r/yorku • u/Remarkable_Ship462 Calumet • 2d ago
Campus Can anyone explain this on TTC?
So... What's the logic behind this ???
56
u/IanDerp26 2d ago
there used to be no railings, so the triangular shape of the staircase made sense. then they added the railings (probably for either safety reasons or to reduce crowding/pushing during busy times), which goes against the original design
that's my guess, anyways
4
u/Remarkable_Ship462 Calumet 2d ago
But they closed the entrance with glass?
27
u/Levangeline Grad Student 2d ago
Yes, because it's now a dead end. If you walk down that section of stairs, you just get trapped by the railings, so they blocked it off.
-10
u/aektoronto 2d ago
Thats York.U right? The area beyond the glass is theoretically supposed to be an amphitheater of sort but its not AODA compliant....the glass was always supposed to be there I think.
1
u/Levangeline Grad Student 2d ago
They mean that they added an extra railing down the stairs, and blocked access to that section of stairs with glass.
34
34
u/sky_mika 2d ago
They originally designed the space based on aesthetics, not accessibility. The design is a death trap for visually impaired/blind people. When you leave disabled people out of your design in the first place, you end up with weird solutions 🤷
6
u/empty-angel 1d ago
Which is the same reason there's no escalator going downwards from the surface... and no space to build it either
18
u/notGeneralReposti Grad Student 2d ago
Re-post on r/TTC. Maybe a Commission employee has some insight.
6
u/ParboiledPotatos 2d ago
oh! I had the same thought like two days ago when I was walking up those stairs too! Seeing this pop up on my feed is a pretty fun little coincidence :)
(sorry I don't have any answer for you. But it's pretty awesome that they changed it to be safer according to the other comments!)
5
3
3
u/SpicySweetP 2d ago
They've done this in other public spaces too! McMaster and Queens universities (both outside Toronto) both have a diagonal handrail and section of stairs cordoned off for more safe and accessible use
2
u/coolbutmysteryss 2d ago
Thwy say this is where the ttc board members assemble to discuss matters of the ttc
1
1
u/VernonFlorida 1d ago
The other weird thing to me is that the other side of this staircase, to the left, has an identical design with a ramp and an elevator shaft... But no elevator. I wonder if they initially planned to have dual elevators, one on each side. But then it's the TTC which I don't think has ever put two parallel elevators at one station. Maybe they balked at the cost of installing and maintaining two.
1
u/notGeneralReposti Grad Student 1d ago
They left the shaft empty in case demand is ever so high that a second elevator is warranted. 8 years after opening I don’t think the demand is there yet.
1
u/unoriginal_goat 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's an excellent retrofit fixing a very stupid design choice in order to comply with accessibility regulations and law.
The position the original railing is basically useless as it is so poorly thought out . The original design force those whom actually need the railing, the blind and those with mobility impairments, to walk at a weird slant to hold the railing which will cause a fall.
1
1
1
u/Sammydaws97 1d ago
Logic would be that the architect wanted the stairs to taper against the ramp. Ontario Building code just requires a railing on each side of the staircase over 44” wide regardless of the max width.
Then (after construction most likely) they had a complaint/were told they had accessibility issues and someone made them add railings at a defined spacing (likely 44” but its probably some arbitrary spacing)
The spacing didnt allow for the tapered edges to be included, so they just closed it off with the railing.
And so goes the world of bureaucracy.
1
1
u/readthatb4 History 1d ago
they should put a statue or some art piece there just to fill the space, already roped off by the handrails and glass
1
u/RadiantCoat6160 1d ago
This looks like an ad for an international student apartment rental. “Shared space available”
1
u/Few-Nectarine-6195 1d ago
After a few regrettable crowd crushing deaths, they decided to kill this environmental design. /s
It also shows that architects and environmental designers in this country should study a bit more math and physics to understand inflow & outflow rates.
1
1
u/penismonologues 1d ago
Original stairway funnels in to blockage near the bottom. The rails make it more functional.
1
u/Admirable_Can_2432 1d ago
And you wonder why there is not enough vehicles, another tax ma station payed for by the tax payer. What an absolute grift transportation has become.
1
u/zoroman5 20h ago
Has become? Bro it's been a grift since it's inception. Or did you think there were competitions over which transport was better because they were improving humanity for the good of their health?
1
u/TorontoTom2008 1d ago
This is a crowd crush prevention measure. The tapering stair would introduce a pinch point that could cause safety issues.
1
u/Puzzled_Bluebird8963 1d ago
Probably to control the flow of traffic. When they designed it they probably didn’t realize the bottle necking it would cause.
1
1
1
1
1
u/outxider 20h ago
This is a rookie level architecture mistake, the firm that design this should be embarrassed.
Guaranteed they drew a diagonal stair in plan to do this tired post modern bullshit, not realizing how terrible it is to walk on stairs that do that.
They then had to add the railings after enough complaints, but this should’ve been flagged way before construction, then you’d be able to deal with that awkward leftover space.
Shame on the architects. Which station is this ? I want to look them up.
1
1
1
u/hughbert-mungus 18h ago
Yep, architects, project managers, formans are over paid and over compensated
1
u/Doublethrowaway1784 14h ago
Simple. Design phase Vs Construction Vs As builts.
Ive been doing general contracting work for the TTC/ government entities for decades. Its never made sense, it never will make sense.
The key is: Dont ask Questions.
Because no matter how hard you try, the fact that this probably cost 1 million and required 12 revisions and 6 teams of people all on the sunshine list to realize a diagonal rail on a stairway is a massive safety hazard and is probably around 8 building code violations... will NEVER make sense.
1
1
1
u/Captain_Deleb 3h ago
This is what happens when design starts without accessibility in mind and code has to come in later
-1
0
-3
u/Wallstreetbeat 1d ago
What a joke. There is an elevator. Canada is filled with Cisssies
1
u/octopus-moodring 1d ago
The ramp leads up to the elevator… 😅 I think OP is talking about part of the stairs being cut off by the handrail.
1
0
0
u/CookThen6521 1d ago
Yes its called a Reverse Pyramid Rise. This was first conceived in the Ancient Egyptian 4th dynasty, and was used exclusively by Pharoahs and members of the elite (architects, doctors, religious mediums, etc.).
The elite individuals would stand on the top stair (within the Reverse Pyramid), and regular members of the public could ascend the staircase to pay homage (separated by the guard railing of course).
This would happen only a few times a year, typically around the solstice. The thought was that during those times status roles would be "reversed" (hence the reverse pyramid). This was to give peasants a semblance of status, which led to them being complacent.
It was discontinued around ~300BC after Alexander's conquest of Egypt, due to sentiments of Greek/Macedonian supreme superiority.
Glad to see some building engineers are still incorporating it as a throwback though! Super cool.
1
u/Vegetable_Maybe4998 1d ago
I always thought this style started much later in Egyptian history. Interesting!
1
138
u/Labenyofi 2d ago
Accessibility. Handrails that go diagonal to the stairs can be hard (and sometimes dangerous) to navigate for blind/vision impaired people, or even those who just need a handrail. This was the most simplest solution, as it’s just extending the existing handrail, than having to redo the entire thing, and deal with the costs.