Toronto Transit Commission Chester Station



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



Chester

Rapid Transit

Line 2 Bloor-Danforth

Surface Routes

300

Presto

Yes

Opening Date

February 26, 1966

Platform

Side

Ridership (2018)

5,800

Chester Station is a rapid transit station operated by the Toronto Transit Commission in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 22 Chester Avenue one block north of Danforth Avenue.

History

Chester Station opened with the original Bloor-Danforth subway line on February 26, 1966.

On September 2, 2020, Chester Station was declared the TTC's 48th accessible station in its rapid transit network with the opening of two new elevators ahead of schedule.

Station description

The main entrance is accessed by doors which open onto the west side of Chester Avenue. A secondary exit/entrance building, is located directly across from the main entrance building on the east side of the street. Inside the main entrance, there is the collector's booth and fare gates. No surface routes provide service into Chester Station, however, connection to 300 Bloor-Danforth buses can be made at the intersection of Chester Avenue and Danforth Avenue. Staircases and escalators lead directly down from station entrance level to the eastbound and westbound platforms. The subway platforms are of the typical Bloor-Danforth style featuring green wall tiles with a dark blue trim.

Just west of the station is a pocket track that can temporarily hold trains to fill service gaps. It is also used to store trains in the morning in order to ensure that service is evenly staggered during the beginning of service everyday.

Chester Station is not a busy station as it is not directly served by any surface routes. In addition, the main entrance is also very small compared to other stations, and because of this, the station is not designed to handle large crowds during subway closures.

Second exit

The TTC announced plans to add second exits to 14 high-priority subway stations on the Bloor-Danforth line as they were recommended after a fire safety audit due the stations only having one primary means of emergency access and egress. However, due to the controversy surrounding the consultation process for the second exit construction at Donlands and Greenwood Stations, the consultation process for future stations would unfold differently and has yet to be completed at Chester Station. Nevertheless, the community in the vicinity of Chester Station would be notified far in advance before construction plans were to be made.^[1] After numerous meetings with the community, the Local Working Group recommended the new second exit to be located at 29 Chester Avenue within the city-owned parking lot in December 2015.^[2] Shortly after, the Toronto Transit Commission board recommended this option to be the location of the new second exit.^[3]

In order to minimize the impact on passengers and the community, elevator installation from TTC's Easier Access program will be constructed at the same time as construction for the new second exit. In August 2018, construction on the new elevators was started and in September 2019, a section of the city-owned parking lot was closed for the construction of the new second exit building. Station improvements for Chester Station is expected to be complete in 2021.^[4]

On September 2, 2020, two elevators were completed ahead of schedule and put into operation making the station fully accessible. The secondary automatic exit/entrance at the station was later officially opened to the public on April 23, 2021.^[5]

Routes

Rapid Transit

Line 2 Bloor-Danforth

Surface Transit

300A,B Bloor-Danforth (Night Bus)

Schedule

Chester Station
Bloor-Danforth	Monday to Friday	Saturday	Sunday
First Train eastbound	6:10am	6:17am	8:32am
Last Train eastbound	2:00am	2:00am	2:00am
First Train westbound	5:54am	6:04am	8:02am
Last Train westbound	1:46am	1:46am	1:46am