Highway 407 station

Highway 407 station fare concourse

The design team for the station was AECOM as the prime consultant, Aedas as design architect, and Parsons Brinckerhoff as design engineers.[3] The station is an intermodal transit facility providing connections to York Region Transit (YRT) and GO Transit buses, and Ontario Northland intercity coaches. It will also connect to a future Highway 407 Transitway.[4] The station has a 600-space commuter parking lot and a large 18-bay regional bus terminal. This station has been engineered and positioned for the construction of underground bus platforms for the proposed Highway 407 Transitway.[5] The station has an open design, particularly to the east overlooking the Black Creek. Due to structural elements related to the water table, the centre platform has no columns, with all weight being transferred to the sides to counter buoyancy.[5] The station has a metal cool roof to reflect heat from the sun.[6]

Sky Ellipse glass panel artwork by David Pearl

Toronto artist David Pearl designed the artwork titled Sky Ellipse consisting of multi-coloured glass panels for the subway skylights and the western bus terminal glass facade. The panels show moving projections of colour. Sunlight filters down to platform level.[7][4][3]

On November 27, 2009, the official groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Toronto–York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE), and major tunnelling operations began in June 2011. The extension and station opened on December 17, 2017.[8]

This station was, along with the five other TYSSE stations, the first to be opened without collectors. It was also among the first eight stations to discontinue the sale of legacy TTC fare media (tokens and tickets). Presto vending machines were available to sell Presto cards and to load funds onto them from the station's opening.[9] On May 3, 2019, this station became one of the first ten stations to sell Presto tickets via Presto vending machines.[10]

In 2018, Highway 407 station had the second lowest usage of the six new stations along the TYSSE at 3,400 people per day. The lowest was 2,500 people per day at Downsview Park station, and the highest was 34,100 people per day at York University. However, after GO bus routes were changed to terminate at Highway 407 station instead of the York University campus, usage at Highway 407 station was expected to increase, as much of the ridership at this station comes from York University students and staff transferring from GO buses.[11]

To avoid the difficulty of implementing a payment-on-exit system, the station is part of the TTC's Toronto fare zone despite being located in York Region.[12] This is in contrast to TTC-contracted bus routes, where riders are required to pay extra fare when their bus crosses the municipal boundary at Steeles Avenue. This is analogous to the situation in 1968, when five subway stations opened outside the pre-amalgamation Toronto city limits in the TTC's "Zone 2" area at the time, yet no extra fare was required to reach those stations, although the Zone 2 fare was charged when transferring to connecting bus routes in the suburban municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto.[13]

At this station, there are no free or discounted transfers between subway and YRT or GO Transit buses. Between January 2018 and March 2020, there was a $1.50 fare discount for GO Transit riders transferring to or from the subway if the rider paid with Presto.[14][15][16]

Highway 407 Bus Terminal
Owned by	GO Transit
Bus routes	YRT buses  20  Jane  M  Mobility On-Request GO buses  25  Waterloo/Mississauga  40  Hamilton/Richmond Hill  45   46   47   48  407 West  51   52   54  407 East Ontario Northland (Toronto–North Bay)
Bus stands	18
Bus operators	York Region Transit GO Transit Ontario Northland
Construction
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	GO Transit: 02674
Fare zone	19
History
Opened	December 30, 2017 (2017-12-30)[17]

There are no connecting TTC buses at this station, but the regional bus terminal, located outside the station's fare-paid area, serves YRT and GO Transit bus routes,[18][19] as well as Ontario Northland intercity coaches.[20] It is the only regional bus terminal serving a TTC subway station that is part of the main station building and is the largest bus terminal in the GO Transit system with 18 bus bays (13 for GO Transit and 5 for YRT) plus 17 layover bays. It includes a GO customer service counter, Presto and GO ticket vending machines, and washrooms.[17]

The following YRT routes serve the terminal:[21]

The following GO routes serve the terminal:[22]

Ontario Northland also serves the station with two daily northbound and two daily southbound trips on its Toronto–North Bay route, which also serve Yorkdale Bus Terminal next to Yorkdale station.

Media related to Highway 407 station at Wikimedia Commons