Toronto Transit Commission Pape Station



Westbound to Kipling	Pape	Eastbound to Kennedy
Next Station: Chester		Next Station: Donlands



Pape

Rapid Transit

Line 2 Bloor-Danforth

Surface Routes

25, 72, 81, 925

Presto

Yes

Opening Date

February 26, 1966

Platform

Side

Ridership (2018)

27,079

Pape Station is a rapid transit station and bus terminal operated by the Toronto Transit Commission in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 650 Danforth Avenue, although the on-street location of the station is at the intersection of Pape Avenue and Lipton Street, one block north of Danforth Avenue.

Station description

The entrance is located at the south-west corner of the property right at the intersection of Pape and Lipton. The entrance building consists of a collector's booth and fare gates. Five etched artwork images in granite and a panel describing the art concept is to be installed near the entrance.

Beyond the fare line are stairs and an escalator which lead down to the concourse. The concourse connects the eastbound and westbound subway platforms to the entrance and bus terminal. The glass and stainless steel balustrades will feature three etched glass art images.

Beyond the fare line and concourse stairs is in indoor waiting area for bus passengers. A paved walkway connects passengers to the bus platforms outside. The bus roadway wraps around the north-eastern edge of the bus terminal and buses exit onto Lipton Avenue. Pape Station is served by four bus routes.

Pape Station features side subway platforms, which are typical of stations on Line 2 Bloor-Danforth.

The walls of the entrance and bus terminal are finished in dark grey porcelain tiles. Walls at platform level are finished in light cream coloured tiles with a medium blue accent strip and the station name. Abstract artwork titled "Source/Derivations" by Allan Harding MacKay, comprising of 112 digitally manipulated images of the station pre-modernization and surrounding area, are integrated into the walls at various locations throughout walls of the subway platforms ^[1]

History

Even before the opening of the Bloor-Danforth subway and Pape Station in 1966, the area where the station currently exists had an important part of transit history. Harbord streetcars went up Pape Avenue to Danforth Avenue where they used the station grounds to loop at Lipton Loop. However, the Harbord car was not going to operate after the station opening, so tracks were not laid in the station loop. It is unknown how the Harbord car looped with the closure of Lipton loop.

A plan for the Downtown Relief line used Pape as a starting point. It would head down to either King or Queen streets to Union Station. This would have made Pape an important and busy connection point, with passengers from Scarborough and East York using the station to transfer between the subway lines. The plans languished and eventually faded from all maps. This was partly due to improvements made to Bloor-Yonge station, and by governments favouring to extend subways into the voter-rich suburbs.

The Downtown Relief Line came back in a way, however, when Transit City was announced. The Don Mills LRT line would terminate somewhere along the Bloor-Danforth subway. Pape was one of the more popular options because it allowed the LRT to pass through the heavily populated Thorncliffe Park area. In addition, the current alignment of the 25 Don Mills bus led directly to Pape Station. Studies are currently underway to see if the Leaside Bridge, which spans over the Don Valley, is strong enough to support a LRT line. If it is viable, Pape will be the main terminus choice for the Don Mills LRT. As well, any alignment of the Don Mills LRT will likely permit it to be extended south and west to Downtown Toronto, becoming the long-lost Downtown Relief line in a new form.

Moderization

Preliminary modernization work in 2008 included painting a portion of the ceiling.

In 2008, it was announced that Pape Station will be the first station to undergo work in the Station Modernization Program. Pape Station was selected because of its current condition and because other work was planned at the station. The modernization plans included a new entrance or "second-exit" at the east end of both subway platforms to comply with new fire standards, elevators to make the station accessible, wider corridors and improved signage to make the station more passenger-friendly, and updating the exterior and interior of the station.^[2]

The plan also called for the redesigning of the bus terminal. The original crescent shaped bus terminal had southbound buses (route 72) operate inside the curve and the northbound buses (routes 25 and 81) outside the curve. Prior to the modernization, passengers had the option to exit the station building and cross the inside bus roadway in order to access the bus platforms. This crossing was eliminated and the inner bus roadway was paved over with the modernization to create an open outdoor waiting area and passengers can now wait inside the expanded station building for buses. Also, the main station building was extended over the former inner bus roadway to include the glassed-in waiting area that used to be located between the inner and outer station loops.

Original wall tiles.

The Bloor-Danforth subway line had a wall colour scheme that cycled along the line. At Pape Station, the two colours used were yellow for the walls with green trim along the top at platform level. The station name and some other signage engraved in the wall were painted to match the trim, and the station name engraved in the trim was painted to match the wall. The TTC has done away with this colour scheme during the modernization. The original platform level wall tiles were removed in 2012.

Construction began in the fall of 2009 and was expected to be complete in 2012. However, labour disputes, structural problems, and contaminated soil had impacted the timeline. In an effort to expedite the work, the TTC suggested closing the station for a number of days in 2013. The TTC polled riders and it was decided that the station will be closed from August 19-31, 2013. The project was completed at the end of 2013.

Routes

Rapid Transit

Line 2 Bloor-Danforth

Surface Transit

Schedule

Pape Station
Bloor-Danforth	Monday to Friday	Saturday	Sunday
First Train eastbound	6:11am	6:18am	8:33am
Last Train eastbound	2:01am	2:01am	2:01am
First Train westbound	5:53am	6:03am	8:00am
Last Train westbound	1:45am	1:45am	1:45am