transportation in t-dot – part 2: the SUBWAY

hello friends,

in anticipation of the new batch of commuter students who will be arriving on campus soon, i am releasing a series of guides about transportation in the city. hopefully, that will help you navigate the nightmarish variety of different public transit systems that have all been haphazardly stitched together in toronto without any apparent logic (i mean…i’m totally okay with the transit here! what?)

here’s part 1 of the guide. and now, onto part 2 – subways!

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once you actually get downtown, you’ll probably have to use the subway to get onto campus you can access the subway using:

1. a Metropass.

if you’re going to be using the subway every day, it’s probably worth your while to get a Metropass. this is a card that gives you unlimited access to Toronto’s subway system. right now, a monthly Metropass costs $108 for students (but who knows how high it’ll climb). to use a discounted card, you will need…

2. a Post-Secondary TTC Student Photo ID.

you can get these for $5.25 (price EDITED) at Sherbourne station.

3. if you’re not going to be using the subway too often, but need to use it occasionally, you can buy tokens at certain subway stations. token———————————————prices are here. you can also use your Presto card (if you have one) at certain stations.

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4. important subway stations.

there are a few subway stations in and around campus that you will definitely use at least once this year. they are:

– St. George station: St. George opens onto St. George and Bloor, and also a little further East, on Bloor St. you CAN use Presto at this station, but only at the easternmost entrance on Bedford Street. you CAN buy tokens here, at both entrances.

– Museum station: Museum station is at the top of Queen’s Park Circle. you CANNOT use Presto here, and you CANNOT buy tokens here. very pretty, though.

– Queen’s Park station: Queen’s Park is, appropriately, at the bottom of Queen’s Park Circle. you CAN use Presto here, and you CAN buy tokens.

you’ll probably find your way around all sorts of dusty corners of the TTC at one point or another, but these are the stations on campus.

note: technically, you can buy tokens at any subway station from the TTC employee working the booth, but often there is no one there, so that’s a bit of a hit and miss. again, if you will be using the subway a lot, a metropass is a great investment.

if you want to see a map of campus where these stations are marked, go here.

i also took the liberty of measuring via Google Maps how long it takes to walk between the three on-campus subway stations (wow aska, thank you so much, i will commit this to memory and never be late again <3):

St. George – Eastbound Platform to Museum Station – Northbound Platform: 8 mins

Museum Station – Southbound Platform to Queen’s Park Station – Northbound Platform: 11 mins

St. George – Westbound Platform to Queen’s Park – Northbound Station: 16 mins

also, if you want to see where the on-campus subway stations are in relation to your classes, log onto ROSI, click on ‘Personal Timetable’ on the left-hand menu, click on ‘2014 Fall’ or ‘2015 Winter,’ and then, directly underneath the personal timetable, click on the link where it says ‘You can view a map of your classes located on the UofT Campus.’ that’s a neat tool, eh?

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5. the TTC subway map.

helpful stuff. though you’ll likely have it memorized after two weeks of being afraid to look anywhere else on the subway except up at the map/ads.

next week: commuter dons, streetcars, and walking (ew).

cheers,

aska