[UntitledCyclist]

I'm not sure I'd call Etobicoke General Hospital and the 20,000 people at Humber Polytechnic – the western terminus – nowhere. Or the Jane & Finch neighbourhood. With almost 40,000 riders a day in Fall 2024, the 36 Finch West has the highest ridership of any bus route in Toronto, exceed only by the 504 King and even higher than Line 4. It was 55,000 pre-Covid in 2019. Admittedly some of the 36 traffic is between Finch West and Finch station.

Hey, I was referring to it's depiction on the map, as a nub with no terminal station or any other info.

 

[A 6264]

Still, if they properly center the sign in the visible space it will look far better than the Don Valley renaming (using a big black background sign instead of a glass frosting treatment) or the TMU signs.

I'm hoping the signage is temporary (the black background is there to hide the station's previous name), and will eventually be replaced.

 

[McGillicuddy]

Line 2 - is it O-Train? Or, the new Ottawa LRT? I did not have a chance to visit and ride the new LRT since it opened. On the OC Transpo map, it shows the new LRT as Line 1, and O-Train as Line 2.

But if we are talking about the new LRT, then I am a bit puzzled how the underground line can end up being slower than the mixed-traffic bus via Albert St / Slater St.

You're quite correct.

It's confusing, because Ottawa's Line 2 opened nearly two decades before Line 1. But it makes sense contextually.

Line 1 was a purpose-built transit corridor, featuring a tunnel through downtown and then broadly following a former busway into the suburbs at either end. It was designed to replace more than a thouand daily bus trips, with the entire bus network re-engineered around it, and most stations outside the downtown core having off-street bus bays. It is meant to be the spine of a growing transit network, fully integrated with other services.

Line 2 was the cheapest possible project that could plausibly be called a "rail pilot". It is a converted freight corridor, and it does not serve downtown Ottawa: in fact, before its recent expansion, the only major destinations it served were Carleton University and the large South Keys strip mall. There was no effort at bus integration except where the line already met the Transitway, many of the stations basically amounted to bus stops, and several portions of the line were single-tracked, forcing it to operate with 15-minute headways. Which is to say, hardly anybody used it, except for people who lived near stations and wanted to go to Carleton or the mall.

When Line 1 opened, Line 2 became much more useful by virtue of connecting: you could now reach Carleton and South Keys from downtown with a single off-street transfer. Line 4, which connects Line 2 to the Ottawa Airport, makes it even more useful, although with two transfers, this service is notably slower than the direct bus that used to run out of downtown. And double-tracking of the line now makes more useful headways practical, which has made it more generally attractive.

Of course, clever readers will have noticed that this means Line 4 has opened before Line 3, which does rather make this all more confusing. But that's what you get with OC Transpo.

 

[Kyle Campbell]

You're quite correct.

It's confusing, because Ottawa's Line 2 opened nearly two decades before Line 1. But it makes sense contextually.

Line 1 was a purpose-built transit corridor, featuring a tunnel through downtown and then broadly following a former busway into the suburbs at either end. It was designed to replace more than a thouand daily bus trips, with the entire bus network re-engineered around it, and most stations outside the downtown core having off-street bus bays. It is meant to be the spine of a growing transit network, fully integrated with other services.

Line 2 was the cheapest possible project that could plausibly be called a "rail pilot". It is a converted freight corridor, and it does not serve downtown Ottawa: in fact, before its recent expansion, the only major destinations it served were Carleton University and the large South Keys strip mall. There was no effort at bus integration except where the line already met the Transitway, many of the stations basically amounted to bus stops, and several portions of the line were single-tracked, forcing it to operate with 15-minute headways. Which is to say, hardly anybody used it, except for people who lived near stations and wanted to go to Carleton or the mall.

When Line 1 opened, Line 2 became much more useful by virtue of connecting: you could now reach Carleton and South Keys from downtown with a single off-street transfer. Line 4, which connects Line 2 to the Ottawa Airport, makes it even more useful, although with two transfers, this service is notably slower than the direct bus that used to run out of downtown. And double-tracking of the line now makes more useful headways practical, which has made it more generally attractive.

Of course, clever readers will have noticed that this means Line 4 has opened before Line 3, which does rather make this all more confusing. But that's what you get with OC Transpo.

I didn't mean to derail the thread with semantics about Ottawa. As an FYI the entire system is branded OTrain, both line 1 and the original, now né Line 2.

But the point is that the trip from South Key via Line 2 to Rideau is longer than the old (still existing) transitway bus as it takes a longer route.

However getting to the original point, people take the train because it's far more reliable schedule-wise than the bus. With the train you know exactly how long your journey will take, the bus it's a lottery ticket every time.

I'm assuming here with Line 5 people will prefer it to the bus journey for the same reason, people may even divert to line 5 from a journey that might be technically shorter by bus if they feel they are more likely to get to their destination at the expected time

 

[nfitz]

Hey, I was referring to it's depiction on the map, as a nub with no terminal station or any other info.

Ah.

Line 2 and 4 have been shown like that for years. And Line 5 is now too. I'm not sure what else would work easily and remain clear for a vertical strip mark. Often a system may only have the line symbol.

