[jmi22]

New frontpage story on the opening:

Eglinton Line 5: Major Game Changer Opens, Awaits Tweaks | UrbanToronto

After more than 15 years of construction and over $12 billion, Eglinton Line 5 carried its first passengers on Fabruary 8, 2026. While 'the Crosstown LRT' has finally opened to the public following over half a decade of delays, it has not yet reached full service levels, with frequencies and...

urbantoronto.ca

 

[Mind_the_gap]

I wonder if that thick orange border is meant to signify that this station will be under Ontario Line construction for years. That to me is the only plausible reason for this update at Don Valley.

I can assure you, it's not the reason for Don Valley.

Guess I was correct about using the orange border for showing that the station is under ongoing Ontario Line 3 construction...

Interesting to see that Don Valley has morphed into a Metrolinx wayfinding hybrid.

 

[jmi22]

The Crosstown was basically a P5 process as I call it. There were too many cooks in the kitchen. Too much involvement from every branch of government and Crosslinx.

Its my opinion that either a P3 should be a complete hand off of a project to a private firm, including maintenance and operation, with strict contracts dictating what the intended outcome objectives need to be, or don't bother outsourcing the work at all.

This whole half assed P3, where every person gets a tiny little say in every aspect of the project was a disaster for obvious reasons. Not only for delaying the project and creating cost over runs, but everyone can point fingers and blame everyone else when things go tits up.

Yep, a highly independent consortium structure, where the private sector fronts the capital, takes the risk and designs the line, but is guaranteed returns per each rider from the government is the way to go. This is how the REM was built and it essentially represents a miracle of delivery speed and value per dollar spent.

 

[drum118]

​ Line 5 Eglinton​ ​

Line 5 Eglinton is officially open!​ ​ The new line is another major step in expanding the region’s rapid transit network, helping more people get where they need to go, safely and efficiently. On top of seamless connections to major destinations like the Aga Khan Museum, Sunnybrook Park, Golden Mile and Yonge and Eglinton, the new LRT provides connections to local and regional transit systems. On February 8, 2026, the TTC officially began service on Line 5 Eglinton, formerly known as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. The brand-new line features 25 stations and stops along 19 kilometres of Eglinton Avenue between Kennedy Station in the east and Mount Dennis Station in the west, with more than 10 kilometres running underground. Line 5 Eglinton is expected to move 123,200 daily passengers by 2027 and will link to 68 bus routes, three TTC subway stations, UP Express and the Kitchener and Stouffville GO lines, providing important transit connections to get people to where they need to go faster than ever before. To ensure a smooth transition from the commissioning of the line to its operations, service levels will gradually increase over the first six months, a standard approach for major LRT projects worldwide. Line 5 hours of operation On opening day, the TTC will begin an introductory service period on Line 5 Eglinton with light rail vehicles operating until 11 p.m. Service levels will be: Monday to Saturday – 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sundays – 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Holidays – 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. During peak periods Monday to Friday (7 a.m. to 10 a.m., 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.), light rail vehicles will operate approximately every 4 minutes. In the coming months, TTC will introduce regularly scheduled service. Please check the TTC website for full-service details and to stay up to date on future Line 5 service increases.​ Learn more​

 

[drum118]

First impression of Line 5
View attachment 714159

I guess they haven’t found a budget to hire caretaker staff.

Snark aside, is this going to be a problem? The TTC was already operating in the red, short tens of millions each year, is the supposed new ridership going to be enough to cover running 2 new lines? What about the Ontario Line? Where are the operating funds going to come from?

Added thought: Perhaps fare evasion could lessen because fewer people will be accessing the TTC via POP (buses) and more through fare gates. Certainly not enough to operate these new lines.

It the slobs who have no respect nor welling to deal with their garbage in the first place. They are the ones who think someone who waited hand and foot that will deal with their mess a great expense to everyone.

 

[daptive]

First impression of Line 5
View attachment 714159

I guess they haven’t found a budget to hire caretaker staff.

Snark aside, is this going to be a problem? The TTC was already operating in the red, short tens of millions each year, is the supposed new ridership going to be enough to cover running 2 new lines? What about the Ontario Line? Where are the operating funds going to come from?

Added thought: Perhaps fare evasion could lessen because fewer people will be accessing the TTC via POP (buses) and more through fare gates. Certainly not enough to operate these new lines.

This isn’t an impression of Line 5, it’s an impression of some of our fellow Torontonians

 

[Full Metal Junkie]

How many times can you be told bilingually by the world's least pleasant TTS system to stay back from the yellow line before you need to be committed to an asylum?

What if it was the soothing voice of Seth Rogen that made the announcements? And what if that announcement went for waaaay too long for people to keep triggering it every 5 seconds? And what if it was a new version of the announcement every time?

Hey everyone, this is one of those announcements I never thought I’d be making, but here we are...
please stand back of the yellow line.
It’s bright yellow. You can’t miss it.
It’s doing a lot of work for us today, let's all respect that.

Uh, hey, folks. Yeah, hi, it's me again. So if you could just, uh, stand back of the yellow line… that’d be great.
The yellow line is there for a reason.
It’s… not a suggestion.
Okay, cool. Thanks.

Alright, so, quick thing... See the yellow line?
That’s like… the line.
Life is better on this side of it.
So let’s all just stand back of the yellow line and have a good day, yeah?

