[Richard White]

Which I just saw today has permanently closed.

That wasn't a big loss.

While Ontario Tourism is great to promote alot of tourists focus on NOTL, NF and the GTA. Not many tourists are going to Terrace Bay, Latchford or Kenora from Toronto.

You may get some people heading to PEC, Algonquin or Ottawa but that's about it.

It needed to be in a more prominent location like maybe the Eaton Centre or along Yonge.

 

[DSCToronto]

That wasn't a big loss.

While Ontario Tourism is great to promote alot of tourists focus on NOTL, NF and the GTA. Not many tourists are going to Terrace Bay, Latchford or Kenora from Toronto.

You may get some people heading to PEC, Algonquin or Ottawa but that's about it.

It needed to be in a more prominent location like maybe the Eaton Centre or along Yonge.

The Ontario Tourism place used to be on Dundas between Bay and Yonge and then moved to Union Station. Though the location in Union was not very obvious it was en route to/from the UPX and always seemed to have a few customers. Though many people now rely 100% on online sources, there is still a place for a physical 'tourist office' and I find it odd that we no longer seem to have one. I have seen many in Europe which combine a tourist office with a 'curated' local souvenirs shop which would seem like quite a good idea to me.

 

[junctionist]

The Ontario Tourism place used to be on Dundas between Bay and Yonge and then moved to Union Station. Though the location in Union was not very obvious it was en route to/from the UPX and always seemed to have a few customers. Though many people now rely 100% on online sources, there is still a place for a physical 'tourist office' and I find it odd that we no longer seem to have one. I have seen many in Europe which combine a tourist office with a 'curated' local souvenirs shop which would seem like quite a good idea to me.

We need tourism offices staffed with people who speak multiple languages at easy-to-find locations, as well as staff at important cultural and tourism sites who are well trained to assist visitors. A lot of visitors, particularly those from outside North America, don't know what search terms to use in English or where to find the information they need online. It helps a lot to talk to someone in person and, for instance, to have someone make notes on a map for you.

A lot of people do trip planning before they arrive. Google doesn't always produce the same search results for the same key words in other countries. Its algorithm seems to favour local content over foreign content. That means that important information about our region that seems readily available to us online (because Google prioritizes it in its search results) might not come up as top results on Google for someone planning their trip to our city in another country.

 

[Mihairokov]

We need tourism offices staffed with people who speak multiple languages at easy-to-find locations, as well as staff at important cultural and tourism sites who are well trained to assist visitors. A lot of visitors, particularly those from outside North America, don't know what search terms to use in English or where to find the information they need online. It helps a lot to talk to someone in person and, for instance, to have someone make notes on a map for you.

In Tokyo there are subway employees at larger stations that have auto-translation devices on them to help tourists. They look like the old Walkman mp3 players and are able to switch between a few dozen languages. Employees at BIC Camera also had them as well. Can't be that difficult to procure some for employees at major stations here in a similar fashion rather than trying to find a unicorn that speaks six languages who is interested in working at a tourism desk.

 

[Rendezvous Rama]

This is clearly not true though. Line 5 is exhibit A. Stations there could benefit from a few more ads actually!

Unfortunately, sterility is just the design philosophy du jour for transit infrastructure.

There is literally a whole team of people at Metrolinx called non-fare revenue whose entire purpose is to extract every available dollar from the network through ads and partnerships. There will absolutely be digital column screens and other advertising collateral in the new concourse, as is the case in the other concourses.

 

[NY99]

There is literally a whole team of people at Metrolinx called non-fare revenue whose entire purpose is to extract every available dollar from the network through ads and partnerships. There will absolutely be digital column screens and other advertising collateral in the new concourse, as is the case in the other concourses.

I'm sure an ad team exists... just like it does at every transit agency. And I don't doubt we'll see that there will be *some* advertisement in the new concourses.

All I'm saying is that, given their mandate, they appear to me to be doing an underwhelming job. Eglinton Line stations strike me as the least ad-dense spaces in the region. To a fault.

 

[NY99]

I mean, more than these renders do. I'm not expecting Metrolinx to aim for the stars, but I at least would expect them to aim for consistency.

In my humble opinion, I think it makes sense to visually distinguish each concourse via colour scheme, finishes, etc. Union Station is labyrinthian as it is, and it can be hard to situate yourself if you're not familiar with the layout.

Generally speaking, I think interior design is an underrated wayfinding strategy. An all-white layout everywhere isn't conducive to that.

 

[EdDrass]

In my humble opinion, I think it makes sense to visually distinguish each concourse via colour scheme, finishes, etc.

Hear, hear!

 

[interchange42]

In my humble opinion, I think it makes sense to visually distinguish each concourse via colour scheme, finishes, etc. Union Station is labyrinthian as it is, and it can be hard to situate yourself if you're not familiar with the layout.

Generally speaking, I think interior design is an underrated wayfinding strategy. An all-white layout everywhere isn't conducive to that.

One would want to distinguish each section while also making all looks cohesive overall, so a theme with variations, not a bunch of uncoordinated looks.

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