Sheppard–Yonge station

Sheppard–Yonge (formerly Sheppard) is an interchange station on Line 1 Yonge–University and Line 4 Sheppard of the Toronto subway. The station is located at the southern end of North York City Centre. It is the fourth-busiest station in the system, after Bloor–Yonge, St. George and Union, serving a combined total of approximately 92,828 people per day in 2023–2024^[2].

Sheppard–Yonge
Sheppard–Yonge station Line 1 platform
General information
Location	20 Sheppard Avenue West Toronto, Ontario Canada
Coordinates	43°45′41″N 79°24′39″W
Platforms	Centre platform (Line 1) Side platforms (Line 4) Centre platform (Line 4; unused)
Tracks	4 (2 on each level)
Connections	TTC buses  84  Sheppard West  97  Yonge  98  Willowdale–Senlac  185  Sheppard Central  320   Yonge  384   Sheppard West  385   Sheppard East  984  Sheppard West Express GO Buses (on-street)  19/C  Mississauga–North York  27  Milton–North York  32  Brampton Trinity Common–North York  34  Pearson Airport–North York  67  Keswick–North York  96  Oshawa–Finch Express
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	2
Accessible	Yes
Architect	Stevens Group Architects (Line 4)
Other information
Website	Official station page
History
Opened	Line 1: March 29, 1974; 50 years ago (1974-03-29) Line 4: November 24, 2002; 21 years ago (2002-11-24)
Previous names	Sheppard (1974–2002)
Passengers
2023–2024[1]	57,501 (Line 1) 35,327 (Line 4) 92,828 (total)
Rank	4 of 70
Services
Preceding station Toronto Transit Commission Following station York Mills towards Vaughan Line 1 Yonge–University North York Centre towards Finch Terminus Line 4 Sheppard Bayview towards Don Mills
Location

History

Sheppard–Yonge first opened as Sheppard in 1974, when the Yonge–University subway line was extended north from Eglinton to Finch. The extension was planned to open in two stages with Sheppard as the temporary terminus, but construction north of York Mills was delayed by various problems and in 1973, York Mills was opened as the temporary terminus instead; Sheppard and Finch stations opened in 1974. The H-2 class subway cars delivered in 1971 included destination signs for "Sheppard via downtown" on the expectation that it would be a terminal station.

The station was expanded and renamed "Sheppard–Yonge" in 2002 with the opening of the Sheppard subway line, for which this station became the western terminus.^[3] The renaming was similar to that of Bloor–Yonge station. Unlike Bloor–Yonge, where the signs on Line 1 platforms still read "Bloor" and those on the Line 2 Bloor–Danforth read "Yonge", Sheppard–Yonge is given its full name on both sets of platforms; all existing signs within the station were changed to give the new name. At that time, this station became accessible with elevators. When the automated announcements were installed on Toronto's subway trains, Line 1 trains referred to the station as "Sheppard" while Line 4 trains referred to the station as "Sheppard–Yonge", the new Toronto Rocket subway trains refer to the station on both Lines 1 and 4 as "Sheppard–Yonge" followed by "Change for Line 1/4" respectively.

Station description

The station is located under Yonge Street at Sheppard Avenue, and is built on five levels. All seven entrances are located at street level,^[4] as is the bus platform. The three levels below are concourse levels, which provide access to the bus platform and the two subway lines. The subway platforms are on the two lower levels, with the Yonge–University line on the bottom and the newer Sheppard line crossing above.^[4]

Entrances

There are six entrances – five automated entrances (all of which are only accessible by Presto card) and two staffed entrances:^[5]

• An accessible automatic entrance on the northeast side of Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue beside the Yonge Sheppard Centre. This was a staffed entrance until October 21, 2019, when the collector booth was closed.^[5]
• An accessible staffed entrance accessed via the Hullmark Centre entrance on the southeast corner of Yonge and Sheppard
• An accessible automatic entrance accessed via a private elevator in the Nestle Canada Building at 25 Sheppard Avenue West, one block west of Yonge
• An automatic entrance at Harlandale and Yonge, one block north of Sheppard
• An automatic entrance on the northeast corner of Yonge Street and Anndale Drive, accessed via the Procter & Gamble building (Monday to Friday 6 am to 7 pm, excluding holidays) or via the underground parking lot of Whole Foods Market^[a]
• An automatic entrance accessed via the Emerald Park building on the northwest corner of Yonge Street at Poyntz Avenue^[b]

Architecture and art

Spiegel's Immersion Land

Circle wall

The station on the Sheppard line was designed by architectural firm NORR Limited. The construction of the Sheppard line included the integration of the bus terminal at street level into the fare-paid zone.