Heyyy everyone! Uh, real quick... If we could all just take, like, one small step back of the yellow line…
Not a big step. A tiny step.
Just enough to say, ‘Yeah, I respect the yellow line.’
Thanks, guys.

Okay, so apparently I’m supposed to tell you to stand back of the yellow line. Says so in the script they gave me.
And honestly? It’s a solid line. Very yellow.
Let’s all just trust it, 'kay?
Don't be a douche bag, please stand back.

Hi folks, quick reminder that the yellow line is not, uh, part of the platform experience.
It’s more of a boundary.
So if you could stand back of it, um, that’d be amazing? Truly.

 

[drum118]

If only Sheppard, from Don Mills to Morningside, had transit as good as Finch West.

How does the ridership compare to the two routes to justify your request???

 

[turini2]

Onboard of T9 in Paris which opened in 2021, worth a watch. You can see the dedicated transit signals throughout (and the flashing signals that indicate awareness of the tram, and that the signal is about to change - so operators can go at full speed towards a "stop" signal, knowing that a proceed aspect is about to appear)

Also note the grass tracks throughout, substantial tree planting and complete lack of dedicated turn lanes - and that most stops you can board from both ends!

 

[zang]

Funnily enough, I have the exact same opinion of unimaginative people like you who have no idea how transit works in other parts of the world and believe that subways are the only valid form of transit, and insist on hogging all the capital cost dollars on building a few highly limited megalomaniacal transit projects that deliver far less upgraded transit per km than a network of surface LRTs ever would. I'm sure all the people who would be stuck riding buses in mixed traffic under your transit vision because there isn't enough money to go around and upgrade their line are absolutely thrilled with you.

I’m literally in Kyoto right now, (similar size and CMA to Toronto) reading all these people saying “it should’ve been underground” while riding above ground train after above ground train that’s fast and on-time.

Kyoto has a two-line subway, with a whopping 32 stops, and no one is complaining the much larger above ground system is slow and should’ve been buried.

It’s a bit surreal sometimes how much we think the only way to make transit fast is by getting it out of the way of cars. And it’s so frustrating that transit (yes, including buses) is something that we have to bloody ourselves in a long battle just to get tiny morsels of, only to have self-proclaimed “pro-transit” folks say “that wouldn’t work here” at every opportunity.

 

[mikey7767]

Money is always an issue, that's why Sheppard is half the intended length, that's why Finch is half the intended length.
Eglinton as a subway would have been half as long as cost twice as much if Ford had his way.
And the cost probably would have killed the Ontario line.

Ford negotiated a deal with the province to bury the entire Eglinton Line from Mount Dennis to Kennedy. It was a done deal. Karen Stintz had it reversed when Ford lost his powers. It would have been the same length.

 

[mikey7767]

I’m literally in Kyoto right now, (similar size and CMA to Toronto) reading all these people saying “it should’ve been underground” while riding above ground train after above ground train that’s fast and on-time.

Kyoto has a two-line subway, with a whopping 32 stops, and no one is complaining the much larger above ground system is slow and should’ve been buried.

It’s a bit surreal sometimes how much we think the only way to make transit fast is by getting it out of the way of cars. And it’s so frustrating that transit (yes, including buses) is something that we have to bloody ourselves in a long battle just to get tiny morsels of, only to have self-proclaimed “pro-transit” folks say “that wouldn’t work here” at every opportunity.

Most of us are talking about grade separation, not just burying it. Kyoto doesn't use above ground trams that go through traffic lights for mass transit. They only have two tiny lines that are mostly used for tourism and as a historic remnant.

 

[nightstreak]

I deliberately took the wrong fork of Line 1 so that I could cross over to the one I wanted to go. I only used the tunnel portion but that was fast and painless. Have to say, it felt like I was in a new city. Can’t believe this is Toronto. It really got me eager for the Ontario Line which will be not only as good as this but better. We’re in for a treat in… uhh… checks calendar… 5 (or 10) years.

 

[mikey7767]

Speaking from experience, it is easiest to transfer on St Clair than to go down to Line 2. Under no circumstances ever should you be using the 32 Eglinton bus to switch sides of Line 1 (guess that is no longer a concern, hah).

But agreed overall with the message, it was one of my biggest takeaways yesterday. The network effects of Eglinton are simply game changing. So many new routes, destinations, and travel patterns unlocked in this city by just this line alone. The speed of movement through a central chunk of the city that was simply inaccessible without significant time and effort is incredible. I visited places and food spots on Eglinton West that I never thought of going to as easily as one would visit a place in Koreatown or Ossington/Bloor.

The time savings are mostly due to the underground portion. I've had a bus past us on rush hour this morning when riding it to go west from Kennedy, and another bus was just catching up. It isn't because surface LRTs work. It's because grade separation works.

 

[zang]

You complain about the over crowded buses that used to run along Eglinton, and yet the line is already showing signs of capacity issues.

…At current headways.

Putting more trains on the track and useful signal priority seems like a much easier and less costly prospect. But if it’s not a subway it doesn’t matter, right?

Something that wouldn't had been an issue had we constructed a subway instead.

The yonge line is currently at capacity; I guess we should’ve built catapults?

So yes, you may not want to hear it, but wrong form of transit was built along Eglinton.

I think what people don’t want to hear, is the repeated moaning from those who keep repeating “this should’ve been a subway”.