Category: Ontario

Ontario municipalities over the barrel, again

Once again, Doug Ford wants to mess with local democracy. This time, it’s in Niagara Region.

With the recent news overload — yet another war in the Middle East, rising fuel costs, another municipal mayoral race — not to mention the flood of news from Queen’s Park (a new mega-convention centre on Lake Ontario, moves to let bigger passenger jets on an expanded island airport, and legislation to increase secrecy within the highest levels of provincial government), you might be forgiven for missing yet another bit of news.

In what has become a tradition for failed mayoral candidate and current Progressive Conservative premier Doug Ford, there’s another move to disrupt local democracy, this time in Niagara Region. Since his party was elected to government in 2018, Premier Ford has been busy tinkering with local governance. First was the sudden interference in Toronto’s municipal election, introducing election to force the city to reduce the number of elected councillors from 47 to just 25. That was soon followed by the cancellation of new open elections for regional chairs in Peel, York, Niagara and Muskoka Regions (who are normally appointed by those councils), the introduction of “strong mayor” powers, the aborted dissolution of Peel Region, the consolidation of conservation authorities, and the takeover of elected school boards.

In the last few weeks, the Ford government set its sights on Niagara Region, pushing for the quick amalgamation of its 13 municipal governments ahead of municipal elections this coming October.

Niagara Region municipalities, with former Lincoln County townships in blue and Welland County townships in red

Niagara Region is one of eight regional governments in Ontario, a specialized level of government introduced by an earlier Progressive Conservative government in the 1970s, following on the success of Metropolitan Toronto created in 1954. Regional governments had more powers and responsibilities than counties, including regional planning and the provision of water and wastewater systems deemed essential for smart urban growth. Most regions formed their own police services, and many took on responsibility for household waste management and public transit (Durham, Waterloo, York, and most recently Niagara). Other services, such as fire departments, libraries, local planning, parks and recreation, and local public works remained the responsibility of the cities, towns, and townships.

The Mike Harris-led PC government, elected in 1995, was a big proponent of municipal amalgamations. After amalgamating the City of Toronto in 1998, it replaced regional governments in the Hamilton, Ottawa, and Sudbury areas with amalgamated cities in 2001, and broke up the former region of Haldimand-Norfolk creating two stand-alone municipalities. Dozens of other amalgamations took place in those years, including Chatham-Kent and Kawartha Lakes (formerly Victoria County). On top of that, provincial costs were downloaded to those new creations, including social and health services and thousands of kilometres of provincial highways.

That era of drastic municipal change came to an end in December 2003, when a new Liberal government was elected, with relative calm for nearly fifteen years, until June 2018. During that time, the status quo prevailed, without a full review of the operations, finances, and role of municipal governments that would inform good faith reforms.

Niagara Region is made up of twelve lower tier municipalities: the cities of St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Welland, Thorold, and Port Colborne, the towns of Fort Erie, Grimsby, Lincoln, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Pelham, and the townships of Wainfleet and West Lincoln. The current region is a result of that earlier wave of regional government establishments in much of Ontario; prior to 1970, Niagara was made up of two counties — Lincoln and Welland — with fifteen townships and nearly a dozen smaller cities and towns between them.

As with all remaining regional governments, Niagara Region Council is made up of municipal politicians who also sit on their local city or town councils. Each mayor sits on the regional board, and to make up for population disparity between urban centres and rural townships, the larger municipalities send additional councillors who already sit on their local councils. Though some regions have chairs elected by the region’s populations, others have a non-elected chair, typically chosen by the regional council.

The Niagara problem started when the provincial government used its new authority to appoint its own preferred chair to Regional Council after the previous chair, former Liberal MPP Jim Bradley, died in office in late 2025. Bob Gale quickly promoted regional amalgamation, backed by Premier Ford, citing tax increases and too many local politicians. The idea is unpopular amongst Niagara residents, especially those in smaller communities such as Niagara-on-the-Lake, which under a four-municipality model, would be joined with Niagara Falls (whose mayor backed the idea).

Repeatedly, it has been shown that municipal amalgamations fail to save taxpayers’ money but only make municipal government more distant to the residents it serves. Though the number of municipal politicians would decrease (there are 126 across the 12 lower-tier municipalities), in smaller towns and rural townships, these are part-time positions. In Toronto, the moves from seven councils down to one in 1998 and from 44 councillors down to 25 in 2018 failed to save operating funds, as the number of paid employees to support each councillor increased to manage their greater workloads. Even the conservative Fraser Institute found no tax savings when studying the effects of amalgamation on smaller Ontario municipalities. Furthermore, with many services already the responsibility of the region, what savings could be had if police, transit, social services, housing, and major roads are already amalgamated?

