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Financial District Station
Financial District station is located in the downtown core of the city at Bay and Wellington streets, making it the densest station in the system. The station also forms a unique connection with three stations on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line to disperse transferring crowds. The Financial District is by far Toronto's most dense area, with a density level more than twenty-one times the recommended density for a subway station. It also would be the station closest to many of the bank towers, which would provide more incentive for commuters to use the Downtown Relief Line as opposed to the congested Yonge subway. In addition to being of tremendous use during the morning and evening rush hours, a number of nearby attractions including the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Sony Centre for Performing Arts mean that this station would be used even outside of business hours. In addition to nearby attractions, a major reason this station will see constant use is because it serves as a transfer point between the Downtown Relief Line and the Yonge-University-Spadina subway. The location of Bay and Wellington was not chosen only because of density and proximity to the Financial District, but it also allows a transfer point that can distribute crowds. Given how busy Union Station is, it seems ill-advised to add a great deal of passengers more directly to it. However by putting a station at Bay and Wellington, it is less than 200 metres from Union, close enough that underground transfers can occur so the GO station can still have a direct connection to the Downtown Relief Line. The station is also incredibly close to King Station on the Yonge line, also a mere 200m away. This means passengers arriving from Yonge can transfer at King rather than Union for a faster transfer, and the same for passengers of the Downtown Relief Line heading north on Yonge. St. Andrew station on the University line, while further, is still only approximately 350m away from the station, allowing a transfer to those heading north on University from the DRL, and for those heading south on University to the DRL. This means that crowds can disperse amongst the three stations and not overburden any one of them. While walking transfers are not common in the TTC, they are not unheard of. Spadina has a walking station that is underused as a result of St. George providing a direct transfer one station away, and other major North American cities such as New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia all have walking transfers at major downtown locations in their subway systems which are well used. With the PATH system in Toronto, these connections aready exist and provide a weatherproof and comfortable walking environment for patrons. Financial District Station would see incredibly high usage, and could quite possible supplant Bloor-Yonge as the most used station in the system. It would without question see the highest use of any station on the Downtown Relief Line.
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