The Most Awkward Transfer

Hey besties!

Normally, transferring between transit services is quick and easy. Maybe you cross the road, or walk across a bus terminal. That said, there are some transfers that are a bit more difficult for a variety of reasons. None of these, however, are as awkward as transferring between Line 4 at Leslie Station and bus route 115 Silver Hills, via Oriole GO.

Some Background Context

With two-hour transfer on Presto, and less people paying with ticket, token, or cash, memorizing transfer points is not a common practice. Prior to this, however, the TTC maintained a list of walking transfers, where two routes did not meet directly, but were close enough to justify permitting a transfer. The list can be found only on the old TTC website, here, but note this list has not been updated in many years. As you can see, transferring between Line 4 at Leslie Station and the 115 Silver Hills route is permitted, by walking along the length of the Oriole GO Station platform.

Map of route 115. Note Leslie Station is not shown, but it is related to the four-minute walk to Oriole GO that is displayed.

When Line 4 opened in 2002, the 115 was initially to be extended to Leslie Station. However, this did not occur because the TTC did not want to commit to adding a third bus at all hours to maintain the 20-minute frequency throughout the day (the specifics of this proposal, amongst others, can be found here). A secondary proposal would operate the 115 entirely from Leslie Station, but people in the neighbourhood said the direct connection to the schools on York Mills would be lost. I agree with the neighbourhood here, but I do not think 'serving Leslie Station' and 'serving the high schools on York Mills' are mutually exclusive objectives.

As a result, a transfer to the 51 Leslie route, or this walk, were promoted as being the main means of reaching Line 4. I want to point out that this is an issue with the other routes that travel south of Highway 401, as the 78 St Andrews, 91 Woodbine, and 122 Graydon Hall also do not have a direct transfer to Line 4. 

This blog post will be a short photo essay of me doing this transfer. Hope you enjoy!

The Transfer Between Route 115 and Leslie Station

To begin, I took route 115 Silver Hills to the stop closest to the GO station, located on Woodsworth at Northey (east leg). As can be seen in the picture of the stop below, it is incredibly non-descript. Considering the connection to both a GO station and a subway stop, it does not stand out at all.

From the stop, you have to cross Woodsworth, and walk about 75 metres north to Woodsworth parkette. Adjacent to the parkette is a walkway, fenced in on both signs, with a single sign pointing you towards the GO station. At least I know I'm going the right direction!

The walkway is relatively short, and brings you out to a footbridge over the GO train tracks. I was kind of surprised how impressive the bridge is, considering that Oriole GO only has eight trains a day call at it, and the neighbourhood it leads to is entirely low-density. Obviously there was a need, but I expected a much smaller bridge. This, however, makes this route inaccessible, with no alternatives given.

You can get some pretty cool views from the east side of the bridge! The towers in the picture below are located along Don Mills from Parkway Forest to Van Horne.

After crossing the bridge, construction on the train platform forced me to detour a bit. The path was... odd? An enclosed, plywood walkway with sketch metal steps takes you out to the station building. The building is closed due to COVID-19, but the sign outside states the building is open from 6:15am to 11:30am. This is curious, again, as there are no trains after 8:30am, yet the building stays open for three more hours. I have to say, this station is quite peculiar.

Due to the construction, I had to walk on the sidewalk beside the parking lot, situated under Highway 401. This is a really odd location for a station, a parking lot, and a path to the subway... Along the path was some great stock photo imagery of Simu Liu though!

Eventually, I find myself on the train platform. To my left, the Ikea North York sign appears above the trees. Walking down the platform, I find the pathway is closed, but there is a sign saying that the exit for Esther Shiner has moved further north. I take GO's word, and press on.

Right at the north end of the platform is the new exit to Esther Shiner. I can now see Leslie Station! But first, I have to descend a ramp and cross Esther Shiner Boulevard.

And with that, I have arrived at Leslie Station! This transfer covered approximately one kilometer of walking, which took me around 15 minutes (I was slowed by picture-taking and the footbridge). I have mapped it below.

Thoughts and Solutions

This transfer is just peculiar. I understand wanting to connect the Silver Hills neighbourhood with the subway, but sucking up the cost of an extra bus and running the route to Leslie Station makes far more sense. I am curious how many people do this trip a day: it cannot be more than maybe five individuals who are willing to wait twenty minutes for the 115, and then walk fifteen minutes to the station. That's quite a lot of time for such a short trip. I can see some people walking from the neighbourhood to the station without using the 115 bus, however. Nevertheless, a walk this long downtown is no big deal, but in North York, it really is exhausting. As such, I propose the TTC extend route 115 Silver Hills to Leslie Station via North York General Hospital. 

This extension would also make Leslie Station less overbuilt. The bus terminal has four platforms. Only two are used, by opposite directions of route 51 Leslie, which is so infrequent that the terminal feels desolate even in the middle of the day. 

While standing outside the station, I was curious if there was a longer transfer: route 85J Sheppard East operates on Sheppard, and is about 150 metres longer from Silver Hills than Leslie Station is. I am sure this is a permitted transfer, but I highly doubt anyone would do this.

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who read this! I know my blogging is very, very inconsistent, but I am trying my best with work and school. If you have any ideas that you want to me take a look at or explore, send me a message!