[URBAN NOTE] "New TTC signage, 5 March 2014"

[rfmcdonald]

Coming home this evening, I saw some of the TTC's new signage. (Bloor-Yonge and St. George are the first stations in the Toronto subway network to have it.) Perhaps most noteworthy for numbering different routes--in this case, photographed at Bloor-Yonge, "1" for the Yonge-University-Spadina line--in this and the use of text reminds me strongly of the signage on the much more extensive subway system of New York City.

CBC's article has more background.

One goes this way. Two goes that way. The TTC is hoping riding the subway will be that easy now that it is changing the name of its lines.

The transit commission is testing the name change at Bloor-Yonge Station on Monday, identifying subway lines with numbers and colours. The Yonge-University-Spadina line will be called Line 1, with a yellow circle around the number, and the Bloor-Danforth line will be Line 2, with a green circle surrounding it.

Chris Upfold of the TTC says more colour and numbers in the signs will make the system easier to use now and in the years to come when new subway lines are added.

"This isn't about renaming our lines, but enhancing the line names we already have," says Upfold.

The TTC will expand the new signage to St. George Station, and then reassess based on the feedback it gets from riders via its website.

Eventually, the Scarborough RT would become Line 3 in blue and the Sheppard subway line would become Line 4 in purple, with Line 5 in orange and Line 6 in grey reserved for future lines.

Currently the names of the subway lines mirror the streets that they run along.