TTC redesigns its bus stops and station maps

By Janet Mtanos Last updated Apr 28, 2018

TTC redesigns its bus stops and station maps

After getting rider feedback to improve them, the new, clearer designs will go systemwide

The TTC is testing new bus stop pole designs and station maps in hopes of coming up with a clear, uniform design that offers useful information and eliminates the hodgepodge of signage that has sprung up across the system’s 10,000 surface stops.

The new designs will be tested first on the 94 Wellesley route, where installations will be complete by Friday, says the TTC’s acting chief service officer, Chris Upfold.

TTC staff will conduct on-street interviews with riders and collect feedback online before tweaking the new designs. Some decisions should be made by summer, Upfold said.

The idea is to integrate the maps with the city’s broader “wayfinding” strategy.

Meantime, the busy maps that appear systemwide will be replaced with more specific versions. Simpler, more graphic maps will show riders where they are in relation to other stations. Instead of detailing the entire city, the new maps will include a shaded area detailing the neighbourhood around the location where they’re posted. The maps are also being printed on new paper that will resist fading.

New bus stop post design

What you’ll see, from top to bottom:

Every stop will have a red band with the TTC logo at the top.

Below that, a black pictogram of a bus with an inset that shows it as accessible.

Next, a black band or series of bands, showing which routes stop at that site.

Special route numbers that stop there will be displayed in a yellow band, with an asterisk. Special routes have limited service during some hours.

Night routes are listed on a blue band with a moon.

Special routes are listed on yellow bands. Those are the routes that have limited service during some hours.

Toward the bottom of the sign are details about the kinds of express bus, night route and branched bus services stopping there, appearing in co-ordinated badges. A branched service would be something like the Bay 6 bus, which has a 6C branch that doesn’t travel as far north as other routes along Bay.

A yellow badge at the bottom explains the details of special routes, such as routes that end service early in the evening.

Finally, a next-vehicle-arrival badge tells riders with smartphones what number to text and which stop number to type in to learn when the next bus will arrive.

TTC