York University station


York University is a subway station on Line 1 Yonge–University of the Toronto subway. It is located on the main Keele Campus of York University, near Ian Macdonald and York Boulevards. The station opened on December 17, 2017.

History

The official groundbreaking ceremony for the Toronto–York Spadina Subway Extension was held on November 27, 2009; however, tunnelling operations did not commence until June 2011. The project was initially expected to be completed by the spring of 2015 but was pushed later to the autumn of 2016, it was announced on September 5, 2017, that the station would open officially on December 17, 2017.
The first stage of construction for the station began in May 2011. On October 11, 2011, one of the geostructural drilling rigs on site collapsed and killed Kyle Knox, an operator working for a contractor on the project, Anchor Shoring. The incident injured five other workers.
More than 1,400 Toronto Transit Commission buses served the campus every weekday at the York University Bus Loop, in addition to hundreds more from other services including GO Transit, York Region Transit / Viva, Brampton Transit's Züm, and Greyhound. The arrival of the subway resulted in a reduced number of buses entering campus as the 196 York University Rocket bus route was eliminated and other routes such as the 195 Jane Rocket and 199B Finch Rocket were altered to service Pioneer Village station and Finch West station instead, leaving only the 41 Keele and 106 Sentinel routes servicing the university's grounds directly. Züm buses still service the campus directly.
This station, along with the five other TYSSE stations, were the first to be opened without collector booths. It was also among the first eight stations to discontinue sales of legacy TTC fare media. Presto vending machines were available to sell Presto cards and to load funds onto them. On May 3, 2019, this station became one of the first ten stations to sell Presto tickets via Presto vending machines.

Description

The station lies at the east end the Harry W. Arthurs Common on the west side of Ian MacDonald Boulevard. The university's main buildings lie to the west; Seneca College's York campus is found to the south, and the Aviva Centre to the west. The station was built underground, lying on a northwest-southeast axis. The line approaches from Finch West station along Keele Street, then bends towards the northwest to meet the station.
Engineering Consultants Arup and Architecture firm Foster+Partners designed the station, which has a boomerang shape with entrances at the north and south ends of the structure. The north entrance contains stairs and escalators down to the concourse level and then more stairs to the fare gates. Besides stairs, the south entrance provides a barrier-free route consisting of an elevator to the concourse level plus a ramp to the fare gates. Natural light flows through the concourse down to the platform level. The station has a metal cool roof to reflect heat from sun rays. Jason Bruges Studio provided the station artwork titled "Piston Effect" consisting of a series of glass panels on the west walls at concourse and above the northbound trainway. Behind the panels are liquid crystal displays that detect the passage of a train and then produce a lighting display in various tones of black and white.
The fare-paid area features a Gateway Newstands kiosk.

Surface connections

Toronto Transit Commission

Direct bus connections to the subway have been moved to Pioneer Village station and Finch West station to reduce bus congestion on campus, and there is no attached bus terminal at the station. Transfers are required to connect to surface routes on-street:
RouteNameAdditional Information
41KeeleNorthbound to Pioneer Village station and southbound to Keele station
335JaneBlue Night service, southbound to Jane station
341KeeleBlue Night service, southbound to Keele station
353SteelesBlue Night service, eastbound to Staines Road

Regional transit

In 2018, all YRT bus services were moved to Pioneer Village station, and in 2019, GO Transit relocated its services to Highway 407 station.
A memorandum of understanding between the TTC and YRT stated: "Upon commencement of revenue services operations of the , York Region agrees not to operate or permit the operation of public transit services directly onto the York University campus." However, this assumed the elimination of the double fare for those riding a YRT bus to, Highway 407, or Pioneer Village stations and continuing by subway to York University. The plan was to use a third party technology system to reimburse one of the two fares; though such a solution has not yet been implemented. However, despite the continuing lack of fare integration, YRT stopped serving the campus after September 1, 2018, forcing passengers to walk from the Pioneer Village Terminal or pay a TTC fare to take the subway one stop to reach it.
On January 7, 2019, GO Transit also ended service to the station, with buses connecting to the more distant Highway 407 station. Between January 2018 and March 2020, there was a $1.50 fare discount for GO Transit riders paying with Presto, transferring to or from the subway.

Brampton Transit (Züm)

Two branches of the Züm Queen bus route serve the station from the now mostly-vacant regional bus loading area on Ian Macdonald Boulevard, about 200 metres north of the station entrance. It is now the sole non-TTC route serving the station and campus.
RouteNameAdditional Information
501AZüm QueenWestbound to Downtown Brampton Terminal
501CZüm QueenWestbound to Bramalea Terminal