Toronto Transit Commission Leslie Station
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Westbound to Sheppard-Yonge | Leslie | Eastbound to Don Mills | 
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| Next Station: Bessarion | Next Station: Don Mills | |||
| Sheppard subway | ||||
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| Rapid Transit | Sheppard | |||||||||
| Surface Routes | 51, 85 | |||||||||
| Presto | No | |||||||||
| Opening Date | November 24, 2002 | |||||||||
| Platform | Centre | |||||||||
Leslie Station consists of a subway station and bus terminal operated by the TTC. It is located at 1209 Sheppard Ave. East, west of Leslie St.
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Station description
The main entrance to the station is located on Sheppard Ave., west of Leslie, just beside the CN Rail underpass. 2 automatic entrances are located outside the bus terminal (on Old Leslie St.) and at the south-west corner of the intersection of Leslie and Sheppard. A small parking lot and passenger pick-up/drop-off exists near the Old Leslie entrance.
Coming from the automatic entrance at Leslie/Sheppard, passengers go down a level and along a long corridor with skylights providing natural light. This leads directly to the east end of the platform, and this corridor is where the platform will be expanded when the time comes for the Sheppard line to use 6-car trains. The platform has 2 sets of stairs (both ascending up to the west) with escalators and an elevator to the main concourse, where the main entrance joins the station on the north side. The concourse is at Sheppard Ave. street level.
Another set of stairs and a corridor leads to the bus terminal, which has 4 underutilized bays, with 1 as an off-loading bay, 1 empty and 2 for the 51 Leslie route (north and south sections). The automatic entrance to Old Leslie is in this terminal, which is at Old Leslie street level.
History
The Sheppard Subway launched construction at the Leslie intersection, with the Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) launched in a large hole near this location. In this regard, it is the 2nd station on the Sheppard Line to be built (Sheppard-Yonge Station already existed as Sheppard Station on the Yonge line).
On June 29, 2000, Leslie Station was officially unveiled to the public with an open house. Festivities included a tour of the mostly-complete station, including a preview of the overhead signage which is the standard for the Sheppard line. Leslie was a good candidate for the open house because of the community's involvement with designing the station's artwork.
The first day of public subway service to this station was June 17, 2002, when the second Media Preview was held. A T1 train shuttled dignitaries and media around the line, and the train passed through Leslie Station twice. The first day of revenue service was November 24, 2002, when the Sheppard line was officially opened to the full public.
Leslie Station is one of the least used stations on the system. This is largely due to the land use around the station, being parkland and large commercial ('big box') stores around the station, and only 2 bus routes serving the station. Ridership will increase with a planned development west of the station and redevelopment of other residential areas near the station in the near future.
