Don Mills Subway Station

It’s clean. It’s easily accessible. There’s free parking (at the mall). A taxi stand outside. Straight to the mall. Even the condos across the street have access from their buildings.
So why 3 STARS? Well while big and clean, there really isn’t anything in it — just one small coffee/​donut place. For the size of it there is plenty of space to add a few other smaller kiosks — maybe a small juice place or a small place to grab sammies… something.
I know it’s not a happening stop like Yonge/​Bloor, or have the cache of Museum but it could still do something to add some ooomph!

This station has direct access to the Fairview Mall. This station has also two different entrances: Don Mills side and Sheppard side.
The Don Mills side has only token/​card swipe option.
The Sheppard side has token/​card swipe and TTC personnel to buy tokens.
There is also a taxi stand outside the station.
Inside the station there is a café place to buy pastries, drinks and coffees.
The bus terminal inside has access to TTC and VIVA.

Don mills station is a clean terminus that is at the end of the purple line. Like a lot of the Purple line stations it’s a huge cavern. It’s deep in the ground and it’s like you can fit a few jumbo jets inside it.
You have a passenger pick up area, a bus area with arrival times, a couple small shops for lotto and snacks, and Fairview mall.
I give it 3 stars because… Well… It’s a subway stop. The words TTC and 5-​stars have never crossed my mind. But it’s a pretty good one as subways come.

Don Mills is my closest station from my house… but I use it less than Finch.
Some of the reasons are out of the station’s control, mainly because I dislike the transfer from the Sheppard Line to the Yonge Line because, well simply I need to transfer. I like my one ride down the Yonge Line that I get for Finch.
However, I do not like how the commuter lot is on the upper floors of a parking lot. The elevators heading down do not work most of the time, so I have to use the stairs, which sometimes reek piss.
The other problem is the connection from the mall to the station, which Janna S. covered quite well. I hate walking from the entrance on Sheppard since I don’t always carry tokens with me, and the entrance closest to the mall (and parking area) only accepts tokens or metropasses.
I’ll stick to Finch for the time being. Besides, I usually only use the lots on weekends, so I don’t pay either way.

I walk through here twice a day and it’s quite a trek from the subway trains to the buses. I can think of several ways in which the design of this subway hub could be improved:
— The connection to the mall clearly wasn’t well thought out, since I have to walk through Sears to get to the actual mall. This makes absolutely no sense for mall employees or anyone accessing the mall before or after official mall hours, since it means walking all the way around the outside of the mall to get to an accessible entrance. This is uncovered and unprotected from the elements. This is annoying and unsafe, especially in evenings when the after-​movie vehicle traffic seems to pay no heed to pedestrians.
— There are no signs advising patrons of the next bus arrival times and often there seems to be no rhyme or reason for these — buses arrive in clusters or not at all. It’s feast or famine.
— Lighting outside of the indoor hub is very poor and the area is dank and depressing.
— Fix the roof! Every time it rains, the indoor and outdoor waiting areas near the buses become sopping wet and water drips down everywhere, even onto the gateway news stand.
–Purchasing a TTC pass or tokens requires subway users coming from the West to go all the way up to the East entrance, since there are no machines or employees selling these between the subway and bus areas. Makes no sense!

It’s not only a subway station, it’s a magical entrance way to Fairview Mall.
Easy to navigate and it’s pretty clean for a subway station.
And, the best part is if you are hungry they have a donut shop.
They sell spicy beef Jamaican patties.
Super yummy.
I don’t like taking public transit, but I do like the mall and I like being able to have a snack while I wait for the next train.

Don Mills Subway Station is my default station whenever I go downtown for my Unilocal adventure.
I know it is a hassle to change train to Yonge Subway line at Yonge and Sheppard. But free parking from 9:30 AM is a no brainer for me if I need to go downtown for lunch… Finch Station though more convenient but free parking is not until after 3 pm!
Of course, Don Mills has covered parking, this is good for both summer and winter as my car would never be boiling hot or covered in a blanket of snow.
Being right next to Fairview Mall also really convenient if you want to do some shopping or just get a coffee or a quick bite!