Line 2 Bloor–Danforth
Line 2 Bloor–Danforth is a rapid transit line in the Toronto subway system, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).[4] It has 31 stations and is 26.2 kilometres (16.3 mi) in length. It opened on February 26, 1966,[5][6][7] and extensions at both ends were completed in 1968 and again in 1980. The line runs primarily a few metres north of Bloor Street from its western terminus at Kipling Avenue with a direct connection to the Kipling GO Station to the Prince Edward Viaduct east of Castle Frank Road, after which the street continues as Danforth Avenue and the line continues running a few metres north of Danforth Avenue until just east of Main Street, where it bends northeasterly and runs above-grade until just east of Warden station, where it continues underground to its eastern terminus, slightly east of Kennedy Road on Eglinton Avenue, which has a direct connection to the Kennedy GO Station. The subway line is closed nightly for maintenance, during which Blue Night Network bus routes provide service along the route.[8] The most travelled part of the line is located in Toronto's midtown area known as Yorkville.[9] In this area, the subway connects to Line 1 Yonge–University at Spadina, St. George and Bloor–Yonge stations. Towards the east, where the line runs parallel to Danforth Avenue, it serves areas such as Greektown (also known as "the Danforth") and the East Danforth neighbourhood. It then runs through a very short stretch of East York to its eastern terminus in Scarborough, where it connected to the former Line 3 Scarborough. To the west of Yorkville, the line continues along Bloor Street serving many communities such as the Annex, Koreatown, Bloorcourt Village, Bloordale Village, Junction Triangle, Bloor West Village, a very short stretch in York, and the Kingsway and Islington–Etobicoke City Centre areas in Etobicoke, where it terminates at Kipling Avenue in Six Points. Construction of an extension to Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road to replace Line 3 Scarborough began on June 23, 2021. This project has no confirmed completion date. NameWhen the Bloor–Danforth line, the second subway line in the city, opened in 1966, it necessitated renaming the first subway line "the Yonge line". Unofficially, the subway lines were already numbered, but in October 2013, the TTC announced plans to give the lines an official number to help riders and visitors to navigate the system. The new signage reflecting this change began being installed in March 2014, with Bloor–Yonge and St. George being the first two stations updated.[10][11] The subway was formerly internally known as route 601.[12] Since the mid-2010s, it is publicly referred to as "Line 2 Bloor–Danforth".[13] HistoryPre-subway era The earliest mention of rapid transit along the Bloor–Danforth line's route was made in a 1910 report that was prepared by an American firm of transit consultants. This study had been commissioned by a special commission, which included City Controller Horatio Clarence Hocken and Mayor of Toronto Joseph Oliver. In their final report, the consultants suggested that the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River Valley, should include a lower deck for a future subway.[14] The lower deck was built, but the first plan for a line to use it was not made until June 15, 1933, when the TTC published a report which suggested construction of a subway and an expressway broadly following Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue. The estimated cost of the project was CA$120 million, but the plan was not implemented. Plans for a somewhat longer route, running east to west from Victoria Park Avenue to the Humber River, were proposed by the Toronto Planning Board in December 1943, although the report did not include costings.[15] During the fall of 1911, the City of Toronto put out a tender for the construction of concrete tubes to carry a subway. However, when the cost of the subway was put to a referendum, the construction of the subway tunnels was rejected.[16] Before the subway was built, the Bloor streetcar line operated along the route between Jane Street and Luttrell Avenue (located just west of Shoppers World Danforth). Paired PCC streetcars or multiple units (MUs) operated from 1950 to the opening of the subway line in 1966.[9] The TTC favoured this route because the Prince Edward Viaduct made it easier to build a subway across the Don Valley, and the streetcar that ran along the route was filled with passengers travelling from East York and Scarborough. To provide relief to this streetcar line and to ease expansion into the suburbs, the line was built a few metres north of both Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue.[17] Subway construction  During the period after World War II, rapid development created a need for more public transit. A referendum on whether a subway should be constructed along Yonge Street was held on January 1, 1946, and this proposal received majority support.