Can a transit system foster love for a city? Torontonians may scoff, but Londoners will nod. The underground—better known as the Tube—is often cited as a reason why so many Londoners take pride in their city.
One trait of the Tube—and possibly something that Toronto can learn from—is the way in which stations are named after the city’s neighbourhoods and landmarks. A journey where you board at Notting Hill, travel past Marble Arch and St. Paul's, change trains at Bank, and alight at London Bridge provides a series of reminders about the city's rich history and diversity.
Consider also the names of the Tube lines. "Jubilee" and "Victoria" allude to the country's fixation with royalty, "District" and "Metropolitan" suggest the city's vastness (and not coincidentally are the names of two historic transit operators), while "Bakerloo" is a neologism for the line connecting Baker Street, of Sherlock Holmes fame, with Waterloo, the major southern rail terminus.
Contrast that to riding Toronto transit. You'd never know that you were passing by the Annex, Swansea, or Riverdale—though curiously you're reminded about Rosedale—or that you were near City Hall or Yonge-Dundas Square. There are some welcome exceptions, clustered mostly between Museum and St. Andrew, but they're scarce. At best, this deprives us from some local colour. At worst, this keeps us ignorant about other neighbourhoods: why care about Bloordale Village or Crescent Town if you don't know where they are?
Renaming existing stations may be too expensive (though it's fun to speculate on what could have been, as visitors to Steve Munro's excellent website did so last year), but why not embrace the celebratory and colourful from here on? Expand the Spadina line north to "Elia" and "Black Creek" stations rather than "Finch West" and "Steeles West," spare us all from the "Vaughan Corporate Centre Station," and let's start brainstorming about station names for those new transit lines along Eglinton, Jane, and the waterfront.
As for the subway lines, renaming them would be relatively straightforward and could even serve as an attention-grabbing way of moving Transit City forward. "Sheppard" is concise if dull, "Bloor-Danforth" is barely acceptable, and "Yonge-University-Spadina" is several syllables too long and, if we're going to be picky, geographically incomplete to boot. What names would you propose?
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Sorry, but I actually think we should keep the names as straightforward as possible.
Exotic names may seem superficially nice, but we have a lot of travellers coming to the city who have a hard enough time figuring out what's going on with our admittedly meagre underground network.
Case in point, Summerhill station, which no longer terminates at Summerhill Ave. That's actually one instance where they could've changed the name to be more user-friendly.
In any case, knowing what we know about the TTC, there's no chance they'll do any renaming anytime soon. Nice thought about increasing civic pride, but let's face it: most of the you've mentioned don't really have that much distinction other than a cutesy name, am I right?
I agree when it comes to naming stations ____ West or ____ East, another naming scheme is needed.
In Seoul, 8 of the 11 subways lines (no no, you read that right) only go by colour/number. For example the nearest station is Shinchon (신촌), on Line 2 (2호선) or the Green Line. (There are so many stations they also have station numbers. Shinchon is #240.)
Toronto has so few lines I'm not even sure they need names. I just wish the new plans included more subways downtown, or within spitting distance.
At worst, this keeps us ignorant about other neighbourhoods: why care about Bloordale Village or Crescent Town if you don't know where they are?
If people are ignorant of other neighbourhoods, it can hardly be blamed on the TTC. And expecting more location-oriented names to spur people to learn abut their city is pretty ridiculous.
And expecting more location-oriented names to spur people to learn abut their city is pretty ridiculous.
Really? "Museum" and "Downsview" mean more than "Charles" and "Sheppard West"...
But seriously - have you seen people on the Subway trying to figure out if they are supposed to be getting off at Lawrence or Lawrence West? St. Clair or St. Clair West? I wouldn't call that user friendly at all. Street names don't automatically equal ease of use.
Are the ROM or Downsview Park well-known because of their subway station names? I think that was his point.
(No, they aren't.)
TTC's subway stations are named as all other stops (bus or tramway) - and it is quite practical. Maybe dull... but is it really so important to be exciting in naming stops???
Wow, yeah, great idea, let's change the names of our stations and follow the model of one of the most confusing and hardest to navigate transit systems in the world!
