Tasteful Transit Creativity: In Defense of the TTC’s Visual Overhaul
December 9, 2005

The cover story on the Toronto Metro (PDF) newspaper on Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 was titled “Stylish Underground”, and discussed how the Toronto Transit Commission planned to use part of their maintenance budget to revamp some severely ugly, nasty downtown subway stations. As a regular transit user, I was overjoyed to hear of this.

Proposed redesign of the Museum subway station

Most of the responses to this story have been positive, but some concerns have been raised. People have questioned everything from the propriety of using maintenance funds for decorative purposes, to the ruination of the so-called “urinal chic” that currently “brands” Toronto’s subway system.

It is important to step back and take a global view of this situation — to see how newcomers and tourists perceive our public transit holes in the ground, and how it may effect our international reputation and subsequently, our economy. Toronto is lagging far behind the rest of the world in terms of taking care that their subway is appealing to tourists and residents alike. My position is that a visually attractive TTC will stimulate and encourage more frequent use of public transit, and will help to upgrade our city-status to “world class.”

Argument 1: Subway tiles and fluorescent overhead lighting define what an urban subway station “should” look like. We should leave the current standard look alone.

Can we allow this concept to be carved in stone? It was invented by 1960s designers, working on a tight budget, who thought Bauhaus was an attractive architectural movement. Will we allow rectangular, glossy tiles in a variety of nauseating colours to be the norm? No. We must seek improvement.

There has always been a tradition of synthesis between public art and public transit, and since the tax base of Toronto has expanded significantly since most stops had their last overhaul in the mid-1960s, it is time to upgrade the very basic and function-oriented décor we have inherited from our predecessors.

Ugly though most of our older stations may be, we have made some pathetic stabs at beautification (about four decades ago, but still). Spadina station, for instance, houses a massive quilt called “Barren Ground Caribou”, a major part of Canadian history made by Joyce Wieland, at its north Kendal Rd. exit. And inside the main entrance building, on the northeast corner of Bloor and Spadina, are three massive cedar house posts depicting the owl, wolf and hawk, carved by Gitksan First Nation peoples in British Columbia.

There are many, many more examples of small-scale art on both subway and light-rail transit (streetcar) routes. There are also large-scale artworks at Dupont station and all along the newer Sheppard line, just to name a few. It would be easy to elaborate further, but I won’t. Suffice to say; art + subway = good.

Aesthetics are about evolution and revolution, and standing on some weak policy that we have an established method for “decorating” (read: tiling in putrid colours) our subway stations is a weak and untenable position.

Besides, the art is functional as well as good looking: it will give clear direction to tourists and new immigrants with images, not words, as to where they are when they arrive at the subway station for cultural meccas such as the Royal Ontario Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Canadian Opera Company opera house, etc.

Argument 2: Regardless of the “revenue-neutral” hype, any superfluous funds that could be used to create flashy interior décor could be better used elsewhere.

While I do agree that budgeting with public money is always a problem, given our dire need for social programs and other under funded necessities, the environment can not and must not be allowed to take a back seat, and if more people start using the TTC because it no longer looks like a urinal, then maybe that will mean less cars and less pollutants. I mean, which station would you rather leave your car at home for?

This one (in St. Petersburg)?

Or this one (Toronto’s College St)?

More importantly, if money has been set aside for much-needed and long-delayed upgrades, then that’s what it should be used for. End of discussion. Every major public service has spent long periods of time deciding how much money goes into capital improvement, and in the larger context of a $1.069 billion operating budget, I think they can spare the loose change.

Argument 3: Toronto is on-par with the global standard. It’s not like money is being spent on this sort of initiative anywhere else, like London or NYC.

a) London: the oldest, the biggest, the prettiest Appealing to the London Underground as an example only gives more firepower to the argument that we should and must spruce up our subway system.

Baker Street station on the Bakerloo line has a Sherlockian theme, to indicate to tourists that they are approaching 221b Baker Street. Canary Wharf, Southgate, Southwark, Waterloo and Westminster are magnificent, with not one inch of “1960’s subway tile” to be seen. You can bet your boots these designs were not accomplished on a maintenance budget of $350,000 Canadian (plus corporate matching). I think we should be grateful that so much can be done with so little.

b) New York: early mosaics coupled with modern art “Since the subway system was inaugurated in 1904, stations have been decorated with ornamented station name plates and signs. These ceramic wall decors come in a great variety and are found in abundance in almost all underground stations.”

