# PATH Toronto



## Aaron King (Sep 6, 2005)

I was walking through the PATH in Toronto today to get to work without going out in the rain. For those that don't know this is basically an underground shopping mall made of hallways that connects the bulk of the major office towers in the downtown core as well as the subway stations. Many Torontonians can go a long period of time without going outside in the winter, as far as I know if you live at or around Yonge and Bloor you could get as far as Hamilton or Oshawa without your head exposed to the elements. Two questions . . . 1. does anyone have pictures of the PATH?
and 2. is there anything else like this anywhere else in the world? perhaps New York or Chicago?


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## Skybean (Jun 16, 2004)

Montreal's underground system is pretty impressive as well... though I'm too lazy to find any pictures.


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## thryve (Mar 5, 2005)

Johannesburg, South Africa has some underground connections... nothing like PATH though...


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## Byron (Oct 6, 2002)

This guy has some great photos of the PATH, unfortunately I don't read Arabic so I don't know what he wrote about it.

http://tehrantonian.brinkster.net/Toronto/PATH/PATH_Index.html


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## reluminate (Aug 3, 2004)

New York has some similar undergroud concourses. The undergroud concourse at Rockefeler Center comes to mind.


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## algonquin (Sep 24, 2004)

Byron said:


> This guy has some great photos of the PATH, unfortunately I don't read Arabic so I don't know what he wrote about it.
> 
> http://tehrantonian.brinkster.net/Toronto/PATH/PATH_Index.html


I LOVE his url.... tehrantonian... get it? Tehran? Arabic?

Come on people....


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## Jaye101 (Feb 16, 2005)

^^lol yea, that guy's a joker.


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## spyguy (Apr 16, 2005)

Chicago has an extensive pedway system with some retail I believe. I'll look it up later perhaps.


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## samsonyuen (Sep 23, 2003)

Not just Bloor and Yonge, but as far as the subway reaches. So you could go into the subway station at Finch and Yonge, Downsview Park, Kipling and Dundas W., or McCowan and Borough, and connect to the PATH. But the PATH itself goes only as far north as Yonge and Dundas. The Yorkville underground city is basically along Bloor, as far east as Park, and just west of Bay, and not connected to the PATH, except by subway.


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## James Saito (Nov 6, 2002)

Does PATH close at night?
I'm wondering if it doesn't get full of homeless people...


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## KGB (Sep 12, 2002)

The retail part of PATH in the financial district closes after regular business hours (except for some bars/restaurants)...but the BAy/Eaton Centre is open late. Things like hotels and Union Station don't close obviously.

Other than the parts that are actually under the street (and public property), almost all of it is private property, and therefore they can keep the homeless out all they want...they all have security.

To clarify, PATH is one contigious underground system in the city...there are many others, which are linked underground because the subway links all of them...keeping it all underground/indoors.






KGB


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## Aaron King (Sep 6, 2005)

just an aside to this, anyone in toronto think we need more subways? Wouldn't it be fantastic to get rid of all the streetcars and replace them with subways? it would clear up a lot of traffic on the surface and make commuting a breeze. Montreal is much smaller than Toronto and has a much more extensive subway system. What streets would you like to see the subway under? Eglinton? Queen? Bathurst?


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## samsonyuen (Sep 23, 2003)

I don't think every streetcar route can support a subway route. Could you imagine Dundas, Queen and King having subway routes to themselves? That would never justify its costs. But maybe a line under Queen someday would make sense. Montréal's subway coverage downtown is more extensive, but outside of downtown, Toronto's is more extensive.


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## Aaron King (Sep 6, 2005)

understood . . . Queen I think would be the best option, especially with the expansion to the west end with city place etc etc, what about south of front? and then again south of the gardiner? . . . do we need Path? a subway? i had heard that for Expo who knows what year there was a plan to do a subway along the north shore of the lake to service those in the condo boom area. Then there's the whole debacle with Scarborough trans and it getting a possible subway. The problem i've heard is that the possibility is low on any further subways because the cost is around $150 million every new km of track. The subway needs to be expanded quite a bit, Path should be as well, yet another aside, anyone work in the PATH? is it depressing being underground all day?


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## Aaron King (Sep 6, 2005)

anyone know the PATH really well? is there a good way to get from King and Peter or John area to Union station without going outside in the winter? As well anyone have pics of the PATH or of the similar concourses in New York, Chicago?


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## B.Tinoff (Aug 26, 2004)

^PATH does not go that far. The closest entrance from King and Peter is the Merill Lynch bldg. (University Ave), which is is quite the detour.

Screw the cold, and hit the streets.


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## *UofT* (Jul 25, 2004)

A bit offtopic, but Tehran is in Iran they dont speak Arabic they speak Farsi or Persian. :lol: Just clearing some misconceptions


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## spyguy (Apr 16, 2005)

Thanks to Mark Spiegl's work:









Here's one section of it:


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## zerokarma (May 29, 2005)

I used to use the path system all the time when I worked in downtown Toronto, its awesome in the winter time. For those new to the path it is easy to get lost down there but if you are downtown long enough you figure it out pretty quickly.

Here's a PDF link of it:
http://www.pantageshotel.com/pdf/path_brochure.pdf

And here's the City of Toronto page about it with info and facts:
http://www.toronto.ca/path/


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## cassius (Aug 26, 2003)

B.Tinoff said:


> ^PATH does not go that far. The closest entrance from King and Peter is the Merill Lynch bldg. (University Ave), which is is quite the detour.
> 
> Screw the cold, and hit the streets.


