| Queens Quay TTC Streetcar Station |
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|---|---|
Station platforms looking south, with the pedestrian crossing visible at the far end |
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| Station statistics | |
| Address | 10 Bay Street |
| Lines | |
| Structure | underground |
| Platforms | side |
| Other information | |
| Opened | 22 June 1990 |
Queens Quay[a] is an underground streetcar station of the Toronto streetcar system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the only underground streetcar station that is not part of or connected to a Toronto subway station (Union, Spadina, and St. Clair West subway stations have underground stations for streetcars as well). It was opened in 1990 as part of the former Harbourfront LRT route. Located in a streetcar tunnel, the station is now served by the 509 Harbourfront and 510 Spadina routes.
The station is named after Queen's Quay, an adjacent street skirting Toronto's waterfront. The station's internal signage bears the subtitle "Ferry Docks", a reference to the nearby terminal for the Toronto Island Ferry that provides pedestrian access to the Toronto Islands.
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Queens Quay is a unique station in Toronto because it is served by streetcars rather than subways. It is the only station to have a pedestrian crossing between platforms at track level, as there is no electrified rail to contend with. Streetcars crossing the pedestrian walkway must stop and sound their gong before proceeding; Union-bound streetcars stop immediately after rounding a sharp curve, ring their gong, and proceed into the stopping zone to load and unload passengers. Exhibition- and Spadina-bound streetcars enter the station, load and unload passengers, ring their gong, then proceed out of the station.
Queens Quay is also the only station in Toronto that does not have any employee washrooms or an employee lunchroom, as there is no collector on duty at the station. The streetcar platform is not in a fare-paid zone, so passengers boarding pay their fare on board the streetcar.
North of this station, the lines enter an underground loop at Union TTC station, below Union Station, the city's main railway station; to the south, they emerge from the tunnel onto Queen's Quay, where they run west in a dedicated right-of-way as far as Spadina Avenue, where the two routes diverge; the 509 continues west to Exhibition Place, while the 510 turns north towards Spadina TTC station.
^ Although the eponymous street is variably spelled both with and without the possessive apostrophe in "Queen's", all TTC signage omits one. The station's name is sometimes erroneously referred to as "Queens Quay–Ferry Docks"; the "Ferry Docks" reference, however, is roughly akin to how "Yorkville" is appended onto signage at Bay station. [1][2]