides trains, subways and buses and as you walk you will be provided the relevant information when you need it.
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except they want to add a random simply of a T on everything that for some reason is supposed to unify everything and make it regional (whatever that means)? How is that keeping it simple by adding something that not everyone knows what it's for? They should have just used the TTC wayfinding instead of reinventing the wheel because an expert told them to.
 
A "T" in an "O" vs a "TTC"... neither has a globally recognized meaning. The GO stations are going to have subway like service after electrification and you can't label Port Credit station as "TTC". So a common symbol makes sense, but it would be nice if there was a more universal symbol to represent all forms of transit. Maybe some day "T" will be that in the same way "M" means metro for so many.
 
EnviroTO said:
A "T" in an "O" vs a "TTC"... neither has a globally recognized meaning. The GO stations are going to have subway like service after electrification and you can't label Port Credit station as "TTC". So a common symbol makes sense, but it would be nice if there was a more universal symbol to represent all forms of transit. Maybe some day "T" will be that in the same way "M" means metro for so many.
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Huh what does Metrolinx's stupid labels have to do with that? We don't need an extra symbol to tell people that public transit is there it's just redundant for the sake of redundancy. There is no need to have it, they only did it because some stupid expert they hired told them that they need it.
 
EnviroTO said:
A "T" in an "O" vs a "TTC"... neither has a globally recognized meaning. The GO stations are going to have subway like service after electrification and you can't label Port Credit station as "TTC". So a common symbol makes sense, but it would be nice if there was a more universal symbol to represent all forms of transit. Maybe some day "T" will be that in the same way "M" means metro for so many.
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T is a common transit symbol in Greater Vancouver, especially for rapid transit
 
EastYorkTTCFan said:
Huh what does Metrolinx's stupid labels have to do with that? We don't need an extra symbol to tell people that public transit is there it's just redundant for the sake of redundancy. There is no need to have it, they only did it because some stupid expert they hired told them that they need it.
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What is redundant about it? It is there to say "Public Transit". People are looking for transit, but the signs say Zum, Ion, MyWay, VIVA, GO, TTC, DRT, etc. Long before Metrolinx suggested a symbol there were stories in the newspaper about visitors not finding the subway because signs had a TTC logo which means nothing to outsiders. Long before Metrolinx created the wayfinding standard there were websites and YouTube videos making light of the TTCs disjointed signage. Yes, the TTC was improving things with their own new wayfinding standard, but they made a very TTC branded wayfinding vs a standard that can be applied across the GTA. The best standards are the ones that make sense universally, can be applied broadly, and are free of royalties. Again wayfinding has the goal of focusing on the most useful and relevant in the moment information. I don't want to take a Zum, I want to take transit.
 
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AlxOptimism said:
T is a common transit symbol in Greater Vancouver, especially for rapid transit
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I'm assuming T for Translink? In which actually makes sense.

Here we're using a "T" for who knows what? It's not for Metrolinx, it's not GO Transit, VIVA, YRT, TTC, MiWay, DRT, HSR, Oakville Transit, Burlington Transit, etc.. you get the point. Metrolinx had the answer right in front of them for which symbol they could've used, but of course they chose to reinvent the wheel and overly complicate things when they didnt have to.
 
Amare said:
I'm assuming T for Translink? In which actually makes sense.

Here we're using a "T" for who knows what? It's not for Metrolinx, it's not GO Transit, VIVA, YRT, TTC, MiWay, DRT, HSR, Oakville Transit, Burlington Transit, etc.. you get the point. Metrolinx had the answer right in front of them for which symbol they could've used, but of course they chose to reinvent the wheel and overly complicate things when they didnt have to.
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It would have literally made more sense to have M for Metrolinx! 🤣

On a serious note, I am fine with the T symbol, but I still find it stupid that the Line 5 stations don't have a 5 symbol on the outside. That is the main service the station provides.
 
AlxOptimism said:
T is a common transit symbol in Greater Vancouver, especially for rapid transit
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Which is where there wayfinding expert was from. I don't really care how they do things in Vancouver, the last time we did something like that we had really bad announcements made by an un funny comedian.
 
LemonCondo said:
It would have literally made more sense to have M for Metrolinx! 🤣

On a serious note, I am fine with the T symbol, but I still find it stupid that the Line 5 stations don't have a 5 symbol on the outside. That is the main service the station provides.
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My issue with the lack of Line 5 signage on the outside is it's creating inconsistency in our subway stations. Metrolinx may think their wayfinding standard makes the most sense, but without having TTC buy-in on having both agencies using the same standard, it's just creating a mess where different subway stations have different signage (something the TTC has just spent years largely fixing their own mistakes with). Honestly I'm concerned about the transfer stations to Lines 1 and 2. Are the existing Kennedy, Eglinton and Cedarvale stations going to use TTC wayfinding signage in the existing portions of the station, but then suddenly the signage is done to a different standard when you cross over into the new Crosstown part of the station? This is just gonna keep getting worse with Line 6, and then the OL. Not to mention the Line 1 and 2 extensions. Are we gonna have different signage standards between the TTC-owned parts of Line 2 and the SSE?

Also not to mention the mess that is the Crosstown is being done using an older version of the Metrolinx Wayfinding standard, not the current one. See the orange polls at the stations, which aren't the larger "T" signs that the current standard calls for.
 
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