What’s good about TTC signage

The news isn’t all bad. Old TTC signs – usually white on black and manufactured of enamelled steel – have a lot going for them.

• The font is unique. It doesn’t have a name, but TTC claims to call it the Station font for its own purposes. There are a few typefaces that are vaguely similar, but there’s nothing identical to it.
• Old signs are apparently functional, though that hasn’t been tested. They seem to be functional, despite using all capitals, because they’re so large, they use strictly minimal wording, they have good hierarchies of importance, and arrows are usually in the right place.
• Since they’re made of steel plates with a baked-on finish, they’re virtually indestructible. Most of them are the original signs from the opening of the subway 50 years ago.