For now, the idea of amalgamation in Niagara Region is stalled, but not because wiser heads prevailed. Chair Bob Gale resigned just three months into his term after local anti-hate organizations found he had in his collection of historical artifacts a copy of Mein Kampf signed by its author, Adolf Hitler.

One of the other problems with a quick amalgamation of such a large area is that there is no study on what boundaries actually make sense. Does the combination of 12 municipalities into just four actually work? Should the new boundaries just lump existing towns together, or more intelligently redraw existing boundaries completely? For example, should the City of Thorold be just thrown in with a neighbour as is, or could be split into three, with the urbanized area joining St. Catharines, the area east of the canal joining Niagara Falls, and the southern rural area joining Pelham and Welland?

Unfortunately, as hospitals face funding and staffing crises, as students face increasing debt loads to complete post-secondary education, and the economy continues to face headwinds, Doug Ford manages to get bogged down into distractions like shiny new buildings on Toronto’s waterfront, municipal restructurings, and needless new highways. The next provincial election will not come for another three years, and yet the premier wants to play mayor.

March 16, 2026
Ride CK: A rural connection

A Ride CK cutaway bus in Chatham

In 1998, the new City of Toronto was created when the Progressive Conservative government led by Mike Harris forced the merger of Metropolitan Toronto and its six constituent cities and borough. Dubbed the Megacity, it was part of a new round of municipal restructurings that affected much of the province, with Hamilton and Ottawa getting the same treatment three years later. Making less news in 1998 was the abolition of Kent County and the amalgamation of all 21 of its towns, villages and townships with the City of Chatham, creating the new municipality of Chatham-Kent.

Over 25 years later, there are challenges remaining from amalgamation. The new, larger municipality must administer a large mostly rural area but where nearly half the population lives in just one urban centre. But there are benefits, such as a consolidated library system that provides rural residents with more materials and services. Importantly too, is that Chatham-Kent was one of the first municipalities to introduce a rural transit service to connect outlying communities with the city centre, expanding the reach of Chatham’s existing urban bus system.

Three Ride CK routes — A, C, and D — extend from the bus terminal in Downtown Chatham to Wallaceburg (the second-largest community in Chatham-Kent), Dresden, Blenheim, Ridgetown, and Tilbury, covering most of the former towns that made up Kent County. (A fourth route, B, was proposed to serve Thamesville and Bothwell, but has not been implemented.) There is also a seasonal summer bus that serves the lakeside communities of Erieau and Mitchell’s Bay, echoing the former Chatham, Wallaceburg, and Lake Erie electric interurban service.

Most RideCK buses — local and intercommunity — are cutaways, meaning that the passenger seating area is in a separately-built body added to a cab and truck chassis. Though these vehicles are popular for paratransit services, low-ridership rural routes, and in smaller communities like Brockville, they do not offer a particularly smooth ride. However, they are an economical option for smaller communities.

Bus stop in Wallaceburg

Each of the three intercommunity routes operate Monday through Saturday, with two morning and two evening round trips, with an additional midday run that leaves Downtown Chatham at 12:15 PM on weekdays; this additional trip was added several years after service began. There is a timed transfer to the local Chatham routes, allowing for onward connections to shopping, schools, medical services, employment, or social activities. All three rural routes also stop at the hospital in Chatham. The midday trip was added to provide an early return home for anyone taking the bus from outlying areas, such as for a medical appointment, and not then stuck waiting an entire day in Chatham.

I rode RideCK between Chatham and Wallaceburg and back in early February 2026; the midday 12:15 departure had decent ridership with six other passengers leaving the bus terminal (a seventh got on at the big box retail cluster north of Chatham’s urban area); there were five other passengers on the way back south on the first evening bus (5:45 PM leaving Chatham). Given that Chatham-Kent has maintained the service for so long is indicative of how the rural buses are seen as a necessity in the municipality. In Wallaceburg, on-demand local transit is also available, a recent improvement by the municipality.

Intercommunity routes have a flat cash fare of $5.25 (though online materials still show the older $5 fare), though transfers to local transit are provided.

Ride CK Route A between Chatham, Wallaceburg, and Dresden

Though Routes A and C are fairly direct, Route D involves a long one-way loop to serve several small communities (including Cedar Springs, Buxton, and Merlin) before continuing to the former town of Tilbury and then back to Chatham. The route passes near, but does not stop at, Pain Court, and completely misses Wheatley.

The circuitous Ride CK Route D making a one-way loop through Cedar Springs and Tilbury

Though Chatham-Kent should be commended on identifying the need for rural transit and maintaining it for over two decades, it still demonstrates the challenges and gaps of operating a municipally provided rural transit service. Ideally, Chatham-Kent would be able to partner with neighbouring Lambton and Essex Counties to provide direct service to more communities. Tilbury should be part of an east-west service between Chatham and Windsor along the Highway 2 corridor, serving towns along Lake St. Clair such as Belle River. That would open connections to the University of Windsor and the main St. Clair College campus, along with other destinations, while improving service to Tilbury.

