Toronto PATH Wayfinding

Client City of Toronto and the Toronto Financial District BIA
Location Toronto, Canada
Years 2016 - 2019
Services Wayfinding, Brand & Visual Identity, Cartography, GIS, Information Design

Toronto’s PATH is the world’s largest underground retail complex. The system connects office towers and links seamlessly with public transit, and experiences more than 200,000 business-day commuters, and thousands of additional tourists, visitors and residents.

Steer was commissioned by the City of Toronto and Toronto Financial District BIA to develop a functional specification and design concept for an improved PATH wayfinding system to meet the needs of PATH users and key stakeholders.

New PATH maps and signage focus on simplifying navigation within the PATH and getting people to major landmarks and neighbourhoods on the surface linking to the TO360 wayfinding system also designed by Steer's Design for Movement team for the City of Toronto.

The PATH wayfinding system is built around connector routes – continuous paths that allow users to navigate the entirety of the network – joining transportation hubs like Union Station to major destinations such as Yonge-Dundas Square. Branch routes reveal retail and other amenities located off the connectors.

The new wayfinding system encourages people to use the PATH and explore areas beyond their regular commuting route, and helps to attract new users. For every 1% increase in regular PATH users, the PATH generates $17 million in additional tax revenue.

The new maps are being rolled out across the network, with full implementation of the wider system taking place over the coming years.