Line 4 Sheppard
Line 4 Sheppard is a rapid transit line in the Toronto subway system, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. Opened on November 22, 2002, the line is the shortest rapid transit line in Toronto with five stations along of track in the district of North York along Sheppard Avenue East between Yonge Street and Don Mills Road. It is also the only line built without any open sections. All stations are wheelchair accessible and are decorated with unique public art.
In the 2000s, the Sheppard East LRT was proposed to extend rapid transit along Sheppard Avenue. Despite approvals, the project did not proceed. In 2019, the Government of Ontario announced plans to extend the subway line east to Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road in Scarborough to meet up with an extended Line 2 Bloor–Danforth that will replace Line 3 Scarborough.
Name
When the line opened in 2002, it was given the name "Sheppard Subway". In October 2013, the TTC announced plans to give the lines official numbers to help riders and visitors navigate the system. The Sheppard line was renamed "Line 4 Sheppard" and new signage reflecting this began being gradually implemented in March 2014. The Toronto Rocket trains also use the numerical system for interchange station announcements, such as announcing "Transfer for Line 1 Yonge–University" when the trains arrive at Sheppard–Yonge station.History
Origins
The TTC proposed the Sheppard line as part of the Network 2011 transportation plan, unveiled in 1985, which called for a line from Yonge Street to Victoria Park Avenue on the boundary between North York and Scarborough. The plan was approved by Metropolitan Toronto, but funding was delayed by the provincial government of David Peterson's Liberal Party.In 1993, the governing New Democratic Party under Bob Rae proposed provincial funding for four subway/LRT projects for the TTC. Included in these four proposals were plans to build new subway lines along Eglinton and Sheppard Avenues and work was begun on both projects. The NDP was defeated in the 1995 provincial election and the Progressive Conservatives under Mike Harris were elected. Shortly afterwards, Harris cancelled the Eglinton subway in York but continued work on the Sheppard line.
Funding for the Sheppard line was initially rejected by city council. However, after a number of votes on different alterations to the project, the proposal to build the Sheppard line tunnels only, without tracks, was passed by a narrow margin. After this vote passed city council, a re-vote was taken on the entire Sheppard line project to Don Mills, which then passed by a very narrow margin. James Bow, a Toronto transit reporter, documented that the political clout of North York mayor Mel Lastman was crucial to the Sheppard line proposal being implemented. Councillor Joe Pantalone strongly supported the line, arguing it was a matter of civic equity and that the suburbs deserved good transit, which wouldin his opinionbring transit-oriented development to densify the suburbs. David L. Gunn, who was general manager of the TTC, opposed the Sheppard line, saying that it "made no sense to build an expensive new subway when the existing system was strapped for cash to make basic repairs" and "if the city wanted to expand transit, it would be better to do it downtown, easing congestion in the busiest parts of the system".
Completion and opening
The Sheppard line was opened on November 22, 2002. It was the city's first new subway line since the opening of the Bloor–Danforth line in 1966. It remained the newest subway infrastructure in Toronto for 15 years until the opening of the Toronto–York Spadina subway extension in 2017. It is shorter than had been planned, running from Yonge Street east to Don Mills Road rather than further west to Downsview station and southeast to the former Scarborough Centre station. Downsview station had been built in 1996, ostensibly with the intention of being the western terminus of the Sheppard line before the line was truncated.The Sheppard line cost just under billion and took eight years to build. It is the first subway line in Canada that had plain tunnel sections built entirely by tunnel boring machine. The Sheppard line is the only subway line in Toronto that does not have any open sections. All stations on the line were constructed using the cut-and-cover method, with the expansion of Sheppard station having required an S-shaped diversion of Yonge Street during construction. Just east of Leslie station, there is an enclosed concrete bridge over the east branch of the Don River.
It was the first line to have accessible elevators at every station. The automated system to announce each station was installed in January 2006.
Its stations were built to accommodate the TTC's standard subway trains of six cars, but part of each platform was blocked off since only four-car trains are needed to carry the amount of traffic on the line. The line was designed so that it can be extended at both ends, allowing for the construction of westward and eastward branches that had been planned. Likewise, the Sheppard line level of Sheppard–Yonge station was constructed with a roughed-in Spanish solution platform layout in anticipation of increased ridership, though in practice, the island platform is unused except during emergencies and only has advertising on the columns.
Platform screen doors were proposed for the Sheppard line. Installed at the edge of the platforms, platform screen doors would have aligned themselves with the subway-car doors when trains were in station for safety and suicide prevention. The proposed system was dropped because of its cost.
