Anyone up for renaming some TTC subway stations?

The TTC might consider selling off subway line and station naming rights when its advertising contract with CBS Outdoor expires at the end of the year. Might consider. To be clear, there's currently no plan to do this, but it's one of a number of new initiatives that the Commission encourages those bidding for the contract to submit as part of their proposals, which are due by May 19th (for more on this, check out Joe Clark's initial blog entry and the full request for proposals).

At this point, it's kind of silly to speculate whether or not such a strategy will actually be adopted as there's just too little to go on. But that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun with the idea. If station and line naming rights were to be put on the market, they'd no doubt be bought up by major corporations, which is what happened when New York's MTA offered up its station names for purchase. Although the plan failed to garner much interest for years, in 2009 Barclays snapped up the rights to a busy two-station hub in Brooklyn for $4 million, which will soon be known as Barclays Center.

But that's so boring it makes my teeth hurt. So why don't we get a little creative? If the tunnel boring machines are worthy of nicknames, surely the stations and lines are even more deserving. And we already have an anagram map courtesy of John Martz, so it's time to try something new.

Given its proximity to Koreatown, why not Kimchi Station for Christie? Or Blue Blood for Rosedale? There doesn't really need to be one thematic scheme — as one sees on the awesome New York City Sub Culinary Map. So long as suggestions are funny and/or relevant, the inspiration could really come from anywhere (food, demographics, station appearance, a nearby landmark, etc.).

Truth is, I've wanted to try this for a while, but I lack the scope and wit to pull it off on my own. If we can pull together some good suggestions, I'll fashion a new map for our collective enjoyment. And, hey, if full-scale interest isn't there, at least we can come up with a few funny ones. So put on your thinking cap and give us your ideas for new station and line names!

Lead image John Martz.