Toronto Transit Commission Bloor-Yonge Station
Southbound to Union | Bloor | Northbound to Finch | ||
Next Station: Wellesley | Next Station: Rosedale |
Westbound to Kipling | Yonge | Eastbound to Kennedy | ||
Next Station: Bay | Next Station: Sherbourne |
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Rapid Transit | Line 1 Yonge-University Line 2 Bloor-Danforth | ||||||||||
Surface Routes | 97, 300, 320 | ||||||||||
Presto | Yes | ||||||||||
Opening Date | March 30, 1954 | ||||||||||
Platform | Side (Line 1) Centre (Line 2) | ||||||||||
Ridership (2018) | 216,189 (Line 1) 183,238 (Line 2) |
Bloor-Yonge Station is a rapid transit station operated by the Toronto Transit Commission in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 20 Bloor Street East, just east of the intersection of Bloor Street and Yonge Street.
Station description
The main entrance is located inside the Hudson's Bay Centre. Doors lead to the collector's booths, and then the path splits into two, both turning 180 degrees around and turn into staircases containing an elevator that leads down to the Line 1 platforms. The west side leads to the southbound platform and the east side leads to the northbound platform.
Bloor Station has two side platforms. The walls were originally done in Primrose (yellow) Vitrolite tiling with blue trim. A renovation project (see History) widened the platforms extensively and put large sliver columns near the back of the platforms. The walls were redone in white and teal textured ceramic tiles and the floor received off-white and dark green tiles. On each side, at the north end, are alcoves containing staircases that leads down to Yonge Station and connects to Line 2 as well as newspaper stands. The east alcove also contains an elevator that heads down to the platforms. At the south end of both platforms, there are stairs and an elevator to the south entrance, leading to Yonge Street south of Bloor Street. Directly north of the station is a double crossover and the Ellis Avenue Portal. Trains exit the tunnel and head outside, the first time since Eglinton West Station.
Yonge Station has one centre platform. The colour scheme was made to match the original colour scheme of Bloor Station using the ceramic tiles that the Bloor-Danforth line used instead. The platform has many staircases and escalators that head up to Bloor Station as well as to the east entrance, which leads to the Bloor Street entrance. Elevators bring passengers up to both the northbound Yonge platform as well as the east entrance. Directly west of the station, the tracks split or merge, with one set heading up to Bay and another to Lower Bay. The upper level is used for Bloor-Danforth trains; the lower level is used to transfer trains between Line 1 and Line 2. This was part of the wye, which was used during the interline testing done for 6 short months when the Bloor-Danforth subway first opened in 1966.
History
Bloor Station was built and opened with the original Yonge subway in 1954. It featured a connection with the Bloor streetcar line inside the fare-paid area. Streetcars stopped on Bloor Street East inside two islands (which were long enough for two 2-car trains each) which had stairwells down to the subway platforms. Bedford Loop (located on the site of the future St. George station) helped to store cars for crowding as well as turning cars back east.
When the Bloor-Danforth subway opened, the streetcar islands were demolished and the alcoves and stairwells were made into the new platform below. The Toronto Transit Commission decided to name each platform separately from each other and the station name was hyphenated when entering from street level. This is the only station in the subway system to have individual names for each platform. Other transfer stations have a common name for both platforms that do not share the line names such St. George and Kennedy Stations or hyphenated names for both platforms such as Sheppard-Yonge.
With the abandonment of interlined subway operation, Bloor-Yonge became a very busy transfer point, something it was not designed for. Crowding became such an issue to a point where a Downtown Relief Line running between Pape Station and downtown (either King Station, Queen Station, or Union Station) had to be considered. Building construction above the Bloor platforms allowed renovations to be done and involved closing the station for 6 months to expand the platforms further back as an interim measure. The roof was also strengthened, allowing the columns in the middle to be eliminated. The new Ontario Line, which is scheduled to begin construction in 2023 and be completed in 2031, will help introduce new transfer options for customers travelling downtown and relieve the crowds at Bloor-Yonge.
Bloor-Yonge Capacity Improvements
Bloor-Yonge Station will undergo a significant expansion and be redesigned to help mitigate overcrowding at choke points within the station and on the existing Line 2 centre platform, and to accommodate future ridership resulting from the future Yonge North Subway Extension. On April 15, 2016, AECOM Canada Ltd. was awarded the contract to conduct preliminary design works. The total project cost of the Bloor-Yonge Capacity Improvement Project is estimated to cost $1.514 billion, which will be funded equally by the City, Province, and Federal governments.[1]
The main highlights of the station capacity improvements include expanding the floor area of the Line 1 northbound and southbound platforms, the addition of a second platform for Line 2 eastbound trains, new escalators, stairs, and elevators to improve passenger flow between the Line 1 and Line 2 platforms, a new ventilation system which will be located adjacent to the existing Asquith electrical substation, a new street-level entrance at 81 Bloor Street East and electrical substation at 40-42 Hayden Street, and new public art and station finishes.[2]
Routes
Rapid Transit
Surface Transit
- 97B,C Yonge
- 300A,B Bloor-Danforth Night Bus
- 320 Yonge Night Bus
Schedule
References
- ↑ Bloor-Yonge Capacity Improvements – Early Works Property Acquisition Authorization. Toronto Transit Commission, 22 October 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
- ↑ Bloor-Yonge Station Capacity Improvements, Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved 14 May 2023.