Route D, then, could be straightened and routed to serve Wheatley, even continuing west to make a connection to Leamington (which sadly, is losing its bus service to Windsor). With good scheduling, such connections could allow passengers to continue on VIA Rail service to London and Toronto.

Ontario needs a province-wide rural transit strategy with long-term funding and strong incentives to get reluctant municipalities (such as Halidmand County) on board. Until then, it is up to each local area to determine what, if any, transit service could look like, and up to residents to demand — and make use — of these services.

I have also made some changes to my Canada Intercity Transportation Map for March 2026, with a few revisions to Flixbus’ Ontario operations and intercommunity transit routes. As always, please contact me with any information that I have missed. While I’ve tried to keep this map as accurate and up to date as possible, Canada is a big country.

Unfortunately, the costs of maintaining this website and the ArcGIS Online portal to my maps continue to rise, especially as the amount of information provided and the number of views grow. If you enjoy my work and find the maps useful, please consider buying me a coffee to help with those costs. Thank you!

March 3, 2026

Return to Line 6: a slightly faster ride

On Thursday, February 26, I went west on Finch Avenue from Scarborough to North York via the 939B Finch East Express bus to take another ride on Line 6, the problem-plagued Finch West LRT. After hearing of enhanced signal priority being introduced on Finch Avenue, I wanted to see if it had any effect on running times since my last visit a few days after opening.

Interestingly, the 939B, which runs all the way from Kennedy Station to Finch West Station via Scarborough Centre, McCowan Road, and Finch Avenue, uses the York University Busway to get between Dufferin Street and Finch West Station. That busway, opened in 2009, was built to speed up travel times between the former subway terminus at Downsview Station (now called Sheppard West Station) and the university campus as the Line 1 extension to Vaughan was underway. When the Scarborough Busway opens — likely by the end of this year — it will use that exclusive transitway (also a temporary measure to speed buses along a subway project) as well.

From Finch West Station, it took 44 minutes to ride to the other end at Humber College Station, 20 minutes faster than during a problematic ride back in December. The average speed was 14.1 km/h, with a short spurt of speed (up to 56 km/h) up the hill between Islington and Kipling Avenues.

*Screenshot from a GPS app with the distance, average speed, and time it took to get from Humber College to Finch West Station*

On the return trip, it took almost 46 minutes from Humber College to Finch West, less than 4 minutes faster than my last eastbound ride in December, and with an average speed of 13.8 km/h. The eastbound train I was riding managed to arrive at Kipling Avenue (Mount Olive Station) just as the LRT signals were turning from amber to red (motor traffic still had 10 seconds of green light), followed by the stop at the far-side station there. The train also managed to arrive at Islington Avenue as the LRT signal was turning red, resulting in another long wait. At each intersection, the trains crawled at 15-20 km/h as parallel traffic sped by, and the Alstom Citadis cars were noticeably rough riding. The section between Humber College Station and Westmore Drive is especially painful, with LRV cars making the turn at 7-8 km/h.

On Eglinton Avenue east, the two-car Bombardier Flexity trams manage to glide through at-grade intersections at a less frustrating speed, and they noticeably provide a lighter, quieter ride.

On the positive side, station dwell times on Line 6 were noticeably reduced, and it seems that operations are a bit more consistent after two months of operation; there were no notable gaps between LRV cars. However, there are still issues to be worked out, as Friday, February 27 saw more switch problems that closed part of the line for several hours.

Hopefully, further operational improvements and signal priority follow, and the signal and track issues get sorted out. I’ll return later in March for another ride to see if the ride improves further. I worry, though, about the Citadis LRVs, as they are looking more and more like a defective product that may not be redeemable.

Line 6 travel times on Thursday Feb. 26

Eastbound (read down)	Stop/station	Westbound (read up)
3:28 PM (dep.)	Humber College LRT Station	3:12 PM (arr.)
3:32	Westmore Dr.	3:08
3:34	Martin Grove Rd.	3:06
3:43	Kipling Ave. (Mt. Olive)	3:00
3:47	Islington Ave. (Rowntree Mills)	2:58
3:56	Weston Rd. (Emery)	2:48
4:00	Arrow Rd./Signet Dr.	2:45
4:05	Jane and Finch	2:37
4:08	Tobermory Dr.	2:33
4:10	Sentinel Rd.	2:30
4:13 PM (arr.)	Finch West Stn. (LRT Terminal)	2:28 PM (dep.)
45 minutes	Total time	44 minutes

February 27, 2026

Line 5 is alive

Caledonia LRT Station

On Sunday, February 8 the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT opened to the public without any pomp or circumstance. Perhaps embarrassed by the public’s reaction to Line 6 Finch West, there were no giveaways, no parties, and no promotional materials. That turned out to be a shame, in a way, because Line 5 seems to be alright so far, a week after its initial opening. Travel times on the LRT are improved over the previous 32 and 34 bus routes, though with lesser speed improvements on the surface section versus the western portion. The two-car Bombardier Flexity trains do not crawl through intersections on Eglinton Avenue East unlike the single-car Alstom Citadis Spirits on Finch Avenue West.

