Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (also known as Vaughan, Vaughan Metro Centre or VMC) is a rapid transit station in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. Opened on December 17, 2017, it is the north terminus of the western section of the Toronto subway's Line 1 Yonge–University. It is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and is one of two subway stations in the system outside of Toronto's city limits. It provides connections to a York Region Transit (YRT) Viva bus rapid transit route along the Highway 7 Rapidway, which is also used by a Brampton Transit Züm route, as well as several local YRT bus routes.
Located in Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, the suburban city's planned downtown, the station is designated by Metrolinx as a mobility hub, one of several multimodal transit terminals in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The station has a 900-space park-and-ride lot, which is privately owned and operated by SmartCentres, unlike other TTC rapid transit station parking lots which are owned and operated by the TTC itself.
Description
The subway station is located on the northwest corner of Millway Avenue and Highway 7, west of Jane Street, and is one of two new stations that are outside the City of Toronto in York Region. This is the northernmost station in the subway system.
Grimshaw Architects designed the station, which has a domed ovoid entrance building just north of the Rapidway platforms on Highway 7. The building has four main entrances in an X pattern, plus an underground connection to two office buildings, one of which contains the David Braley Vaughan Metropolitan Centre of Community, which houses a YMCA and the VMC branch of the Vaughan Public Library. The main entrance features a cool roof, and a nearby electrical substation located on the south side of Highway 7 has a green roof. Toronto-based Paul Raff Studio provided the station's artwork, titled Atmospheric Lense, consisting of coloured mirrored panels and windows located on the domed ceiling, and visible by looking up stairwells.
Underground corridors lead both north and south from the station's concourse level to two York Region Transit (YRT) bus terminals. The north corridor leads to the SmartVMC Bus Terminal, where passengers can transfer to conventional YRT bus routes, and the south corridor leads to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Vivastation on the Highway 7 Rapidway, where riders connect to Viva and Züm bus rapid transit routes. The fare-paid area features a Gateway Newstands kiosk.
History
On November 27, 2009, the official groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE), and tunnelling began in June 2011. The project was expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2016, but the timeline was revised, with the station planned to open by the end of 2017.
The ceremonial opening of the extension to Vaughan took place at the station on December 17, 2017, attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne and Mayor of Toronto John Tory. The station replaced as the northwestern terminus of Line 1.
While VMC, along with the five other TYSSE stations, had a fare booth installed as per original station plans, it never housed collectors, as the station was among the first eight (along with the first two south of the extension) to discontinue sales of legacy TTC fare media such as tokens and tickets. Presto vending machines were available at its opening to sell Presto cards and to load funds or monthly passes onto them. On May 3, 2019, this station became one of the first ten stations to sell Presto tickets via Presto vending machines.