TTC will let the public explore abandoned Lower Bay Station this weekend
The TTC will offer the public a rare chance to explore the only abandoned subway station on the transit network this month, just in time to celebrate the arrival of the spooky season.
Bay Lower Station (better known, to the chagrin of the TTC, as Lower Bay) will open to the public this coming weekend, transforming the abandoned (and allegedly haunted) platforms into the perfect venue for a fun and spooky family event, days ahead of Halloween.
The TTC is bringing back Halloween Fest at Bay Lower Station for the third year in a row for 2024, inviting the public to enjoy activities like a haunted subway train or a less intense, kid-friendly Halloween train.
Attendees will also have the chance to capture unique photo ops in the abandoned station, while kids can participate in free giveaways.
Halloween Fest was a spooktacular success! Over 12,000 people visited our haunted trains at Bay Lower in support of @UWGreaterTO. Thanks to our employee volunteers, student volunteers, and donors, Joe’s No Frills and Loblaw City Market Bloor Street, for their generosity and time! pic.twitter.com/yWwwExlHSc
— TTC Customer Service (@TTChelps) October 31, 2023
The station has remained shuttered since 1966, closed just eight months after its debut with the cancellation of a brief but ultimately problematic experiment to interline the Yonge-University and Bloor-Danforth subway lines, as they were then known.
Aside from special events like Doors Open, the station has remained off-limits to the public in a mothballed state for almost 60 years, mainly serving as a movie and television filming location below the still-active Bay Station platforms above.
The disused station's history as a filming location will also be featured in this weekend's event, where attendees can learn about all of the movies and television shows shot at Lower Bay.
Here's what it's like inside Toronto's famous abandoned Lower Bay stationhttps://t.co/QvtNN0PvFN #Toronto #TTC #LowerBayStation
— blogTO (@blogTO) June 8, 2022
Those interested in attending the spooky ghost station next weekend are advised that Bay Lower Station is only accessible by stairs, as its escalators have now been out of commission for decades and would take extensive work to bring back into service.
However, some activities will be available to visitors on Bay Station's accessible concourse level.
Halloween Fest at Bay Lower Station runs on Saturday, October 26, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and again on Sunday, October 27, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tickets will be sold for $5 at Bay Station's Cumberland entrance (kids under two can enter for free), and all proceeds will go to United Way Greater Toronto.
Jack Landau
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