Bloor-Yonge (TTC)

Bloor - Yonge

Entrance from Hudson's Bay Centre, probably the most frequently used doorway to the station
Location 20 Bloor Street East,
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
Coordinates 43°40′16″N 79°23′09″W / 43.67111°N 79.38583°WCoordinates: 43°40′16″N 79°23′09″W / 43.67111°N 79.38583°W
Owned by Toronto Transit Commission
Platforms 2 side platforms (YU Line)
1 centre platform (BD Line)
Tracks 4 (2 on each level)
Connections TTC buses
Construction
Structure type underground
Platform levels 2
Disabled access Yes
Architect Charles B. Dolphin
History
Opened 30 March 1954 (YU Line)
25 February 1966 (BD Line)
Traffic
Passengers (2012-13[1]) 211,280 (Line 1 YU)
189,970 (Line 2 BD)
401,250 Total[a]
Ranked 1st of 69
Services
Preceding station   TTC   Following station
toward Downsview
 Yonge–University
toward Finch
toward Kipling
 Bloor–Danforth
toward Kennedy

Bloor-Yonge is a subway station on Line 1 (Yonge–University) and Line 2 (Bloor–Danforth) in Toronto, Canada. It is located near the intersection of Yonge Street and Bloor Street. Due to its key location as a subway transfer point and serving a very high-density area, Bloor-Yonge is by far the busiest subway station in Toronto, with a combined total of 401,250 customer trips per day.[a] Wi-fi service is available at this station.[2]

History

The station was opened in 1954 and designed by Charles B. Dolphin.[3] It was originally named "Bloor", and connected with a pair of enclosed platforms in the centre of Bloor Street to allow interchange with Bloor streetcars within the fare-paid zone. When the streetcars were replaced with the Bloor-Danforth subway in 1966, the station began to be shown on maps as "Bloor-Yonge". However, actual platform signs still show "Bloor" on the Yonge-University line and "Yonge" on the Bloor-Danforth line, following a naming style common in New York subway station complexes, where only the platform's cross street is shown on the platform signs. (Some maps over the years also showed the station with two names "Bloor" and "Yonge", although the style "Bloor-Yonge" is now in use again; both are retronyms of Bloor Station.)

Similarly, the automated station announcement system installed in 2007–08 refers to the station as "Bloor" on Line 1 and "Yonge" on Line 2 respectively. The new Toronto Rocket subway trains, which operate on Line 1 uses a new computer generated stop announcement system, on which it refers to the station as "Bloor-Yonge" with a secondary announcement "this station connects with the Bloor-Danforth Subway". It is the only TTC station named in this way; all other interchanges share the same name for both lines, including Sheppard-Yonge.

The station used to feature a small retail concourse along the corridor leading from the entrance at the south side of Bloor Street. This concourse was closed and disappeared during the construction of the office building at 33 Bloor Street East in the late 1980s.

Due to its congestion, the TTC has had to expand the station. In 1992, it took advantage of building construction over the Yonge-University portion of the station to open it out and widen the platforms. This was the first stage of a plan, known as the Spanish solution, to enable trains to open their doors on both sides: the tracks would next have been slewed outwards within the widened station, and a central platform built between them. The TTC does not intend to proceed with that plan.

In 1996, this station became accessible with elevators as one of the TTC's first accessible stations.[4]

The TTC experimented with crowd control measures on the southbound platform of the Yonge-University level on November 24, 2009 and made these permanent as they allowed for improved passenger flow by discouraging crowding near the stairs leading to the Bloor-Danforth level. These measures also reduced dwell times by a few seconds, such that a few more trains can enter the station during rush hour without building additional capacity.[5][6]

As of March 2014, a trial for new numerical signage referring to the subway routes such as Line 1 for the Yonge line and Line 2 for the Bloor line were phased in on signs and maps at the station.[7][8]

Subway infrastructure in the vicinity

North of the station the Yonge–University line crosses under Church Street in a tunnel then emerges to the surface at the Ellis Portal,[9] continuing in an open cut through Rosedale Station. South to Wellesley Station, the line was constructed by cut and cover, with the surface areas now occupied by a Toronto Parking Authority multi-storey garage at Charles Street and the City of Toronto maintained George Hislop Park, Norman Jewison Park and James Canning Gardens south of that.

The east-west Bloor-Danforth centre platform was constructed under the existing north-south Yonge-University side platforms and at that time they were connected by stairs and escalators and have subsequently been made fully accessible by elevator.[10]

Between Yonge and Sherbourne Station to the east, the Bloor-Danforth line crosses to the south side of Bloor Street in a 2,250 feet (690 m) long section of bored tunnel,[11] rather than the shallow cut and cover method used to construct most of the line. Cumberland Terrace, a two storey shopping centre, has been built over the right-of-way west of Yonge Street to Bay Street.

Nearby landmarks

Nearby landmarks include the Toronto Reference Library, the Hudson's Bay Company's The Bay Uptown department store located in the Hudson Bay Centre at 2 Bloor Street East, and 2 Bloor Street West.

Surface connections

A paper transfer is required to connect to surface routes:

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ "Subway ridership, 2012-2013" (PDF). Toronto Transit Commission. This table shows the typical number of customer-trips made on each subway on an average weekday and the typical number of customers travelling to and from each station platform on an average weekday. Five stations serve two subways, and so are listed twice, once for each subway
  2. ↑ "Wi-fi Now Available At". TCONNECT. Retrieved January 2015. Each of the 65 underground stations will have wireless and Wi-Fi service by 2017
  3. ↑ http://archindont.torontopubliclibrary.ca/ArchindontWeb/buildingType.do?type=Subway+Stations&typeID=112
  4. ↑ "Milestones". About the TTC. Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved December 2014. 1996: Downsview Station, Bloor-Yonge Station, and Union Station become the first accessible subway stations.
  5. ↑ Kalinowski, Tess (7 December 2009). "TTC crowd control now permanent". Toronto Star. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  6. ↑ Munro, Steve (27 November 2009). "The Bloor-Yonge Platform Experiment". Archived from the original on 2015-03-04. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  7. ↑ "New Wayfinding Standards" (PDF). Toronto Transit Commission. October 2013. Retrieved March 2014. Pilot study – Bloor-Yonge & St. George Stations
  8. ↑ "New Subway Station Signage on the TTC". TTC. Mar 3, 2014. Retrieved March 2014. The Toronto Transit Commission launched a trial for new signage at Bloor-Yonge Station as part of its efforts to improve and ease navigation of the subway system and its stations
  9. ↑ http://www3.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/History/cavalcade_of_progress.jsp
  10. ↑ Bloor-Yonge: Accessible Alternatives
  11. ↑ James Bow. "A History of Subways on Bloor and Queen Streets". Transit Toronto. Retrieved May 2012.

a. ^ Figure derived from adding the ridership of Bloor and Yonge platforms; therefore a passenger transferring from Bloor to Yonge or vice versa will be counted twice.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bloor-Yonge Station.