Sheppard–Yonge (TTC)

Sheppard-Yonge
Location 20 Sheppard Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
Coordinates 43°45′41″N 79°24′39″W / 43.76139°N 79.41083°WCoordinates: 43°45′41″N 79°24′39″W / 43.76139°N 79.41083°W
Platforms 1 centre platform (Y-U line)
2 side platforms (Sheppard line)
Tracks 4 (2 on each level)
Connections TTC buses
Construction
Structure type underground
Platform levels 2
Disabled access Yes
History
Opened 29 March 1974 (Y-U line)
24 November 2002 (Sheppard)
Previous names Sheppard
Traffic
Passengers (2012-13[1]) 76,420 (Y-U line)
47,930 (Sheppard line)
124,350 Total
Ranked 3rd of 69
Services
Preceding station   TTC   Following station
toward Downsview
 Yonge–University
toward Finch
Terminus Sheppard
toward Don Mills

Sheppard-Yonge is a subway station on the Yonge-University and Sheppard lines in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the third-busiest station in the system, after Bloor-Yonge, and St. George, serving a combined total of approximately 124,350 people per day.

History

Sheppard Station opened in 1974, in what was then known as the Borough of North York.

The subway extension from Eglinton to Finch was planned to open in two stages with Sheppard as the temporary terminus, but construction north of York Mills was delayed by various problems and in 1973, York Mills was opened as the temporary terminus instead; Sheppard Station then opened together with Finch in 1974. The H-2 class subway cars delivered in 1971 included destination signs for "Sheppard via downtown" on the expectation that it would be a terminal station.

The station was expanded and renamed "Sheppard-Yonge" in 2002 with the opening of the Sheppard subway line, for which this station became the western terminus. The renaming was similar to that of Bloor-Yonge Station. Unlike Bloor-Yonge, where the signs on the Yonge line platforms still read "Bloor" and those on the Bloor line read "Yonge", Sheppard-Yonge is given its full name on both sets of platforms; all existing signs within the station were changed to give the new name. At that time, this station became accessible with elevators.

Destination signs on Sheppard line trains have shown the station both as "Sheppard-Yonge" and as "Yonge Street". When the Voice Automation System was added onto Toronto's subway trains, the stop announcements on Line 1 (Yonge) referred to the station as "Sheppard" and the announcements on Line 4 (Sheppard) referred to the station as "Sheppard-Yonge". The new Toronto Rocket subway trains, which use a new computer generated stop announcement system refer to the station as "Sheppard-Yonge" and play a secondary announcement: "This station connects with the Sheppard Subway."

Station description

The station is located under Yonge Street at Sheppard Avenue, and is built on five levels. All seven entrances are located at street level,[2] as well as the bus platform. The three levels below are concourse levels, which provide access to the bus platform and the two subway lines. The subway platforms are on the two lower levels, with the Yonge–University line on the bottom and the newer Sheppard line crossing above.[2]

There are two accessible entrances, one on the east side of Yonge Street beside the Sheppard Centre and the other by a private elevator from the Nestle Canada Building at 25 Sheppard Avenue West. Other entrances with automatic turnstiles are from Sheppard Avenue West, Beecroft Road, Harlandale Avenue and one on the southeast corner of Sheppard Avenue and Yonge Street. There is also an unmanned entrance to the south end of the Yonge–University platform with stairs on both sides of Yonge Street at Poyntz Road.[2]

A Gateway Newstands is the only tenant located inside of the station. A Cinnabon was once located in the concourse and on the Sheppard subway platform, the retail space has not been claimed since.

Architecture and art

Spiegel's Immersion Land

The station on the Sheppard line was designed by architectural firm NORR Limited. The construction of the Sheppard line included the integration of the bus terminal at street level into the fare-paid zone.

The artwork in the station, entitled Immersion Land and created by the artist Stacey Spiegel, consists of panoramic posterized murals created from 150 digital photos rendered onto single-colour mosaic tiles. The artwork depicts rural scenery along Yonge Street somewhere between Lake Ontario and North Bay, and is located on the upper (Sheppard line) platform level.

Subway infrastructure in the vicinity

The roughed-in centre platform to be potentially used as a Spanish solution

A connecting track from the southbound Yonge-University line, used only if cars or work equipment need to be transferred between the two lines, curves around to a point 500 metres west of Yonge, where the Sheppard line tunnel actually begins. This provides an area where trains can be stored clear of the line.

In the station, the Sheppard line tracks cross above the Yonge line. The Sheppard line station has platforms on the outer sides of the tracks, but there is also a roughed-in centre platform. Should the station become a busy transport hub, this platform will be opened and trains will open all their doors, allowing riders to enter on one side and exit on the other to improve efficiency.

Trains normally pull into the southern platform to load and discharge passengers, before returning in the direction from which they came; the northern platform is used only by trains which are going out of service and so must discharge their passengers without allowing more aboard.

Just east of the station, the Sheppard line converges with a second junction track from the northbound Yonge-University line.

Surface connections

84C to Steeles Avenue via Downsview station and Arrow Road
84D to Steeles Avenue via Downsview station and Oakdale Road
85J Sheppard East to Don Mills Station
98B eastbound to Steeles Avenue via Willowdale Avenue
98C westbound to Peckham Avenue via Willowdale Avenue; eastbound to Steeles Avenue via Senlac Road

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. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "TTC Sheppard-Yonge Station". Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved 13 July 2014.

External links

Media related to Sheppard-Yonge Station at Wikimedia Commons