TTC names new subway station for Black Creek Pioneer Village

Transportation Reporter

What’s in a name? Well on the Spadina subway extension, it will be a museum.The Toronto Transit Commission has added a little charm to its subway modernization project, voting on Thursday to name the station at Steeles Ave. W. and Jane St. after the Black Creek Pioneer Village.TTC staff had recommended the station remain within its naming conventions that usually relate to the nearest major street or intersection and call the stop Steeles West.But the city councillors on the transit board, moved by a request from the Toronto Region Conservation Authority and Councillor Anthony Perruzza (York West) dispensed with convention and decided to honour the tourist attraction instead, although some suggested that the TTC’s estimated 450-metre distance between the station and village was too great.Councillor Maria Augimeri (York Centre), a transit commissioner and vice-chair of the TRCA, called the pioneer village a jewel.“It’s Toronto’s living museum,” she said of the assemblage of historic buildings near York University.The naming isn’t unlike that of Museum station near the Royal Ontario Museum, or Osgoode station near the Osgoode Hall courthouse, said Augimeri.The TTC is also changing the name of the current Downsview Station to Sheppard West to avoid confusion with Downsview Park, the first new stop on the line. It will be followed by Finch West, York University, Highway 407 and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, as well as Black Creek Pioneer Village.In an online public consultation on station names last year, 61 per cent of 3,650 respondents favoured the name Steeles West, but Black Creek Pioneer Village wasn’t among the options provided on the survey.http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transportation/article/1263726--ttc-names-new-subway-station-for-black-creek-pioneer-village