Lawrence West is a subway station on Line 1 Yonge–University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the median of William R. Allen Road at Lawrence Avenue West. The station serves the local communities of Lawrence Heights, Lawrence Manor and Glen Park, and nearby destinations such as the Columbus Centre, Lawrence Heights Community Recreation Centre and Lawrence Allen Centre. Wi-Fi service is available at this station.[3] The station has a Gateway Newstands in the north end concourse area at street level.
Lawrence West  | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||
| Location | 655 Lawrence Avenue West Toronto, Ontario Canada | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 43°42′57″N 79°26′39″W / 43.71583°N 79.44417°W | ||||||||||
| Platforms | Centre platform | ||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||
| Connections |
| ||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||
| Structure type | At-grade in highway median | ||||||||||
| Parking | None | ||||||||||
| Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||
| Architect | Dunlop Farrow Aitken [1] | ||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||
| Website | Official station page | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| Opened | 28 January 1978 | ||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||
| 2023–2024[2] | 19,742 | ||||||||||
| Rank |
| ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
History
editThe station opened in 1978, as part of the subway line extension from St. George to Wilson station.
In 2008, the Toronto Star reported this station, along with Lansdowne, Kennedy, and Warden to be a "known problem area" in terms of crime in the subway system.[4]
In 2014 an elevator, automatic sliding doors and an accessible fare gate were installed in the main part of the station on the south side of Lawrence Avenue, to make the station wheelchair accessible.[5] In addition, repairs were made to the sawtooth bus platforms and the roadway was repaved for low floor buses.[6] The northside entrance remains inaccessible due to space restrictions and generally used as drop off point by car.
On 6 January 2019, this station discontinued sales of legacy TTC fare media (tokens and tickets), previously available at a fare collector booth. Presto vending machines were available to sell Presto cards and to load funds or a monthly Metropass onto them.[7][8]
On 5 April 2019, Lawrence West and Yorkdale stations became the first two locations to sell single-use Presto tickets, which are sold from the stations' Presto fare vending machines.[9]
Architecture and art
edit
Dunlop Farrow Aitken was the firm responsible for the station's architecture.[10] The structure is composed of an enclosed train platform area in the median of Allen Road, which is bridged by a bus loop and waiting area on the south side of the Lawrence Avenue bridge. Staffed entrances on both sides of the street connect to a transfer area which links the train platform and the bus area.[11]
Upon entrance from the Lawrence Avenue bridge over Allen Road, the bus waiting area and the train platform are apparent. This openness is achieved through glazed walls and a large stairwell.[12] The glass is framed with distinctive orange-painted metal. The platform level features exposed concrete walls, with a long strip of skylights above the tracks with the same orange framing used throughout the station. Rectangular prism benches with rectangular tiles of yellow, orange, and brown hues are unique to the station. Similar tiles are used on the floors and centre pillars.
Spacing... Aerial Highways, a large 300 foot ceramic tile mural designed by Claude Breeze,[13] spreads across the north face of the main station building above the bus platform.
Surface connections
editWhen the subway is closed, buses use stops outside of the terminal along Lawrence Avenue West. TTC routes serving the station include:
| Route | Name | Additional information |
|---|---|---|
| 52A/B/D/F | Lawrence West | Eglinton station (Eastbound buses stop on Lawrence Avenue West outside the station.) |
| 52A | Westbound to Pearson Airport via Dixon Road | |
| 52B | Westbound to Westwood Mall Bus Terminal via Dixon Road | |
| 52D | Westbound to McNaughton via Dixon Road | |
| 52F | Westbound to Royal York Road | |
| 52G | Westbound to Martin Grove Road via The Westway (This station is the eastern terminus for this route.) | |
| 59A | Maple Leaf | Westbound to Weston Road via Gary Drive |
| 59B | Westbound to Weston Road via Church Street | |
| 109B/C | Ranee | Southbound to Eglinton West station via Marlee Avenue |
| 109B | Northbound to Neptune Drive via Flemington Road | |
| 109C | Northbound to Neptune Drive via Varna Drive | |
| 400 | Lawrence Manor | Community Bus |
| 952 | Lawrence West Express | Eastbound to Eglinton station and westbound to Pearson Airport (Rush hour service; eastbound buses stop on Lawrence Avenue West outside the station.) |
| 352 | Lawrence West | Blue Night service; eastbound to Sunnybrook Hospital and westbound to Pearson Airport. (Overnight service stops on Lawrence Avenue West and does not enter the station.) |
References
edit- ^ "Architectural Index for Ontario". Archived from the original on 24 October 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
- ^ "Subway ridership, 2023-2024" (PDF). Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved 12 November 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.
- ^ "There's now free WiFi at over 40 TTC subway stations". blogTO. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
- ^ "4 held in subway swarmings". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
- ^ "Lawrence West Station: Elevator Construction Update". website. TTC. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
- ^ Lito Romano, Community Liaison (April 2013). "Lawrence West Station: Easier Access Program" (PDF). TTC. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
- ^ "New Customer Service Agents at Yorkdale and Lawrence West stations". ttc.ca. Toronto Transit Commission. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ "Collector booths to close in favour of Customer Service Agents at TTC's Yorkdale and Lawrence West stations". ttc.ca. Toronto Transit Commission. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ "TTC extends sales of Presto Tickets to 10 stations". Toronto Transit Commission. 6 May 2019. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
- ^ "TOBuilt: Detailed Structure Information". Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
- ^ "Design for Transit", Canadian Architect, 21: 34, 1976
- ^ "Design for Transit", p. 34
- ^ "Breeze, Claude". Saskatchewan Archival Information Network. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
External links
edit
Media related to Lawrence West Station at Wikimedia Commons