That's not exactly true. You can enter the PATH from just east of John St in Metro Hall. Once down there you go east past Roy Thompson Hall, through the system past the University line subway and down on to Union. I've done it a number of times to avoid the weather.

Here's a map of the system
http://www.toronto.ca/path/pdf/path_brochure.pdf


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## B.Tinoff (Aug 26, 2004)

Hey, whatya know. Thanks for the correction.


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## Aaron King (Sep 6, 2005)

thank you for the responses, every time i've tried that route i end up going outside at the subway line and then back into the PATH, so i don't have to go outside at all?


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## cassius (Aug 26, 2003)

Aaron King,
From Metro Hall you can get to Union Station without having to go outside.


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## Chief (Jun 23, 2005)

I lived in Toronto for a year, just next door to City Hall (so just at the Northern edge of the PATH system, where it says 'Holiday Inn', now a University of Toronto residence).

Here's a map of the whole system:









It's an incredble resource - I used it regularly to get to the Air Canada Centre or SkyDome, starting in Nathan Philips Square. This was about a 20 minute walk, all underground. See if you can trace my route down to Union Station which is adjacent to the ACC, which is just off the southern edge of the map!

I have only one picture of the system, taken in the section beneath the TD Centre complex:









Each section of the system has it's own 'theme', genrally matching the tower above it (hence the TD centre bit is black, Beneath the BMO building it's white, beneath the RBC building it's golden, and so on). The malls beneath each tower are connected by corridors, generally maintained by collaboration between both building owners. The city takes responsibility for maintaining signage etc.

As for 24-hours access - I can testify that it's open all hours. I have no idea how they keep the homeless out, as there are several unguarded access points. Although all the shops close by around 6pm, most entrances and exits remain open (though some are locked at night).

Given the irregular pattern of the PATH walkways, it's very easy to get disoriented and lost in the system!


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## samsonyuen (Sep 23, 2003)

^It's a shame they changed the storefronts at TD Centre. I loved the uniformity of them.


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## CrazyCanuck (Oct 9, 2004)

Eventually they should connect Citibank to Simcoe, because it just seems so stupid have to go all the way around to King street and then back down.


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## samsonyuen (Sep 23, 2003)

^connect both Citibank and Simcoe to Metro Convention Centre. Maybe after the Ritz and Cadillac Fairview buildings are built.


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## Chief (Jun 23, 2005)

How old is that map? If I remember correctly, the sections marked as 'coming soon' are already complete, are they not?


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## Skybean (Jun 16, 2004)

My favourite area is the Scotiabank atrium... there's an area (beside the food court) where you can look straight up and see Scotia Plaza just towering there. Very imposing. 

I also love TD Centre, the colours are, for the most part, very coordinated. White on black. Sleek and sexy.

In terms of the MINT cluster PATH areas, the best shopping would go to the shops of FCP.


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## snoopy (Sep 21, 2005)

I hear from some friends going to University of Toronto Scarborough Campus that most of their buildings are linked through underground pathways also. When winter comes thats a pretty good deal.


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## SOLOMON (May 18, 2005)

nice! I love this!


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## KGB (Sep 12, 2002)

"I also love TD Centre, the colours are, for the most part, very coordinated. White on black. Sleek and sexy."


Yea, except they caved to the tennants, and allowed the storefronts to be changed to the stores custom facades.

What a bloody shame eh? Mies designed that shopping concourse...down to the last detail (just like the banking hall). Sure it's "stark"....but it's a Mies...what were you expecting...baroque???

The TD Centre, as great as it is, has been fucked-over quite a bit on the integrity of it's purist form, as prescribed by it's designer. Someone should get a boot in the ass for it too.






KGB


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## algonquin (Sep 24, 2004)

KGB said:


> The TD Centre, as great as it is, has been fucked-over quite a bit on the integrity of it's purist form, as prescribed by it's designer. Someone should get a boot in the ass for it too.
> 
> 
> KGB


I totally agree.. I hate what they did to the concourse.


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## PhilippeMtl (Aug 17, 2005)

Montreal underground city (RÉSO):

It consists of 30 km of tunnels spread over an area of twelve square kilometres of downtown Montreal. The underground city includes 60 residential and commercial complexes comprising 3.6 square kilometres of floor space, including 80% of all office space and 35% of all commercial space in the centre.

There are more than 120 exterior access points to the underground city. Some 500,000 people use the underground city per day, especially to escape Montreal's harsh winter.


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## Chief (Jun 23, 2005)

I have to say, Montreal's undergournd city is on a different scale to Toronto's! It's just so HUGE, and on multiple levels below ground, too. Unbelievable.


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## algonquin (Sep 24, 2004)

^ are they not basically the same size? Toronto's PATH is a 27km network.

On Toronto's PATH website, it claims that Guinness World Records has it as the largest underground shopping complex. However, I've seen sources that claim Montreals is the biggest, so I always assumed they were pretty close.


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## -Corey- (Jul 8, 2005)

More pix please


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## Chief (Jun 23, 2005)

I think Montreal's network extends over a larger area, but isn't as comprehensive, i.e. it only covers a few streets. Toronto's on the other, covers the bulk of it's downtown with few gaps.

But I'm no expert... this is all just from memory!


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