“New York’s subway system became somewhat neglected in the following decades, but recently, the ‘Arts for Transit’ program, founded in 1985, helped to remove the dreariness of the 1980s. The system now hosts more than 150 modern works of site-specific public art, see tfaoi.com, nycsubway.org, mta.info.” (quotes & pics taken from mic-ro.com)

50th street — ‘Alice: the Way Out’

81st Street/Museum of Natural History

116th Street — ‘Harlem Timeline’

Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue

South Ferry

c) Other subways: systems around the world The global standard for subway art and architecture dramatically exceeds what we have in Toronto’s downtown core. We’re getting aesthetically spanked by… well, everyone. Even the capital of Azerbaijan has taken us to the car wash. Toronto should feel deep and abiding shame at its transit system’s overall appearance being far surpassed by a country with a gross national product of US$810 per capita.

Argument 4: If we start messing with the visuals, what’s next? Music?

Yes, absolutely. It doesn’t have to be about piping in elevator muzak. There can be a challenging and delightful auditory element at stations where it is appropriate to the subject matter, such as Osgoode, home of the nearly-completed Toronto Opera House. Welcome to Wagner! All persons leaving the TTC at Osgood will hear recorded opera, gaining experience of what Canadian performers have to offer, and expanding their cultural horizons. I can only applaud this sort of ghetto cultural retraining. Rock on, Howard Moscoe.

Argument 5: This sort of gentrification of public transit may start a chain reaction; if subways become hot property, retailers may want to buy in to public transit. Egad!

Vendors of all types already exist on many platforms, both in Toronto and elsewhere in the world. When I was in Barcelona, there were beer vending machines in the underground, with all proceeds going towards civic transit improvement projects, such that the Barcelona underground has climate control (air conditioning is worth its weight in gold in Spain) and one of the most punctual train systems anywhere.

There are digital screens informing waiting locals and tourists on the platform as to how long it will be until the next train arrives, and a light-up visual notifier and automated voice system that lets both visual- and hearing- impaired riders know what stop is coming up.

More power to in-subway retailers, say I, if the rental revenue helps to boost funding available for these sort of major upgrades to public transit.

Argument 6: If we’re putting all this time and money into making stations look pretty, the trains are going to start looking and sounding junky by comparison. Then we’ll need to upgrade those, too!

Great! I love this idea. The potential for décor upgrades to start a budgetary snowball effect, or to plant ideas like ‘why should we put up with shitty, irritating trains?’ in the minds of public transit users, might create a revolution by placing pressure on government to increase funding. We do need new trains; just look at the advances being made in other countries, such as the “shinkansen”: high-speed, silent Japanese bullet trains. Or screw the subway, let’s get down with Calgary and BC and start up some SKY TRAINS. Form need not overtake function, but both should be paid equal attention.

Given the many, many transit users who spend anywhere from a few minutes to several hours riding the subway to work and home every day of the week, this seems like a meagre expenditure for some really functional, frequently-viewed public art. If anything, I suggest that the TTC seek further funding from all levels of government – particularly the City of Toronto and the provincial Ministry of Tourism – and engage the community, gaining their involvement on this ambitious and worthwhile project.

St. Patrick Station, for example, could shed its dreadful green/grey/yellow tile for a fresh look, possibly designed by students from the nearby Ontario College of Art and Design, which had its own revamping just last year. The Art Gallery of Ontario could play a part (it is also in the pupal stage of its “Massive Change” initiative), with its considerable advertising budget. What better way to advertise than by transforming the appearance of the closest subway stop to let tourists know “this is it!” Currently there is absolutely NO association between the look of St. Patrick and the fine arts.

Also, upgrades to the TTC will bring it up to par with the rest of Toronto’s secret underground world, the PATH, which generates revenue and touristy delight even in the coldest months of the year. I look forward with great anticipation to the new faces that will be given to some of my favourite stops on the Yonge and University lines, and will be following this project in the years to come.