At Metrolinx, we are in the midst of planning and building some of the biggest transit infrastructure in the world. An important part of our planning process includes making it easier for our customers to find their stations, stops and interchanges throughout our system, and through wayfinding applications like TripLinx and Google Maps.

Metrolinx has been studying the harmonization of regional transit wayfinding and a naming protocol was developed in 2015 for selecting names consistently across the regional transit network. Five principles guide the selection of new station, stop and interchange naming:

• Simple – Simple names are easier to remember;
• Logical – Logical names provide a mental link when trip planning, they should be relevant to the area they reside;
• Durable – Names should be relevant as long as the station exists;
• Self-locating – Names should allow customers to mentally locate themselves within the region; and
• Unique – A unique name is one that cannot be confused with any other location

Avoiding repetition of stop and station names are necessary to prevent confusing customers – there is an existing Dundas station on the TTC Line 1 (Yonge-University) and there will be a Dundas stop on the Hurontario LRT line. This can be confusing to a customer who is not familiar with the regional transit system or is trying to find the stop/station on an application like Google Maps. Changes to the names of several stops along the Hurontario and Finch West LRT lines were necessary to remove the repetition of stop/station names and make wayfinding easier for future customers.

Consulting the community and elected officials about changes to these stop names is an important part of the process. Engagement was carried out through the re-naming process to ensure the community and stakeholders had the opportunity to review and share their thoughts on the proposed name changes:

• Metrolinx invited the public via Metrolinx Engage to share their thoughts from January 29th to February 12th, 2018
• Stakeholders (municipalities, transit operators and the respective elected officials) were briefed and reviewed the proposed name changes
• Proposed names were brought to Metrolinx Senior Management for approval
• Proposed names were approved by the Metrolinx Board on April 10.

Consequently, the following changes were approved on the Hurontario LRT line:

Approved stop names with ampersands(&) like ‘Dundas & Hurontario’ are for wayfinding purposes only and to avoid repetition of stop/station names. A newcomer or tourist trying to find ‘Dundas Station’ using a regional transit map or an electronic map such as Google maps, would see both the TTC station and LRT stop. This could lead to confusion depending on their knowledge of the area and their intended destination. When future customers use wayfinding apps like Google Maps, they will find ‘Dundas & Hurontario’ to easily find the LRT stop in Mississauga.

And the following changes were approved on the Finch West LRT line: