Midland

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Subway Related Properties Page

Text by James Bow

See Also

VIDEO - Station Walkthrough, by Damian Baranowski.

Midland station is a station on the Scarborough RT between Scarborough Centre station and Ellesmere station. It is the westernmost station on the route’s elevated section. West of the station, the tracks descend into a tunnel beneath Metrolinx’s Uxbridge subdivision before curving south and rising to the surface north of Ellesmere station.

Midland station opened with the rest of the line on March 24, 1985 and shares the steel-and-glass architectural style of other stations on the line, save for Kennedy. The station straddles Midland Avenue and has two side platforms with stairs and escalators leading directly to one of two entrances located at street level, on either side of Midland Avenue. The west-side entrance is watched over by a station collector, but the east-side entrance is automatic and is accessible only by token or Metropass. The station is not accessible and likely never will be.

The automatic entrance on the eastern side was the result of a budget cut made before the Scarborough RT opened that resulted in a number of changes to reduce costs. The removal of a station collector booth at the east side of Midland was one of the cuts. At the time, local politicians and area residents expressed concern about how passengers on the east side of Midland Avenue (such as those transferring from a northbound 57 MIDLAND bus) would access the station, suggesting people would jaywalk. Rider Calvin Cotnam noted that, “Metropasses and transfers could be used (at the east-side entrance) by placing (them) face up on the stand where a token could be inserted. A camera directly overhead allowed the collector across the street to see it, along with another overhead camera that allowed seeing who was waiting to enter. Then, the entrance could be remotely enabled.”

As a result of the automatic entrance, before the current generation of transfer machines, the eastern entrance transfer machines would stamp out “MIDLAND STATION - Automatic Entrance”, possibly so that passengers on that side could enter the station, cross over Midland Avenue, and show the transfer to board southbound 57 MIDLAND buses, although it’s unlikely few passengers took advantage of this.

The inconvenient location of the station, and the lack of significant development in the surrounding area has made Midland station the second least-used of the Scarborough RT, behind Ellesmere, with just 2,460 passing through its gates on an average weekday in 2014. The station was initially planned for preservation when Metrolinx planned to convert the Scarborough RT into an LRT option, but when the city vetoed that plan in favour of an extension of the BLOOR-DANFORTH SUBWAY, the new alignment bypassed the station area, and indeed offered no replacement station on Midland Avenue.

Trivia

Calvin Cotnam writes, “The SRT was originally equipped with automatically reversing escalators. One could stand at the entrance of an escalator going the wrong way, and if nobody boarded the other end within some time (within 15-30 seconds?), it would stop and reverse. A somewhat slow process, but likely more suited for a less busy station. At some point, the disabled the feature and left them on one direction. While a neat feature, I suspect it was not popular on two counts. First, who heads for a wrong-way escalator, and second, who wants to wait the time it takes to use the stairs just for it to stop and reverse so you can start using it?”
Calvin supplies one last story about Midland: “During construction when the metalwork was in place to support the forms, clearance was significantly lower than it is with the finished station. At least one truck that I am aware of got stuck under there. This one I know of was carrying a dumpster bin that was chained down. From my understanding, it should have cleared under with inches to spare. However, the driver hit the brakes at the last moment (either because of a last moment thought it wouldn’t fit, or because of traffic conditions). This caused the load to shift forward and due to how it was secured from moving too much, it lifted enough to get caught. I seem to recall that it lifted after it was under, as the first couple of trusses were intact.”

