| Downsview TTC Subway Station |
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| Address | 1035 Sheppard Avenue West Toronto, ON, Canada |
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| Structure | underground | |||||||||||||||
| Platforms | centre | |||||||||||||||
| Parking | 641 spaces | |||||||||||||||
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| Opened | 30 March 1996 | |||||||||||||||
| Accessible | ||||||||||||||||
| Presto card | Winter 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| Traffic | ||||||||||||||||
| Passengers (2009-10) | 31,600 | |||||||||||||||
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Downsview is a station of the Yonge–University–Spadina line of the Toronto subway and RT. It is located at the intersection of William R. Allen Road and Sheppard Avenue West. The station is currently the northern terminus of its western branch, the Spadina line. It is also a ‘Vivastation’ on the Orange line of York Region’s Viva bus rapid transit system. The TTC station opened in 1996 in what was then the City of North York, and the Vivastation opened on October 16, 2005. The station has a large (641 space) commuter parking lot, accessible via Allen Road and Sheppard Avenue, which opened in July 2005.
The TTC has proposed that Downsview Station's name be changed to "Sheppard West", while the future subway station north of Downsview would be named "Downsview Park". The name changes would take effect once the Spadina subway extension is completed.
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Downsview station was designed by Adamson Associates Architects (above grade buildings and mezzanine) and The Stevens Group Architects (below grade).[1] The subway platform lacks pillars and the ceiling is high and curved, evoking an aircraft hangar. High ceilings, skylights and an exceptionally large mezzanine make the station feel open and airy. Natural light reaches all areas of the station including the subway platform.
The station features two pieces of artwork. Sliding Pi is a large scale wall mosaic by Calgary artist Arlene Stamp. It can be viewed when traveling between the bus platform and the mezzanine level. Boney Bus by John McKinnon is located at the front of the station and consists of an abstract bus shape made from giant metal beams.
The subway platform is located underground east of Allen Road. The line continues south underground for 750 metres to cross to the west side of the road, after exiting at the Clayton Park Portal the line runs on the surface past Wilson Yard, the TTC’s newest subway yard, which opened in 1978. At this point Allen Road becomes an elevated expressway; the subway, using what were originally the yard access tracks, crosses under its southbound lanes and rises to the road's level.
Nearby landmarks include Downsview Park, which was the site of the World Youth Day Papal Visit in 2002 and the ‘SARSstock’ concert in 2003. It is the site of an airstrip formerly used as a military base (CFB Downsview), and by an aircraft manufacturer (DeHavilland), separating the station area from the original village of Downsview.
TTC routes serving the station include:
Downsview Station is served by the Orange line of York Region’s Viva bus rapid transit system. Service began on October 16, 2005.
Viva buses stop three times at Downsview. Buses offload all of their passengers at a stop outside station entrance before proceeding within 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 westbound Sheppard Avenue, 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.
Construction is currently underway on an extension of the Spadina line north from Downsview to York University and Steeles Avenue. The Government of Ontario has committed $670 million – one third of the expected cost – to extending the Spadina subway past Steeles to the proposed Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. Completion of the project is scheduled for 2015.
The TTC has proposed that Downsview be renamed Sheppard West with the opening of the Spadina extension, and that the proposed new Sheppard West station be named Downsview Park. This is because Downsview station is better identified as being on Sheppard Avenue, while Sheppard West (Downsview Park) is closer to the entrance of Downsview Park.[2]
The original plans for the Sheppard line called for it to connect with the Spadina line at Downsview, but when constructed in the late 1990s the line was halted after the first phase due to funding issues. After election in Fall 2010, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford indicated that completing the Sheppard line to its original route is his top transit priority[3]