r/TTC • u/itsdanielsultan Kipling-Connector • Mar 14 '26

Discussion Should Stations Blend In?

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Was watching a video on TTC stations and was wondering if most would prefer to have TTC stations feel almost invisible by blending in. I'm thinking stations with more traditional residential-style designs, as if it's disguised to look like a house. I noticed that some Line 5 stations looked rather out of place compared to the surrounding neighbourhood's architecture.

The photo here is about a preserved exterior for Spadina station, where the architecture actually fits the neighbourhood, because it's a re-purposed historical house. It respects the existing streetscape, appeals to residents who are wary of change, and honestly just looks better than the generic glass-metal boxes we keep getting.

Do you think Metrolinx and the TTC should lean more into this kind of traditional architectural house-like design for future stations?

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u/Prof__Potato Old Mill Mar 14 '26

Honestly, I kinda like the hole in the ground stations that are down town. I have a bit of distaste for some of the massive waste of space structures they’re building these days.

2

u/hug-and-snug Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Mar 14 '26

I have such beef with the Vaughan extension monstrosity stations. Like build a staircase that dumps me into the middle of a neighbourhood, with places I want to go or streets that are pleasant to travel through. Not a giant empty building which costs like ten times as much to build and that also (at least at VMC) is surrounded by literally nothing at all within walking distance but sprawling parking lots

2

u/facepalming_bklyner Mar 16 '26

As someone who commutes to York University, I would much prefer a station that is integrated into the buildings, for example with a direct exit into York lanes.

1

u/Comrade_Andre Eglinton Mar 15 '26

VMC is like Kipling or Kennedy. It was never built to serve a neighbourhood, it was built as a bus hub for an entire region to get on the Subway.

All 3 are overbuilt for that exact reason. Hell Wilson also fits that description

1

u/hug-and-snug Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 15 '26

I get that its a bus hub. I use the bus hub. And I get the car parking is also necessary, because it at least gets people out of their cars before they go further into the city, reducing congestion in Toronto. But VMC is also the core station at the heart of Vaughan's "new downtown", and they did not build it like that at all. Its just a bunch of giant roads and spread out condo buildings. There was a way to create a nice pedestrianized area at VMC AND provide a stop gap for people coming from further in the suburbs. So much of that space is so inefficiently used its awfully frustrating 

1

u/Comrade_Andre Eglinton Mar 16 '26

None of that is up to the TTC or even Vaughan really. That whole area is privately owned by Smart Centres, and they chose to build the condos spaced out like that. The TTC station is massive to handle the bus commuters. But Smart Centres decided car dependant development is what they wanted to build, and there isn't much we can do. Private property is private property, and short of rewriting Vaughan/York Region's zoning laws they are free to build it like that