Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

interchange42 said:
Absolutely.

I assume, however, that the remaining walkway through the Bay Concourse will not close until such time as the new, permanent, full staircase from TTC level is built in the area they are currently digging out. Right now, it's half its future width, and only accessed via that narrow, hoarded-off area:

View attachment 65267

Once they can fit more people through that access between the subway and the rail station, they can then afford to close the access through the old Bay Concourse, and get digging it out.

42
Click to expand...

What they will likely end up doing is completing the work in much the same manor the temporary staircases were there when the subway station was completed. I can see them lowering the moat, pouring the concrete pad then widening the existing staircase .

It makes no sense to poke holes in the walls just yet so no doubt they will leave that until the end when the Bay Concourse is completed and about to open. As long as they have space for people to move around all should be good.
 
Forget about having police officers at construction sites; that pigeon -- in the photo above -- seems to be keeping an eye on things.
 
The amount of pigeon poop on the parapet is just repulsive. I made sure not to touch it when holding my camera over it. At the west end of the building where Union Station's walls have been sandblasted, the parapet is much cleaner too. I wonder how much of a pigeon magnet the new skylights over the moat will be when they are done, or if there are design elements (other than spikes) that can be applied to discourage roosting.

42
 
interchange42 said:
The amount of pigeon poop on the parapet is just repulsive. I made sure not to touch it when holding my camera over it. At the west end of the building where Union Station's walls have been sandblasted, the parapet is much cleaner too. I wonder how much of a pigeon magnet the new skylights over the moat will be when they are done, or if there are design elements (other than spikes) that can be applied to discourage roosting.

42
Click to expand...

Could we not get a few falcons, hawks or other birds of prey to kill them off? If not them.. I am sure Ozzy Osbourne is availble :p
 
You didn't collect some of that poop to use as a garnish when you have guests over for supper?

Forget Ozzy. This guy is even better: http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/this-guy-has-eaten-nothing-but-raw-meat-for-five-years

I saw that guy on television a few years ago while at a friend's house. There was footage of him collecting roadkill and bringing back home and placing it on top of his fridge, where it would sit for weeks/months before he ate it.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Indeed - that's a**backwards. You don't make accommodation for what's basically illegal activities and that degrade the functioning of what little circulatory space there is. What you should do is ensure appropriate enforcement to facilitate the full functioning of said space.

The 9 meter rule is useless - it gets violated with wild abandon outside hospitals (even at a cancer hospital). We love to call ourselves rule-followers, but really, we are rather laissez faire about it and always gets caught off guard when someone decided to break the rules and find that there is little or no consequences to doing so.

AoD
Click to expand...

Overboard nanny-state rules are meant to be broken.
 
Last edited:
interchange42 said:
The amount of pigeon poop on the parapet is just repulsive. I made sure not to touch it when holding my camera over it. At the west end of the building where Union Station's walls have been sandblasted, the parapet is much cleaner too. I wonder how much of a pigeon magnet the new skylights over the moat will be when they are done, or if there are design elements (other than spikes) that can be applied to discourage roosting.

42
Click to expand...

I would think (hope) pigeons won't be as much of an issue once the moat's covered. They stay around the moat now for crumbs. Once they can't get in, they should just be attracted to the sidewalk - which still means they may hang out on that parapet but, I'd hope there'd be relatively less of them since the moat is enclosed.
 
Side question, but I thought of it when I was looking at those photos: What was the original purpose of the moat? It seems to me like it's kind of a pointless feature, at least from a functionality perspective. I suspect it's a vestigial remainder of something, but I'm not sure what.
 
gweed123 said:
Side question, but I thought of it when I was looking at those photos: What was the original purpose of the moat? It seems to me like it's kind of a pointless feature, at least from a functionality perspective. I suspect it's a vestigial remainder of something, but I'm not sure what.
Click to expand...

I had read earlier that it was originally built to provide vehicular access for pick ups and drop offs, but not sure how accurate that was. (edit: apparently it is accurate according to the source below)

As far as the year 2000, the moat was home to National car rental too:

gotransit-2302-04.jpg

http://transit.toronto.on.ca/regional/2302.shtml
 
Tuscani01 said:
I had read earlier that it was originally built to provide vehicular access for pick ups and drop offs, but not sure how accurate that was. (edit: apparently it is accurate according to the source below)

As far as the year 2000, the moat was home to National car rental too:
Click to expand...

Thanks! I guess that makes sense, since there was really not much of a "back side" to Union.
 
gweed123 said:
Side question, but I thought of it when I was looking at those photos: What was the original purpose of the moat? It seems to me like it's kind of a pointless feature, at least from a functionality perspective. I suspect it's a vestigial remainder of something, but I'm not sure what.
Click to expand...

It was indeed for vehicular access. My good friend is Derek Boles the leading Railway Historian in Toronto. On his tours of Union Station he highlighted the fact that the moat was created for vehicular access so that taxis would not need to wait on Front Street. The thinking was people could walk up to the window, order a taxi and it would show up just outside the door. Prior to the restoration of the York Concourse there was a taxi wicket at the Northwest Corner exit to the moat. It was also used as a pick up and drop off point for passengers at the station. Think of it like a TTC kiss and ride.

The idea turned out to be not so thought out and taxis began waiting on Front Street anyway. I am sure the moat was used for its intended purpose when the postal depot was there but obviously once the Bay Concourse opened that system was kiboshed.
 
The door to the new Starbucks was open today and it looks like the build-out has been 75% finished. Of course the electrical and plumbing might need a whole lot more time, but progress is visible there. It will be interesting to see how quickly it dents business for the other vendors there.
 
Coffee is literally an insatiable market during the morning commute.

It seemed 90 percent of commuters do not bother coffee pickup at Union due to long lineups in the middle of uncomfortable rushing commuters. Depending on locations of the other coffee outfits, I would suspect....probably almost none for all well located ones, at least during peak.

Location has impact too, as the poorly located distant Temporary Timmys seemed to have been hit hard by the centrally located McCafe that just opened.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top