[18] The opening of the Yonge subway in 1954 resulted in another plan by the TTC for a Bloor–Danforth line, this time without an expressway, costing $146 million. The line was approved, but was not built.[15] In the 1950s, there was intense debate over where the second Toronto subway line would run as it would affect how bus routes in Toronto's suburbs would operate.[19] There were two main plans. While both shared the same route at the outer ends, the TTC favoured a route that continued eastwards from Christie station to Pape station. This plan was championed by the TTC chairman, Allan Lamport, and also included an extension of the Yonge line from Union station northwards to meet the new line at St. George station. The other plan, which was proposed by the city's planning department and endorsed by the Metro Toronto chairman, Fred Gardiner, had a large U-shaped diversion in the centre. From Christie station, it ran south to Queen Street West, and after following Queen Street eastwards to Pape Avenue, turned north to rejoin the east–west route at Pape station.[20] The eastern routing is similar to the Relief Line subway proposal of the 2010s and its successor, the Ontario Line. In 1956, Toronto's midtown area was starting to experience growth.[9] There was a public debate about the two schemes between the two chairmen and the municipalities that made up Metropolitan Toronto. The extension of the Yonge line along University Avenue, and the east–west Bloor–Danforth line extension were authorized on September 5, 1958[15] by the Ontario Municipal Board which sought a compromise between the involved communities.[21] The financing of the project was controversial. For the first time, financing was to be split between the TTC and Metro Toronto, incurring a property tax increase. This was opposed by Etobicoke, Long Branch, Mimico, New Toronto and Scarborough, who wanted the project to be funded solely by the TTC. The battle to stop the project went to the Supreme Court of Canada.[22] The University line opened in 1963, and the Bloor–Danforth line opened from Keele station in the west to Woodbine station in the east on February 26, 1966.[7] Nine men died during its construction in several incidents.[citation needed] Most of the line was built underground using the cut-and-cover method, with some sections along University Avenue built using shield tunneling with manual excavation of the face – and even a short stretch using the Milan tunneling method (a.k.a. the Icos–Veder method).[23] Other parts of the line were built above ground in grade-separated rail corridors. The line was 12.9 kilometres (8.0 mi) long,[15] and ran about 20 to 40 metres (66 to 131 ft) north of Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue.[24] The cost of the initial section was $200 million[7] ($2.054 billion in 2023 dollars).[25] Once the line started full operation, construction of extensions to the Bloor–Danforth line began. The extensions to Islington station in the west and Warden station in the east opened simultaneously on May 11, 1968.[26] These were completed at a cost of $77 million[27] ($643 million in 2023 dollars).[25] On November 21, 1980, the line was extended to the current terminal stations of Kipling station in the west and Kennedy station in the east at a further cost of $110 million[28][29] ($393 million in 2023 dollars).[25] Subway operationsUpon opening, the Bloor–Danforth line was well received: a survey taken four months later showed that the subway was used by 10,000 riders per hour. As a result, many bus and streetcar routes were either discontinued or shortened.[30] Various bus and streetcar routes that connected to the subway stations allowed the line to continue to grow and become more sustainable.[31] The line carried an average of 503,060 passengers on weekdays during the 2015 operating year.[3] For the first six months of operation, the subway was operated as a single system, with trains from Eglinton station running through to either Keele or Woodbine station, while other trains connected the latter two points. However, the manoeuvre made operation of both lines more difficult, and the practice was abandoned after the initial trial period,[15] leaving Lower Bay station abandoned.[32] In 1971, Metro Council insisted that the zone fare system be removed to allow residents of the suburbs to travel anywhere with a single fare.[33] Prior to this, stations west of Old Mill and east of Victoria Park were geographically part of Zone 2 for fare purposes, but the subway used a flat fare system, so they were treated as being part of Zone 1. This created problems when transferring from the subway to the buses, which were in different zones at the same location. The solution was a change in political thinking, where the subway was seen as a subsidized public service, instead of a utility that needed to balance its books.[34] On October 15, 1976, an arsonist lit a fire on a subway train at Christie station. The fire destroyed four subway cars and some wall tiles, and resulted in a section of the subway being closed for a few days. As a result, the middle section of Christie station has different-coloured trim tiles.[35] On September 19, 2007, the station modernization program was started.