How about sticking to and celebrating the names we have? I mean, didn't M@b's buttons prove that Spadina Station is in fact cool? Am I the only one that has random conversations wearing my subway buttons: "I wear Bathurst & Dundas pins cause that's my hoood," and "I live near Ossington", etc (in fact had one of these just yesterday).
London's stations have the nostalgia and class associated with them not because "Oxford Circus" sounds cooler than "Dundas" station but, well, historically it is cooler, than Dundas square (and that's a comment for another topic).
Go back to the merch idea or the photoblogs of TTC or better yet setup a website with a page dedicated to each station and have people share stories and memories. Let's stop trying to be London and New York and be, well, Toronto.
Wow, so many comments for my inaugural post! Keep 'em coming...
Exotic names may seem superficially nice, but we have a lot of travellers coming to the city who have a hard enough time figuring out what's going on...
Travellers/tourists are a resourceful bunch (having been one myself), and I doubt that navigating to "Black Creek" station would be any more difficult than navigating to "Steeles West" station. And seriously, isn't there a better name than "Vaughan Corporate Centre Station"? Anyone?
I know plenty of Torontonians who love the TTC, or parts thereof, some almost to the point of fetish.
You and I are two of them, and I suspect that the Torontoist readership includes many more. Trouble is, I doubt that most Torontonians are like us, though I would love to be proven wrong.
I agree when it comes to naming stations ____ West or ____ East, another naming scheme is needed.
Yes, though for the reasons that I stated in the article, renaming existing stations is probably not a worthwhile use of funds.
And expecting more location-oriented names to spur people to learn abut their city is pretty ridiculous.
Looks like we'll have to agree to disagree. A social historian might find it curious that, when the subway was built, they named a station after the city's poshest neighbourhood (Rosedale) but not any other neighbourhood. A local historian might be happy that the names of the old town wards of St Patrick and St Andrew have been memorialized. I find that the use of historical names adds a bit of colour, offers a useful history lesson or two, and -- dare I say it -- promotes a bit of civic pride. There's a reason why local neighbourhoods want to add "Brockton" or "Weston" to their street signs. They're proud of where they live!
Street names don't automatically equal ease of use.
Agreed.
Are the ROM or Downsview Park well-known because of their subway station names? ... (No, they aren't.)
Agreed. But I don't think that I made that argument.
I've also heard that some people have fetishes which involve being tied up and horsewhipped.
Um, I guess so?
is it really so important to be exciting in naming stops???
See above re: fetishes.
Wow, yeah, great idea, let's change the names of our stations and follow the model of one of the most confusing and hardest to navigate transit systems in the world!
See above comment re: not renaming existing stations. And, for the record, the London transit map is a model of simplicity that the rest of the world has emulated!
London's stations have the nostalgia and class associated with them not because "Oxford Circus" sounds cooler than "Dundas" station but, well, historically it is cooler, than Dundas square (and that's a comment for another topic).
Give it time. It may take a century or two, but the day will come...
"have you seen people on the Subway trying to figure out if they are supposed to be getting off at Lawrence or Lawrence West? St. Clair or St. Clair West?"
Sigh.
If you can't follow our paltry subway map, you are too stupid to live. When we have the lines that the Tube has, THEN you have a point.
Unless you're a tourist or new immigrant, in which case, there's this neat little device called a map...
Wait, "Vaughan Corporate Centre Station" was NOT a joke? Really? Oh shit.
Remember that unlike Toronto's subway, London's is not so fixed upon particular arterial corridors a la Bloor or Yonge (and given how discontinuous London streets are--or at least the naming thereof--it's just as well). That may semi-justify its stop-naming according to "neighbourhood" or "landmark".
The purpose of subway station names is to easily identify their locations. That's it. It's not an art. There should be no creativity.
"Steeles West" is a lot easier to identify than "Black Creek" because Black Creek Dr. isn't near the station and neither is Black Creek itself for that matter.
How about a compromise? Station names stay the same (though I'd really prefer the East/West variations get their own unique names) but all maps indicate the tourist-friendly location the station serves? Christie above, Koreatown below (and smaller, I suppose).
Before the automated system, I used to like when a few of the subway operators named landmarks at specific stops, and it was really helpful for tourists. They'd say stuff like:
"Next stop: Dundas Station. Eaton Centre, Ryerson University, Dundas Square.
"Next stop: Union. CN Tower, Royal York Hotel, Union Station."