Yorkdale station

Yorkdale is a subway station on Line 1 Yonge–University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the median of the William R. Allen Road just south of Highway 401. Opened in 1978, it is named after the nearby Yorkdale Shopping Centre to which it connects by an enclosed walkway.[2]

Yorkdale
General information
LocationYorkdale Road at Yorkdale Service Road, Yorkdale Shopping Centre,
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
Coordinates43°43′29″N 79°26′51″W
PlatformsCentre platform
Tracks2
Connections
  •  47  Landsdowne
  •  109  Ranee
Yorkdale Bus Terminal
Construction
Structure typeAt grade
Parking1,010
AccessibleYes
ArchitectArthur Erickson
Other information
WebsiteOfficial station page
History
Opened28 January 1978 (1978-01-28)
Passengers
2019[1]29,460
Rank33 of 75
Services
Preceding station Toronto Transit Commission Following station
Wilson
towards Vaughan
 Yonge–University Lawrence West
towards Finch
Location
Escalators to the platform from Ranee Avenue entrance

Connections to GO Transit and Ontario Northland intercity buses are available at Yorkdale Bus Terminal, immediately west of the station.

Entrances
  • Yorkdale Mall west entrance, next to Yorkdale Bus Terminal
  • Ranee Avenue and Allen Road, south entrance (unstaffed entrance)
  • Onramp to Highway 401 and Allen Road, north entrance

Architecture and art

Yorkdale was designed by Arthur Erickson.[3] The station is above ground, and also above street level. It has two tracks: northbound and southbound, and has a centre platform. A dramatic vaulted glass roof spans the length of the single centre platform. It terminates symmetrically at escalators and stairs at both ends of the platform, creating the appearance of a glass dome. The interior walls of the station at platform level are unfinished concrete, but artistically cast, and curve over the tracks to form the ceiling. The shape of the windows on these walls recalls the oval windows of subway trains. On the exterior, these concrete walls are clad with stainless steel.

Handrails on stairs leading to the platform are backlit. Platform shelters are unique to the station, designed in the oval shape which dominates many features in the station, with large windows. Like the centre pillars which hold X-shaped structural supports—distinctive in Toronto's rapid transit system to the station—they are clad in unpainted metal panels.

Yorkdale station won a Governor General's Award for Architecture in 1982.[4]

The station's glass roof originally featured an artwork by Michael Hayden—also responsible for the Sky's the Limit installation at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport—called Arc en ciel (French for "rainbow"). This piece consisted of a large number of mercury-vapour lamps painted in various colours that would light in a pattern, running along the station in the appropriate direction whenever a train went through. In the mid-1990s, it stopped working because of damaged transformers caused by water leakage.[5] Each transformer would have cost just $28 to repair at the time; however, because the TTC had not budgeted for its continued maintenance,[5] it was removed at the artist's request.

At a TTC meeting in September 2010, a deal was made for Oxford Properties, owner of Yorkdale Mall which connects to the station, to pay for the restoration of the installation.[5] The plan calls for the rebuilt piece to use LED lights, allowing for a broader range and customization of colours and patterns. Hayden requested that a maintenance contract be included, and for the piece installed by a Toronto-based company.[5] The cost of such a reinstallation was not known (the original installation cost $100,000)[6] until 13 July 2016, when it was revealed that the Oxford Properties would pay for much of the $500,000 cost to re-install the art installation, with some of the funds being from a pool dedicated to community improvements.[7]

History

In late 2013, the entrance at Ranee Avenue was altered: the south and north driveways were removed, and curb was added to run parallel with the support pillars. Buses no longer drop passengers off directly at the doors. This project was completed in conjunction with resurfacing of Ranee to remove asbestos and the future construction of residential buildings along Allen Road on the south side of Ranee.[8]

In January 2014, the parking structure connected to the subway, which could accommodate 1144 cars, was demolished for mall expansion.[9] Construction of a new parking structure was delayed to coincide with the opening of Nordstrom and eventually opened in February 2017, with 1,010 spaces.[10][11]

On 6 January 2019, this station discontinued sales of legacy TTC fare media (tokens and tickets), previously available at a fare collector booth. Presto vending machines were available to sell Presto cards and to load funds or a monthly Metropass onto them.[12][13]

On 5 April 2019, Lawrence West and Yorkdale stations became the first two locations to sell single-use Presto tickets, which are sold from the stations' Presto fare vending machines.[14]

Subway infrastructure in the vicinity

South of Yorkdale station, Allen Road descends into a shallow open cut below the surrounding ground level, and the subway descends with it until Eglinton West station. North of Yorkdale, the tracks remain elevated and cross Highway 401 to Wilson station.

Surface connections

Toronto Transit Commission
Main article: List of Toronto Transit Commission bus routes

A transfer is required to connect between the subway and surface bus routes.

TTC routes serving the station include:

Route Name Additional information
47B Lansdowne Southbound to Queen Street West via Bridgeland Avenue and Caledonia Road
47C Southbound to Queen Street West via Orfus Road and Caledonia Road
109B Ranee Northbound to Neptune Drive and southbound to Eglinton West station via Flemington Road and Marlee Avenue

Yorkdale station was used as the Transit Hub station in the film The Last Chase (1981) because of its futuristic look. The station also appears in both Scanners (1981) and Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1983).

References
  1. "Subway ridership, 2019" (PDF). Toronto Transit Commission. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2023. 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.
  2. Bradburn, Jamie (29 November 2011). "Vintage Toronto Ads: Yorkdale… Another Toronto Attraction". Torontoist. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2017. ride the new Spadina Subway line right into Yorkdale's ultra-modern station. Descend the glass-domed escalator or stairs... and you've arrived!
  3. "TOBuilt: Detailed Structure Information". Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  4. "Arthur Erickson". Arthur Erickson. Archived from the original on 5 May 2023. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  5. Derek Flack (4 November 2010). "Michael Hayden's Arc en ciel might return to Yorkdale Station". blogTO. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  6. Derek Flack (7 November 2010). "Sunday Supplement: Was John Tory conned out of the mayoral race?, pedestrian safety meets fashion disaster, Bloor Street open for business and memories of a Toronto igloo". blogTO. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  7. "A long lost piece of Toronto's public art set to shine again". Archived from the original on 13 July 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  8. "1-29 & 111-133 Bagot Court, 1-87 Bredonhill Court, 41-119 Varna Drive, 1-78 Cather Crescent, 1 Leila Lane, 1-11 & 15-45 Zachary Court and 215-251 Ranee Avenue-Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment, Rental Housing Demolition and Subdivision Applications -Final Report" (PDF). Toronto.ca. 18 October 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  9. "TTC Yorkdale Commuter Parking Lot To Close Temporarily". TTC. 5 November 2013. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  10. "Yorkdale Station". www.ttc.ca. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  11. "TTC parking lot at Yorkdale open for business after extensive renovations". Global News. 1 February 2017. Archived from the original on 9 April 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  12. "New Customer Service Agents at Yorkdale and Lawrence West stations". ttc.ca. Toronto Transit Commission. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  13. "Collector booths to close in favour of Customer Service Agents at TTC's Yorkdale and Lawrence West stations". ttc.ca. Toronto Transit Commission. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  14. "TTC extends sales of Presto Tickets to 10 stations". Toronto Transit Commission. 6 May 2019. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
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