[36] This program would result in making the subway system more accessible,[37] add new bus and streetcar platforms,[38] and improve the connections to regional buses and GO trains.[39] StationsKipling station, the western terminus of Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, is located near Kipling Avenue and Dundas Street West. After going east for 12 kilometres (7.5 mi), it meets the University segment of Line 1 at both Spadina and St. George stations. It also meets the Yonge Street segment of Line 1 at Yonge station. The route's eastern terminus is located at Kennedy station.[40] The line does not run under Bloor Street or Danforth Avenue, except at the Prince Edward Viaduct; otherwise, it is offset to the north by about a city block to minimize disruption. In some areas, it runs under parks and parking lots behind the businesses on the north side of the street, while other sections run under side streets.[41] Most stations on the Bloor–Danforth line have side platforms.[42] At the surface, some stations are designed to be a part of a shopping area, which are located above the subway.[43] Other stations are large facilities on the surface that also contain bus and/or streetcar platforms[38] to allow transfers to take place.[44] Designs The pre-1980 subway stations of the Bloor–Danforth line follow a two-colour background and trim theme and use the unique Toronto Subway typeface on the stations' walls.[45] The tiling theme was influenced by SEPTA's Broad Street Subway in Philadelphia and used a cycle that was similar to the design employed on the Yonge subway.[46] This design consists of two colours for the tiles, one for main wall tiles and another for trim tiles near the ceiling of the stations. The station names on the main wall tiles use the colour of the trim tiles and vice versa, except that some of the station names of the trim tiles are white instead of the main wall tile colour for readability.[47] This pattern is based on a design similar to the stations along the University line, which follow a regular pattern with some small variances, which are the result of multiple events.[47] One of these tiling variances is located at Christie station, where some of the original tiles were replaced following the 1976 arson attack. The replacement trim tiles were differently coloured due to the lack of extra green trim tiles.[35] Other variations to the pattern can be observed at Islington and Warden stations, as well as at the former bus bay of Victoria Park station, the three of which have a tricolour design. The current terminus stations of Kipling and Kennedy stations, upon initial opening in 1980, resemble the second version of Union subway station. When they opened, Kipling and Kennedy stations were the only Line 2 stations not to use the Toronto Subway typeface.[47] However, in late 2017, Kipling station was redesigned to use the Toronto Subway typeface as well, leaving Kennedy station being the sole station on Line 2 not to use the typeface.[48] Modernization program As the stations on the line have begun to show signs of aging, the TTC has initiated a station modernization program aimed at improving accessibility and appearances at several subway stations. These modernizations include new and updated wall finishes, signage, lighting and public art, as well as the installation of elevators for accessibility needs. Pape and Dufferin stations are the first slated for modernization under this project, and Islington will also be modernized under larger capital projects aimed at greater accessibility and reconstruction of bus loading platforms.[37][49] Construction of a second access route at Broadview station was completed in 2007. This work provided direct access to bus platforms and a new streetcar platform, improving traffic control within the station.[38] Victoria Park station's modernization project was completed between 2008 and 2011 to make the station more functional, attractive, better connected to the surrounding community, and fully accessible. The second exit program was also included in station modernization projects after a fire safety audit revealed several at-risk stations with only one means of access and egress from the subway platform level to the street.[50] Some stations with only one entrance/exit received a second means of access/egress during major overhauls at stations such as Pape[51] and Dufferin.[52] Other stations such as Donlands and Greenwood are scheduled to receive second exits for egress only. Due to the potential for land expropriation and construction of the exit structures in residential neighbourhoods, this portion of the program has become controversial, as some houses need to be removed to accommodate these secondary exits.[53] Plans to add a second exit for Donlands, Greenwood, and Woodbine stations were deferred in late February 2011 due to lack of funding.[54] In September 2017, the addition of elevators and a second exit and automatic entrance were completed at Woodbine station, rendering it fully accessible. 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