Don Mills (TTC)
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| Don Mills 1700 Sheppard Avenue East |
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| Opened | November 24, 2002 (Sheppard line) October 16, 2005 (YRT Viva Green) |
| Line | Sheppard line YRT Viva Green |
| Next station | Sheppard line: ≅1.8 km west to Leslie 2 min YRT Viva Green: |
| Connections | 10 Van Horne, 24 Victoria Park, 25 Don Mills, 85 Sheppard East, 139 Finch East, 167 Pharmacy North, 169 Huntingwood, 190 Scarborough Centre Rocket, 224 Victoria Park North, YRT 90 Leslie South, Viva Green |
| Platforms | Centre platform
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Don Mills is the eastern terminus station of the Sheppard line of the subway system in Toronto, Canada. It is also a "Vivastation" on the Viva Green line of York Region's Viva bus rapid transit system.
It is at 1700 Sheppard Avenue East at Don Mills Road. The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) station was opened in 2002, and the Vivastation was opened on October 16, 2005.
Nearby landmarks include Fairview Mall and the Fairview district branch of the Toronto Public Library.
The station is adjacent to an exit from Highway 404; TTC bus route 139, Finch East Express, exploits this highway connection to provide an “express” bus route for Finch Avenue even though its terminus, Don Mills station, is almost 2 km away.
On a wall on the platform level, there is a small plaque commemorating John Marinzel, a worker who had died on April 18, 2001, during the construction of the station.
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[edit] Public art
The public art in the station, entitled before / after: 1997 / 2002 and created by Toronto artist Stephen Cruise, consists of tilework on walls, inlays on floors, and a piece of outdoors art:
- On the concourse level, the tilework on walls represents the geologic strata through which the line travels, plus graphical depictions of local flora and fauna.
- On the concourse and platform levels, bronze inlays in the floor depict fossils of fish, turtles, and leaves found on the site; the Sheppard line is also depicted in an abstract form on the floor.
- Outside the station is a tribute to a famous racehorse belonging to E.P. Taylor, whose stable (called the “Windfield Farm”) was on nearby Bayview.
[edit] The bus terminal
In addition to being a subway station, Don Mills station also serves as a bus terminal for both the Toronto Transit Commission and York Region Transit. Like most large TTC bus terminals, it is inside a fare-paid area, so bus passengers will need to enter Don Mills station to board most buses. As of 2005, Don Mills Station serves 10 TTC routes and two YRT routes:
- TTC 10 Van Horne
- TTC 24 Victoria Park
- TTC 25 Don Mills, both northbound and southbound
- TTC 85 Sheppard East, both eastbound and westbound
- TTC 139 Finch East [Express]
- TTC 167 Pharmacy North
- TTC 169 Huntingwood
- TTC 190 Scarborough Centre Rocket
- TTC 224 Victoria Park North
- YRT 90 Leslie South
- Viva Green
The bus terminal is underground, one level above the concourse level; it consists of a large outdoor waiting area serving as its bus platforms, with a relatively modest indoor waiting area. Because some of the bus platforms are far away from the indoor waiting area, it is impractical to wait outdoors for some routes due to the way TTC bus terminals work; unfortunately, because it is underground, the air quality on the bus platforms can be poor during busy hours. Stairs connect the indoor waiting area to a usually-unmanned pedestrian entrance/exit on the ground level just outside Fairview Mall.
This terminal is the southern terminus of the Viva Green bus rapid transit line. Two Viva ticket vending machines are located in the indoor waiting area and one machine is located outdoors, on the bus platform. During the first two weeks of Viva’s stage 2 launch, the indoor machines were staffed by one to two Viva personnel in the morning.
The Viva buses stop three times at Don Mills. First, they stop in front of the station entrance on Sheppard Avenue to offload all of their passengers, then, they enter the bus terminal to pick up passengers. This is to ensure that Viva riders do not access the TTC without paying a TTC fare, as the bus terminal is inside the station's fare paid zone. After this, they stop a third time, on northbound Don Mills Road, to pick up passengers who did not transfer from the subway or a TTC bus.
This Vivastation is considered a Viva terminal. Therefore, there are multiRide ticket vending machines available.
[edit] The multi-storey parking lot and the passenger drop-off facility
Above the bus terminal, on the street level, is a multi-storey public parking lot, providing 366 parking spaces for commuters. Access to this parking lot is by cash only; commuters cannot access this parking lot with the Metropass.
Outside the parking lot, right next to a manned pedestrian entrance to the station is a passenger pick-up area. It is not as elaborate as the “Kiss-n-Ride” passenger pick-up/drop-off area in Finch Station, but it still provides 18 temporary parking spaces—about the same as the Finch “Kiss-n-Ride”—for passenger pick-up and drop-off purposes.
[edit] Future plans
The TTC hopes in the future to extend the Sheppard line south-east from Don Mills to meet the Scarborough RT line at Scarborough Centre.
