Through the fall and winter of 2017-18, the TTC will be converting all remaining stations and entrances to use fare gates and Presto card readers. There are station-specific notices, but for readers’ convenience I have consolidated all of the information here. The first two pages of the following pdf contain the information in textual format, and the remainder is a Gantt chart. The information is current as of September 9, 2017. Stations are in sequence by line. If a station is not shown, either it has already been converted or the TTC has published no information about it.
2017_TTC_Presto_Station_Closings
There are variations on the way the program will roll out depending on the station.
- Some entrances/stations will not close for this project, but will be converted in stages with access maintained throughout construction for passengers.
- Some entrances/stations will have only selective late night closings (generally after 11pm), and work will otherwise take place maintaining a pathway for passengers.
- Some stations/entrances will close completely for some or all of the conversion project. There will be weekend closings for selected stations in the downtown “U” on Line 1 YUS, but many of the secondary entrances will close completely for over a month.
During construction, riders will not be able to purchase fare media from the station collectors while their booths are close.
Even after the shutdown periods, work will continue at some locations for an extended period.
Following the conversion, riders will still be able to pay with all fare media at the main entrance of stations, but the secondary entrances will support either a combination of Metropasses and Presto, or only Presto in some cases. Details are in the linked chart.
Postscript: Notices for the closing of stations on lower Yonge Street include the following info:
During the early and weekend closures subway trains will not stop at the station. Customers should use [nearby] stations to access the subway or board a northbound or southbound 97 Yonge bus.
Of course, the 97 Yonge bus does not run on lower Yonge Street except during weekday peaks when the stations will be open. The TTC has been advised of this and will, in due course, fix the affected pages. No need to kvetch here in the comments.
Steve Munro 
Somewhat surprised the TTC feels it necessary to completely close the King Station during fare gate installation at the main entrance area. Could they not have only closed the main entrance and sent passengers through the completely separate one at Melinda – postponing starting work there for a week?
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While I like Presto and the positives that it brings, those Presto gates are really weak. I saw the implementation of those gates at the Cumberland St exit of Bay Station. The gate barrier is actually made out of resin. For someone really determined not paying their fare, they just have to kick it. In addition, the fare gates are not particularly high. Someone can actually jump over it. It happens all the time on the Hong Kong MTR and even at the JR Stations with similar setup. Remember, when someone refuses to pay a fare, most work rules prevents employees from apprehending the person. How many Transit Police officers will be present to monitor those gates? CCTV only provides evidence and does not catch criminals.
If the TTC cannot even stop people from stealing their service, on what basis can they justify a fare increase or more funding from the city? Passengers also need to feel safe when using transit. If people stealing service are not stopped, will other passengers feel that other more serious crimes will be tolerated? Presto gates need to be accompanied by Transit Police to make it work.
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Why do some entrances take 6-8 weeks to complete while others appear done in a weekend? Surely there’s some happy medium. It’s ridiculous that some entrances are going to be closed that long. Finch and Sheppard will both have three of their entrances closed at the same time for weeks.
Steve: The main entrances and closed to get enough work done that they can reopen with temporary facilities. The auxiliary entrances are closed for the duration of the project. That said, it is still strange how long some of those shutdowns are even allowing for the need to break open the floor, install new conduits and then wait for the restored floor to cure.
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My eyesight isn’t the best, but I do not see Union Station on the list.
Steve: Because there is no page on the TTC’s site for Union. As and when the TTC updates its site, I will refresh my compendium.
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@DavidC It is only the commerce court entrance. It is normally semi-automatic anyway and only there for use by Commerce Court anyway. The main entrance to King Station and streetcars is literally right outside the front door of the building so it makes perfect sense to close it.
The whole station is not closing.. just one of three exits.
I would like to mention as well that Melinda is exit only. There is no way to put a gate there (even temporarily) without causing a backup. It is literally just an escalator to a stairwell.
Steve: First off, the Commerce Court access is on Melinda Street, and that’s what DavidC referred to. The entire station will close after 10pm for the period of Sept 19-23. Read the notice
That’s the whole point here. The TTC could work on the main entrance and keep Commerce Court open, although there might be a concern about restricted exit paths in case of an emergency. The same situation exists at Queen where there is a separate entrance at Albert St.
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Apologies Steve. I did read the notice but I was referring to the prolonged closure not the early closures. I should have been clear.
As for early closures of King Station I could have sworn the Commerce Court exit only let out into the office tower. I was in there a couple weeks ago and had to exit past the booth into the tower. I did not think you could use the exit after hours or late night.
I stand corrected. Now that you clarified it does not make sense but it could also have been a safety thing. Melinda is not exactly as busy as Yonge St and having to access the station via the office tower may have kiboshed things. Perhaps the building operator did not want the TTC to turn Commerce Court into its main entrance during construction for liability reasons?
Not sure how many people are there late at night but perhaps the higher volume of people presented a concern for Commerce Court. When the 509 was being reconstructed you used to have to walk past security in the RBC tower to access Union Station. In Commerce Court they have a security office, not a staffed desk. There are people at the main entrance on King but nothing at Commerce Court.
Perhaps they were concerned about the amount of people and what could happen. It makes sense really because more people means more staff to supervise. I can see that being a valid reason for closing the station.
You were likely on the nose with restricted access in an emergency. If god forbid something happened they would need to take the long way around … it would have presented a problem.
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I noticed the Kipling Station east entrance is getting fare gate construction and as such there are no barriers. There is a drop box but no PRESTO reader. There were two at the west entrance faregates but only one there now (mounted on the wall). Not sure why they didn’t relocate a reader to the east end…but it made for an inconvenient walk from platform end to platform end (and down two flights of stairs) to pay my fare.
I was at the east end so my younger son could see subway trains and the occasional GO and CP trains pass by.
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Just checking my Presto balance, and I seem to be getting a weekly free trip when I go through Davisville Station as they do the Presto conversion. They have a temporary reader attached to a board by the temporary entrance to the subway via the bus bay. Low and behold, every time I’ve tapped there for the past three weeks it just shows up as a Transfer at location 0 with no charge to my card. Wonder how many fares TTC is losing and will lose during this transition?
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