Rolling stock
From its opening in November 2002 to May 2016, the line was operated solely with four-car T1 subway trains, with two staff members operating the trains – one driver and one guard who operated the doors. On May 30, 2016, new four-car Toronto Rocket subway trains were introduced on this line. They replaced the older T1 subway trains, which were moved to Line 2 Bloor–Danforth. The TRs are based on Bombardier Transportation's Movia-styled train sets and are the first TTC trains that have no separators between the cars. This allows passengers to walk freely from one end to the other, unlike Toronto's previous subway cars. The change to TR trains was necessary because Line 4 trains are based in Davisville Yard, which is accessed via Line 1 Yonge–University. Line 1 was converted to operate using an automatic train control system, with the conversion finishing in September 2022. From October 9, 2016, Line 4 has been served entirely by four-car TR trains, which are operated by one staff member who both drives the train and operates the doors, similar to the model that was in use on the former Line 3 Scarborough.Residential development
From its opening in 2002 to 2014, the Sheppard line spurred over billion in new housing construction, including several high-rise condominium towers along its route as transit-oriented developments. Since 2000, condominium towers have been built around all five stations on the line, with most of the new developments being centred around Bayview and Bessarion stations. The Daniels Corporation built a six-tower condominium development, called NY Towers, north of Highway 401 between Bayview and Bessarion stations; Arc Condominiums on the northeast corner of Bayview Avenue and Sheppard Avenue; and terraced condos just east of their NY Towers. Shane Baghai built a multi-tower development in the area.In 2007, Leslie and Bessarion stations were the least-used stations in the system. By 2015, four of twenty planned buildings of Concord Adex Investments' condominium complex, Concord Park Place, located between these two stations, had been completed. The complex is developed on the site of a former Canadian Tire warehouse and distribution centre, though Canadian Tire retains a retail location there. In July 2023, the Ethennonnhawahstihnen' Community Recreation Centre was opened to the general public adjacent to Bessarion station. At the same time, the Toronto Public Library officially opened the Ethennonnhawahstihnen' Branch within the community centre. Situated directly behind the southern entrance to Bessarion station, the new library replaced the smaller Bayview Branch, which was previously located inside the Bayview Village Shopping Centre near Bayview station. There is also development around furniture chain IKEA and McDonald's in the immediate area.
Ridership
From late 2002 to 2011, ridership on the Sheppard subway rose from about 10.7million riders annually to a peak of 15.9million. The following table shows the typical number of customer trips made on the Sheppard subway on an average weekday.| Year | 2007/2008 | 2008/2009 | 2009/2010 | 2010/2011 | 2011/2012 | 2012/2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2018 | 2022 |
| Ridership | 45,860 | 45,410 | 47,700 | 49,150 | 50,410 | 49,440 | 47,680 | 49,070 | 47,780 | 50,150 | 39,482 |
Note: 2017 figures, as well as figures between 2019 and 2021, are unavailable.
Station art
Line 4 features artwork in each station, such as the scenic mosaic mural at Sheppard–Yonge station, Bayview station's trompe-l'œil and Leslie station's individual wall tiles, each containing the words "Sheppard & Leslie".Initial criticism
The line has been criticized as a "subway to nowhere", a "stubway", or a "white elephant". In 2018, the total ridership on the Sheppard subway line was approximately 50,000 per average weekday, similar to a few of the TTC's busiest streetcar and bus routes, though these routes are generally much longer than Sheppard's length. The Sheppard line feeds passengers into the Yonge segment of Line 1 Yonge–University. During the City of Toronto's 2008 budget crisis, the TTC considered shutting the line down on weekends or entirely. Similarly, as a result of financial pressures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, Mayor John Tory announced in 2020 that the entire line would be shut down if there were no financial support from upper levels of government, though funding was eventually secured to allow the line to remain open.Jarrett Walker, a transportation consultant and the author of the book Human Transit, said "Sheppard's technology makes it both expensive to abandon and expensive to extend; that's the trap."
Councillor Josh Colle, who chaired the TTC from 2014 to 2018, said in May 2015 that, given the existing Sheppard subway's performance, he could rationalize spending more money to expand it east from Don Mills or west from Sheppard–Yonge, but not both. He estimated that the Sheppard subway receives a subsidy of more than $10 per ride.
According to the Metro commuter newspaper, between the opening of the Sheppard line in November 2002 and December 2014, there was over $1billion in development along that corridor, much of it in the vicinity of Bayview, Bessarion and Don Mills stations. The area surrounding Don Mills station has a density suitable for a subway at. Despite this, a majority of commuters along the Sheppard subway drive to work rather than use public transit. In 2016, according to Royson James of the Toronto Star, residents in the area commuted to jobs throughout the Greater Toronto Area by automobile rather than taking public transit. James stated that subways are designed for corridors with four to eight times the ridership along Sheppard Avenue East.