It was built as part of the extensions east to Kipling and west to this station. The station's main complex consists of four floors with wheelchair accessible entrances. The ground level is the bus terminal surrounded with ten platforms that serve 16 Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) bus routes. Wi-Fi service is available at this station.[3]
Kennedy station was previously the southern terminus of Line 3 Scarborough before it was permanently closed on July 24, 2023. The line was opened in 1985. The station's bus terminal is being expanded to handle replacement buses.[4]
Construction to expand the station began in 2017 to add a platform for the future Line 5 Eglinton, which will terminate at the station when its first phase opens in 2024.[5]
The station is located south of Eglinton Avenue, east of Kennedy Road. The station complex consists of four levels. Trains of the former Line 3 Scarborough previously ascended via a bridge to the platform located at the top level of the station complex. The ground floor (third floor, but labelled 2 in the elevator) consists of ten bus platforms surrounding the main building. Three satellite pedestrian entrances to the station can be found at the South Parking Lot, next to the Don Montgomery Community Centre, and the passenger pick-up and drop-off roundabout on Transway Crescent. (A fourth entrance, at the service road of Eglinton Avenue, was demolished in 2018 and no longer exists.) Below the ground level is the concourse that spans the length of the station, connecting to all pedestrian entrances. Below the concourse is the platform for subway trains on the Line 2 Bloor–Danforth.
Four park and ride lots, that had a combined total of 729 spaces, used to be located around the station.[6] As of August 21, 2023, these lots no longer exist.[7]
Line 2 Bloor–Danforth
Line 2 Bloor–Danforth was opened on February 25, 1966, and was extended westwards to Warden station on May 10, 1968, and to Kennedy station on November 21, 1980.[8]
An extension of Line 2, called the Scarborough Subway Extension, is under construction that will make Kennedy a through-station. From Kennedy station, the three-stop, 7.8-kilometre (4.8 mi) extension will travel east under Eglinton Avenue, then north under Danforth Road and McCowan Road to terminate at Sheppard Avenue.[9]
Line 5 Eglinton
Kennedy is being expanded to become the eastern terminus of Line 5 Eglinton. The Line 5 station will be underground, south of Eglinton Avenue East, and about 30 metres (98 ft) north of the Line 2 platforms.[10]
The main entrance to Kennedy station at the southwest corner of West Service Road and Transway Crescent was demolished and has been replaced by a new entrance to access the Line 5 concourse to be located one level above the Line 5 platforms. Two elevators will connect the Line 5 concourse to the Line 5 platform. Two north–south passages will connect the Line 5 concourse to the existing Line 2 concourse. There will be few changes to the Line 2 concourse. A secondary entrance on the east side of the existing GO rail corridor serves as the main entrance to the GO station.[10]
Line 3 Scarborough
Line 3 train leaving the station, showing the sharp curve that would complicate replacing it with heavy rail
In 1985, Kennedy station was expanded to serve Line 3 Scarborough, an elevated light metro line with six stations. In 2023, Line 3 was decommissioned and is planned to be replaced by a Line 2 extension to Scarborough City Centre.
Although Line 3 trains had bidirectionally operated metro trains, the tracks for Line 3 extended beyond the top-floor platform into an above-ground turning loop, similar to those found on the Toronto streetcar system. This was because Line 3 had been planned as a dedicated right-of-way streetcar line rather than a metro line. As such, the top-floor platform was designed to operate streetcars. Line 3 was later built as a medium-capacity rail transport line to use the Intermediate Capacity Transit System train models built by Bombardier Transportation. The line began using two-car trains, which were able to travel along the turning loop, but was later converted to use four-car trains, which could not be operated along the tight loop. Thus, the use of the loop for reversals was discontinued after 1988, although the loop's elevated structure remains over the passenger pick-up and drop-off building and was occasionally used as a tail track to store trains. The station platform was reduced to a single track and began using the Spanish solution of unloading and boarding passengers at Kennedy. Original floor finishing and platform edge markings for the planned light rail can also be seen along the current tracks.
Line 3 trains originally looped at the west end of the station, which was double-tracked, but was converted to single track with the platforms on both sides now providing access to the reversing trains.
Public art
A Sense of Place. Only the left half remains in 2023, and what remains is behind temporary fencing.
Kennedy station used to feature a mural titled A Sense of Place by artist Frank Perna. The mural was completed in 1997[11] and used to wrap around the station's main entrance, but when the entrance was demolished in 2018,[12] half of the mural was destroyed.
As part of a program to install artworks at major interchange stations along Line 5 Eglinton, Kennedy station will feature two new artworks when the line opens. A mural titled Reorganization of One Hedge by artist Dagmara Genda will consist of photographs of leaves taken from the same hedge that will be printed on the glass of a skylight.[13] A second artwork, titled Locations of Meaning by artist Joseph Kosuth, will consist of etched tiles with stainless steel inserts, each spelling the word "meaning" in one of 72 languages used in Toronto.[14]
Surface connections
Line 2 platformNew Kennedy station entrance for the eastern terminus of Line 5Concourse level of the stationBus platform level of the station
There are two bus platforms at Kennedy station. Platform A, within the fare-paid zone, contains bus bays 1 through 10. Bus platform B, opened on October 8, 2023, is located outside of the station building on the south side of platform A and contains bus bays 11 through 18, primarily serving buses running express to Scarborough Centre station.[15] As of February 18, 2024, bus bays 6 through 10 are closed for construction related to the Scarborough Subway Extension.[16]
While the subway is closed, passengers may board buses outside the station near Transway Crescent. TTC routes serving the station include:
Future: to be implemented upon the opening of Line 5 Eglinton[19]
34
Eglinton
Westbound to Mount Dennis station To replace all branches of current bus route 34 Eglinton East
See also
Eglinton East LRT, a proposed surface-level LRT line to run east from Kennedy station via Eglinton Avenue, Kingston Road and Morningside Avenue to Sheppard Avenue
^"Subway ridership, 2023–2024"(PDF). Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved November 12, 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.
^"TTC Kennedy Station". Toronto Transit Commission. Archived from the original on November 11, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
^"Kennedy Station". www.ttc.ca. Archived from the original on October 10, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
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