The artwork in the station, entitled Immersion Land and created by the artist Stacey Spiegel, consists of panoramic posterized murals created from 150 digital photos rendered onto single-colour mosaic tiles. The artwork depicts rural scenery along Yonge Street or Highway 11 somewhere between Lake Ontario and North Bay, and is located on the upper (Line 4 Sheppard) platform level.

Subway infrastructure in the vicinity

The Line 4 platform has a roughed-in extra centre platform designed to be potentially used as a Spanish solution in the future.

The Sheppard line tracks cross above the Yonge line. Line 4 has side platforms (unique among TTC terminal stations), but there is also a roughed-in centre platform. Should the station become a busy transfer point, this platform will be opened and trains will open all their doors, allowing riders to enter on one side and exit on the other to improve efficiency.

Both lines have a crossover just beyond the platforms, with Line 1's being to the south and Line 4's to the east. As Sheppard-Yonge is a terminus for Line 4, its crossover is used to regularly reverse trains, with Line 1's being used only for occasional short turns. Trains normally pull into the south platform on Line 4 to allow passengers to board and alight before returning in the direction from which they came; the north platform is used only for passengers disembarking from trains that are going out of service.

A connecting track from the southbound Line 1 track south of the station, used only if non-revenue trains or work cars need to be transferred between the two lines, curves around to a point 500 metres (1,600 ft) west of Yonge on Line 4's single tail track, slightly more than one train-length east of the end of the track, with a second (which becomes the eastbound track) diverging from the connector, which passes under it. This provides an area where trains can be stored clear of the line. East of the station, Line 4 converges with a second connecting track from northbound Line 1.^[6]

Surface connections

Main article: List of Toronto Transit Commission bus routes

TTC routes serving the station include:

Route	Name	Additional information
84A	Sheppard West	Westbound to Weston Road
84C		Westbound to Steeles Avenue West via Arrow Road (Rush hour service)
84D		Westbound to Pioneer Village station via Oakdale Road (Rush hour service)
97A	Yonge	Northbound to Steeles Avenue and southbound to St. Clair station (On-street stop outside station)
97B		Northbound to Steeles Avenue via Yonge Boulevard and southbound to St. Clair station via Yonge Boulevard (On-street stop outside station)
98A/C	Willowdale–Senlac	Westbound to Peckham Avenue via Senlac Road
98C		Eastbound to Steeles Avenue East via Willowdale Road
185	Sheppard Central	Eastbound to Don Mills station
984A	Sheppard West Express	Westbound to Weston Road (Rush hour service)
984B		Westbound to Sheppard West station
320	Yonge	Blue Night service; northbound to Steeles Avenue and southbound to Queens Quay (On-street stop outside the station)
384	Sheppard West	Blue Night service; westbound to Weston Road (On-street stop outside the station)
385	Sheppard East	Blue Night service; eastbound to Meadowvale Road (On-street stop outside the station)

Notes

1. While this entrance is equipped with a private elevator from the Whole Foods Market at street level to the building's parking garages and the fares concourse level, it does not serve the Line 1 subway platform.
2. While this entrance is equipped with a private elevator from street level to the building's parking garages and the fares concourse level, it does not serve the Line 1 subway platform.

References

1. "Subway ridership, 2023-2024" (PDF). Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved November 12, 2024. This table shows the typical number of customer-boardings made on each subway line and the number of customers travelling to and from each station platform on a typical weekday in Sep 2023-Aug 2024.
2. "Subway ridership, 2023-2024" (PDF). Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved November 12, 2024. This table shows the typical number of customer-boardings made on each subway line and the number of customers travelling to and from each station platform on a typical weekday in Sep 2023-Aug 2024.
3. "The Sheppard Subway - Transit Toronto - Content". Archived from the original on March 28, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
4. "TTC Sheppard-Yonge Station". Toronto Transit Commission. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
5. "Sheppard-Yonge Station". Toronto Transit Commission. October 21, 2019. Archived from the original on October 30, 2019. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
6. "Detailed Toronto transport map: Sheppard-Yonge station trackage". cartometro.com. Retrieved May 2, 2024.

External links

Media related to Sheppard–Yonge station at Wikimedia Commons

• Official station page