[ShonTron]

Blech. If Toronto aspires to be New York, can they start somewhere other than on subway station design, please?

I am finding that the stations are not like New York, with run-down, yet strangely lovely tiling (like the pic Ganj posted above) and so dank it's cool, but more like the appalling state of many of the Chicago subway stations on Dearborn and State and on the Logan Square branch. (The elevated stations can feel like they are falling apart, but are so old, they are neat, and the open air helps). The Chicago subways are only a few years older than the TTC's.

Though one of the greatest subway experiences is walking by moving subway trains in tunnels, strangely legally, between the nearby stations in the State and Dearborn subways.

Some of Boston's subway stations are horrible messes as well.

Courtesy: greenlagirl (flickr, cc licence)

Courtesy: genial23 (flickr, cc licence)

 

[grey]

Blech. If Toronto aspires to be New York, can they start somewhere other than on subway station design, please?

Totally.

Also, I came back from NYC extremely impressed with the cleanliness and state of repair of TTC stations. After having experienced a handful of MTA stations, I feel as though I could eat off the floors of most TTC stations. And I'm the kind of person who opens doors with a Kleenex.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

From the bottom of the article of The Star of Saturday, October 25, 2008:

UPDATE: On Monday, we reported on a filthy floor in an elevator and the corridor around it at the below-ground TTC streetcar stop at Bay St. and Queens Quay. Ted Bolwell, who alerted us to the problem, called to say it is now "squeaky, squeaky clean."

 

[nfitz]

Given that the subway stations are generally relatively clean (mopped, etc.), it's almost as if the TTC somehow managed to forget Queens Quay station!

 

[wyliepoon]

^ Right you are. I always find a spot of vomit on the platform or on the stairs every time I use that station.

In terms of cleanliness, perhaps the subway system we can aspire to in terms of cleanliness might be Tokyo. Most stations in Tokyo are designed to be strictly utilitarian (even more so than Toronto's stations), but always appear to be spotless.

 

[adma]

I am finding that the stations are not like New York, with run-down, yet strangely lovely tiling (like the pic Ganj posted above) and so dank it's cool, but more like the appalling state of many of the Chicago subway stations on Dearborn and State and on the Logan Square branch. (The elevated stations can feel like they are falling apart, but are so old, they are neat, and the open air helps). The Chicago subways are only a few years older than the TTC's.

Though as I've stated before, even the Chicago subway--or the memory thereof--deserves a little reverence, "appalling state" or not. Maybe in part because they are a few years older than (and in some ways a stylistic prototype for) the TTC's. A different kind of "strangely lovely"...

 

[khris]

This is really good to hear. I've been complaining for a few years now how dirty the stations are. It just feels so run down and old now. It really doesn't take much to make it feel cleaner. Those little things like cleaning up stains on the floors, and removing the stains on the tiled walls.
About time, is all I can say!