Downsview Station renaming is costing City of Toronto $800,000

In case you missed it, the TTC’s Downsview Station will be renamed as Sheppard West Station on May 7, ahead of the Line 1 extension to York Region coming later this year.

It may seem like a simple name change, but it comes with a hefty price tag. An $800,000 price tag, to be exact.

In a release, the TTC says that the majority of that money ($600,000) is going to the “reprogramming of Bombardier’s proprietary announcement system on the the Toronto Rocket subways.”

Essentially this means that it costs a lot to re-do station announcements, and change the name on subway maps and signage.

The items that are impacted by the name change include:

30 signs in and around Downsview Station
123 destination signs in other TTC stations
161 platform ‘You Are Here’ maps in stations
3,184 maps on subway trains
4,000 maps in transit shelters
250,000 Ride Guides

Who knew that a name transformation could come at such a big cost?

But it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise.

A similar situation recently occurred in Vancouver, where it was announced that the city’s logo change would cost $150,000 in total (thanks, in part, to having to change all the City of Vancouver signs). Yes, a new logo for the city could end up costing $10,000 per letter.

Still, it just’s adding to the list of reasons the TTC continues to be one of the most expensive transit systems in the world.

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