Vaughan Metropolitan Centre station
Vaughan Metropolitan Centre is a rapid transit station in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. Opened on December 17, 2017, it is the north terminus of the western section of the Toronto subway's Line 1 Yonge–University. It is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission and is one of two subway stations in the system outside of Toronto's city limits. It provides connections to Viva Rapid Transit's Highway 7 Rapidway, which is also used by Brampton Transit's Züm buses, as well as local bus routes of York Region Transit.
Located in Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, the suburban city's future central business district, the station is designated by Metrolinx as a mobility hub, one of several multimodal transit terminals in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The station has a 900-space park-and-ride lot, which is privately owned and operated by SmartCentres, unlike other TTC rapid transit station parking lots which are owned and operated by the TTC itself.
Description
The subway station is located on the northwest corner of Millway Avenue and Highway 7, west of Jane Street, and is one of two new stations that are outside the City of Toronto in York Region. Geographically, this is the northernmost station in the subway system.Grimshaw Architects designed the station, which has a domed ovoid entrance building just north of the Rapidway platforms on Highway 7. The building has four main entrances in an X pattern, plus an underground connection to the 100 New Park Place office tower, with knockout panels for access to additional future developments, which includes an under-construction second office complex that will also contain a YMCA and public library. The main entrance features a cool roof, and a nearby electrical substation located on the south side of Highway 7 has a green roof. Toronto-based Paul Raff Studio provided the station's artwork, titled Atmospheric Lense, consisting of coloured mirrored panels and windows located on the domed ceiling, and visible by looking up stairwells.
Underground corridors lead both north and south from the station's concourse level to two YRT bus terminals. The north corridor leads to the [|SmartVMC Bus Terminal], where passengers can transfer to conventional YRT bus routes, and the south corridor leads to the [|Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Vivastation] on the Highway 7 Rapidway, where riders connect to Viva and Züm bus rapid transit routes. The fare-paid area features a Gateway Newstands kiosk.
History
On November 27, 2009, the official groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension, and tunnelling began in June 2011. The project was expected to be completed by the autumn of 2016, but was revised to be operational by the end of 2017. On September 6, 2017, the TTC announced that the extension would open for service on December 17, and on that date, the extension opened, with this station replacing as the northwestern terminus of Line 1.This station was, along with the five other TYSSE stations, one of the first to be opened without collector booths. It was also among the first eight stations to end the sale of legacy TTC fare media. Presto vending machines were available to sell Presto cards and to load funds onto them.. On May 3, 2019, this station became one of the first ten stations to sell Presto tickets via Presto vending machines.
Station name
During the initial planning stages of the TYSSE, the City of Vaughan wanted the station named "Vaughan Corporate Centre", after the name of its proposed new downtown, and later requested "Vaughan Metropolitan Centre" after it changed the name of the development. On September 30, 2010, a TTC committee recommended that the name be changed to "Vaughan Centre", despite the City's desire for the full name. However, the TTC delayed a final decision on the committee's report until February 2012, when Vaughan's preference for the full name was adopted. The TTC originally rejected the name to avoid linking the station to a specific development. The length of the name was seen as an inconvenience and "Vaughan Centre" was more consistent with other regional centre station names. A survey was conducted between September 23 and October 21, 2011, by the TTC to determine the preferred name. 80% supported "Vaughan Centre", 5% supported "Vaughan Corporate Centre", 9% supported "Vaughan Metropolitan Centre" and 7% supported other names. Other discussed names were "Highway 7", "Highway 7 West", "Jane North", "Edgeley", "Creditstone", and "Applewood". The new Toronto Rocket subway trains' exterior front and rear destination signs display simply "Vaughan" and, on trains with side exterior destination signs, "Line 1 towards Vaughan", rather than the full station name.Subway infrastructure in the vicinity
As this is a terminal station, there is a diamond crossover to the south of the platform for arriving trains to cross over to the southbound track, and for departing trains on the northbound track to cross to the southbound track. There are also tail tracks beyond the north end for overnight storage for two trains, with a trackless extra tunnel between them for a future potential third.Fare zones
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. 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. Similarly, at this station, there are no free transfers to and from regional buses, which are the only surface routes serving it.Surface connections
No TTC buses connect to this station, but the aforementioned two bus terminals serve regional buses:SmartVMC Bus Terminal
SmartVMC Bus Terminal is a YRT bus terminal north of the station to the west side of Millway Avenue, outside the station's fare-paid area. Diamond Schmitt Architects designed the terminal in a horseshoe shape. The building features open architecture that can be accessed from every direction. It has a passenger kiss-and-ride area on Millway Avenue and also has an underground walkway linking it with the subway station and the Vivastation on Highway 7.The total cost of the terminal was approximately $32million. The terminal was named after its developer, SmartCentres REIT, who contributed $15million in financing for an underground connection between the bus terminal and the station.
The terminal was opened on November 3, 2019, nearly two years after the station. It was expected to open in early 2018, shortly after the station itself, but it was delayed due to unspecified "unforeseen circumstances".
Prior to the opening of the terminal, buses used the current kiss-and-ride area.
The following YRT routes serve the terminal:
| Route | Name | Additional Information |
| 20 | Jane | Northbound to Teston Road via Vaughan Mills Terminal and southbound to Pioneer Village station via Highway 407 station |
| 26 | Maple Local | Northbound to America Avenue via Vaughan Mills |
| — | Mobility On-Request | Paratransit service transfer point—various destinations |
The following routes use an on-street stop at the station's main entrance on Highway 7 and do not stop inside the terminal or Vivastation:
| Route | Name | Additional Information |
| 77 | Highway 7 | Westbound to The Gore Road |
| 77 | Highway 7 | Eastbound to Finch Bus Terminal |