Context:

 

[UntitledCyclist]

A tragedy on Montreal's REM line in the wee hours this morning, during the non-passenger service period. Three young men were hit on the tracks, with two dying of their injuries. Early reports suggest they crossed a highway and hopped a fence before crossing the REM tracks, when a train approached in testing or technical operation. I believe those trains are unmanned, which spared at least the trauma of an operator.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/rem-train-dead-critical-condition-9.6989021

I don't imagine this will have a direct impact on the readiness for Lines 5 & 6, but I am sure TTC and Metrolinx and the city are watching very closely.

 

[a2z]

Earlier today @ Birchmount I saw 2 EB trains at opposite ends of that intersection (well, close enough that they'd fit into the same panorama picture you'd take on your phone)
Wasn't expecting to see bunching on a Sunday!

 

[Obsidian]

Revenue Service Demonstration (RSD) on the Eglinton Line began on October 7, 2025, so it's been 47 days since the 30 day demonstration began, and 29 days since the resumption of testing on Oct 25. If they restarted RSD on Oct 25 then Nov 24 should be the end of RSD. But Metrolinx claimed they did not restart RSD.

 

[pleaseLRT]

I know this forum will use any excuse to go off-topic, but I think debating the worst aspects of people's deaths on a completely different transit line in a completely different city is too off-topic even for this group

Anyways,

Revenue Service Demonstration (RSD) on the Eglinton Line began on October 7, 2025, so it's been 47 days since the 30 day demonstration began, and 29 days since the resumption of testing on Oct 25. If they restarted RSD on Oct 25 then Nov 24 should be the end of RSD. But Metrolinx claimed they did not restart RSD.

Yup - if there's "absolutely still a chance" for this to open in 2025, then an announcement about substantial completion and/or full handover to the TTC should be made very soon. Unfortunately, given that MX's board documents (dated for this Thursday) state that Line 5 is still currently in RSD, I am not optimistic about any 2025 opening date

 

[ShonTron]

Yeah, going to delete a few posts here.

 

[toonderly]

People's preferences vary. Shakiness is not a factor for me, but may be a factor for other riders.

On Eglinton, we can expect a massive inflow of riders, but it will be hard to classify what brought them to this line because multiple factors will be in play.

New residential construction => a greater pool of potential riders.

Much faster operation in the tunnel part => Eglinton route is more attractive for existing riders who previously chose other routes.

Plus, the comfort factor.

The majority of riders will probably have been accustomed to taking the buses along Eglinton and will prefer the LRT because of frequency and reliability. There may be some who used to take a different bus where now line 5 will improve some section of their journey.

I used to have to make a choice between the number 11 bus from Davisville which would stop right in front of my destination or one of the buses from Eglinton where I would either change to the 11 at Bayview or walk the extra distance. The 11 was too infrequent and often unreliable, and also I am prone to motion sickness and that section along Davisville in the bus would leave me feeling very queasy. The Eglinton bus was much better and I don't think there's any question I would prefer line 5 over the bus.

Yup - if there's "absolutely still a chance" for this to open in 2025, then an announcement about substantial completion and/or full handover to the TTC should be made very soon. Unfortunately, given that MX's board documents (dated for this Thursday) state that Line 5 is still currently in RSD, I am not optimistic about any 2025 opening date

My bet is there is a lot of pressure and if there is any hope at all they are trying for an 11th hour go.

 

[SkyScraaaper]

Walked in the underground crossing section underneath the Allen Expressway to get to Eglinton West Station (Cedarvale) and basically the entire concourse to transfer from Line 5 to 1 is open. It's quite a bit bigger than expected. The TTC booth was manned by TTC staff as well.

 

[TOtramz]

Revenue Service Demonstration (RSD) on the Eglinton Line began on October 7, 2025, so it's been 47 days since the 30 day demonstration began, and 29 days since the resumption of testing on Oct 25. If they restarted RSD on Oct 25 then Nov 24 should be the end of RSD. But Metrolinx claimed they did not restart RSD.

I thought metrolinx did claim that RSD restarted, or at least the minister of transportation publicly stated that

 

[pleaseLRT]

I thought metrolinx did claim that RSD restarted, or at least the minister of transportation publicly stated that

Yes, MX made this claim on October 23:

According to the Transportation Minister, RSD will be resuming today...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1981411764245086341

I think @Obsidian is trying to say that MX did not restart RSD from day 1 on October 25. This is confirmed by the Global News article from November 11: "As the earlier incident occurred during the unscored phase of testing, the timeline for RSD did not ‘restart’ to day 1 but rather resumed as unscored testing once the trains were on the line again".

 

[jordanmkasla2009]

The majority of riders will probably have been accustomed to taking the buses along Eglinton and will prefer the LRT because of frequency and reliability. There may be some who used to take a different bus where now line 5 will improve some section of their journey.
<snip/>

Nothing gets me more frustrated than how long it can take sometimes for an eastbound 32 bus to be able to turn left out of Cedarvale because of how many selfish drivers block the clearly identified box trying to get onto the Allen.