Service Notes (as of date before Scarborough RT Shutdown, July 23, 2023):

Off-Site Resources:
- The official TTC Midland Page
- Station Fixation - Midland, by Nathan Ng.
- VIDEO - Station Walkthrough, by Damian Baranowski.
Line: 3 SCARBOROUGH RT
Address: 2085 Midland Avenue
Opened: March 24, 1985
Average Weekday Ridership: 2,460 (2014); 3,020 (2013)
Hours of Operation:
First Train to Kennedy: 5:49 a.m. weekdays, 5:53 a.m. Saturdays/holidays, 8:01 a.m. Sundays.
First Train to McCowan: 6:09 a.m. weekdays, 6:11 a.m. Saturdays/holidays, 8:19 a.m. Sundays Last Train to Kennedy: 1:21 a.m. every day. Last Train to McCowan: 1:39 a.m. every day
Entrances:
- Midland Avenue, West Side Entrance - located on the west side of Midland Avenue, 278 metres south of Progress Avenue
- Midland Avenue, East Side Entrance (Automatic) - located on the east side of Midland Avenue, 278 metres south of Progress Avenue, stair access to platforms only
Elevators: None
Escalators (click here for maintenance schedule):
- West Side Street Level To Kennedy-bound Scarborough RT - Up At All Times
- West Side Street Level To McCowan-bound Scarborough RT - Up At All Times
Parking: None
Not wheelchair accessible
No in-station washrooms
Token vending machine
Two side platforms

TTC Surface Route Connections:

57 MIDLAND (on-street transfer)

Midland Station Image Archive

	A view of the structure of Midland Station under construction, looking north along Midland Avenue on October 18, 1983. This photo was taken for the Toronto Archives and is courtesy Nathan Ng's Station Fixation website.
	A view of Midland Station's structure on a snowy February 7, 1985. This photo, looking northeast, was taken for the Toronto Archives and is courtesy Nathan Ng's Station Fixation website.
	A view of the elevated guideway extending east from Midland station. Note the uncovered platform, for use if six-car trains were used on the line. This photo was taken for the Toronto Archives on April 18, 1985 and is courtesy Nathan Ng's Station Fixation site.
	TTC ICTS car #3021 enters the westbound platform of Midland station on April 18, 1985. This photo was taken for the Toronto Archives and is courtesy Nathan Ng's Station Fixation page.
	A view of the Midland station structure, looking south along Midland Avenue. This photo was taken for the Toronto Archives on April 18, 1985 and is courtesy Nathan Ng's Station Fixation website.
	A view of Midland Station and the elevated right-of-way, looking east. This shot was taken for the Toronto Archives on May 22, 1985 and is courtesy Nathan Ng's Station Fixation site.
	A shot of the western entrance to Midland station, looking east towards Midland Avenue. This shot was taken for the Toronto Archives on May 23, 1985, and is courtesy Nathan Ng's Station Fixation website.
	An aerial view of Midland RT station, looking north. Note the asymmetry of the glass compared to the symmetry of the concrete, which highlights how the RT was designed to handle six-car ICTS trains, with the platforms shortened during construction as a cost-saving measure. This photograph, taken circa 2000, is courtesy the Toronto Archives and Nathan Ng's Station Fixation website.
	Wikipedia user GTDAquitaine took this image of the west-side entrance to Midland station from a northbound 57 MIDLAND bus on August 15, 2008. This image is used in accordance with his Creative Commons License.
	Here we see the west end of Midland station on the Scarborough RT. This shot was taken by the Wikipedia user Secondarywaltz on March 31, 2012 and is used in accordance with his Creative Commons License
	Richard White snapped this photograph of an automatic fare gate at Midland station, with a sign alerting passengers that they can show their transfer and speak to the attendant at the main entrance via intercom and camera. This picture was taken on September 17, 2014.
	Looking back at the automatic entrance fare gates of Midland station's east-side entrance. This photograph was taken by Richard White on September 17, 2014.
	Midland station's platforms, viewed from the Kennedy-bound platform, looking west. This photo was taken by Richard White on September 17, 2014.
	The Midland station sign, seen looking south across the tracks from the Kennedy-bound platform. This photo was taken by Richard White on September 17, 2014.
	Same view nearly two-and-a-half years later: Richard White revisited Midland Station on January 14, 2017.
	TTC Orion VII "Next Gen" bus #1282 pulls up to Midland station southbound on Midland Avenue on the afternoon of May 30, 2018. Photo by James Bow.