Text/Photos by Sonya Davidson
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) announced the official launch of its free WiFi service at Bloor-Yonge and St. George stations. TCONNECT offers subway patrons access and cellular connections on platforms and other public spaces within the two stations.
These two initial locations are Toronto’s busiest subway stations and accommodate approximately 25 per cent of TTC subway riders each weekday.
BAI Canada has partnered with the TTC to provide an infrastructure to support the demand for the service.
This advertising-supported initiative will also include a new mobile and content based opportunities offering commuters access to on-the-go stories from Huffington Post Canada.
Mondelez Canada, makers of popular snacks like Stride and Dentyne Gum, OREO cookies and Cadbury chocolates will also support the service with messaging.
"This will revolutionize the way our customers interface with us in terms of getting information," says Andy Byford, TTC CEO, "and enables us also to deliver better information to our customers which is one of our chartered commitments."
These two stations are far from average. On a typical day the TTC accomodates over 325,000 riders walking into these two interchange stations.
There are currently 120 antennas, WiFi access points, switches, routers, power supplies and a built-in cellular ready distributed antennae system.There is enough fibre optic cable to run up the CN Tower three times over.
This announcement comes after a soft-launch on November 25th of the free service and marks the beginning of full WiFi accessibility.
TTC and BAI Canada aim to provide WiFi and cellular infrastructure to all subway stations, platforms, and walkways within the next three to four years.
A second phase will include cellular network within the TTC tunnels.
TTC has more than 1.7 million daily riders. The current WiFi access in the two stations provides 25 per cent of commuters with advertising-sponsored WiFi access.
BAI Canada will own and operate the subway wireless communications network and function as a single point of contact for all Toronto licensed Wireless Service Providers.