Furthermore, learning some lessons from the botched Line 6 launch, the TTC — the operator of Line 5 trains — is looking for public feedback and promises improvements to speed and frequencies later in 2026. There are certainly ways in which this line can improve further. All that said, the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT offers needed optimism for Toronto’s transit future, especially as more projects are underway.

Mostly smooth operation of Line 5 during the first week

(more…)

February 15, 2026
Line 5: a quiet opening for a troubled project

A westbound LRV train on Eglinton Avenue in Scarborough, January 2026

After fifteen long years, the wait is over. On Sunday, February 8, the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT will finally open to the public, with the first train leaving Kennedy Station at 7:00 AM. (The first eastbound train will depart Mount Dennis at 7:07 AM.) Rides will be free on that first day, but there will be no opening celebration, no ribbon cutting, and no giveaways. At first, trains will run until 11 PM, with Line 5 shuttle buses from 10 PM until 1AM, when the 334 night bus takes over.

After the botched opening of Line 6 Finch West, it is clear that no one in charge wants to celebrate the opening of this new transit line after years of construction delays and false hope of completion in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. So if you want to check out Toronto’s new ride, go do it at your own convenience. You won’t miss anything.

There will be no party, like the one arranged last December at Finch West

But even if the trains run slower than originally planned at first, there should be a ramping up of speeds and transit priority in the surface-running eastern section. The tunneled section will have speeds up to 60 km/h between stations, making it considerably faster than the buses it will replace. During a visit to Scarborough last month, it already seemed that trains were running a bit faster in the outdoor section than on Finch West, so there’s definitely some reason to welcome the LRT in its initial “soft opening” phase.

The TTC notes that once full service is operational later in 2026, the end‑to‑end travel times will be “approximately 50–55 minutes.” That’s about twice as fast as the bus when going all the way from Mount Dennis to Kennedy. Perhaps, once the trains are running on a full schedule until 1AM and with expected performance improvements, there will be a formal ceremony to conclude this long journey.

Notably on Sunday February 8, there will be significant changes to the bus network, including 2 discontinued routes, 13 route changes, and 4 new routes. Most notably, Routes 54 and 954 on Lawrence Avenue East will now terminate at Don Valley Station instead of at the subway at Eglinton Station. Route 35 Jane will no longer continue south of Weston Road, but will instead terminate at Mount Dennis (with new Route 27 Jane South taking over that southern section). The 47 Lansdowne will be split into two, with 18 Caledonia providing service north of Eglinton. Routes 51 Leslie and 56 Leaside will be merged (with a short 151 Leslie North bus on the north end), and the 32C branch will be replaced with the new 158 Trethewey bus. The map below shows how the TTC buses will connect with Line 5. (Route 901, between Mount Dennis Station and Pearson Airport via Dixon Road, has not yet been approved.)

Map showing TTC bus route changes; several of these were already implemented in late 2025. Only the 901 express route to Pearson Airport has not been approved.

I will certainly make time to check out Line 5 on Sunday, followed by a more fulsome review a week or two after opening to form an honest and thoughtful opinion.

February 3, 2026

Can the Eglinton LRT outrun the bus?

*Passengers boarding the 34 Eglinton East bus, January 28, 2026*

On Sunday, February 8, the long-awaited (and long-delayed) Line 5 Crosstown LRT will finally open to the public (or maybe not). The new line, 19 kilometres long with 25 stops, is nearly twice as long as the 11-kilometre Finch West LRT that opened in December.

Unlike the troubled Finch West LRT, the Eglinton-Crosstown line is largely underground, with twelve stations, from Mount Dennis to Laird, completely separated from road traffic. A western extension through central Etobicoke to the Mississauga border at Renforth will also be completely grade-separated. There are several other major differences: the Crosstown line will be more frequent than Finch West, and will have more capacity, with two-car trains operating at all times. The equipment will be different too: Bombardier Flexity cars, the same as those used in Kitchener-Waterloo, will make the up the trains. Furthermore, the underground section will be computer controlled (which might turn out to be a complication, rather than an advantage).

*A light rail train passes traffic on Eglinton Avenue East in Scarborough*

However, some aspects will be the same. The surface-running eastern section between Leslie Street and Kennedy Road will feature 10 outdoor stops and 16 traffic signals, though the LRT will dip below ground at Don Mills Road (formerly Science Centre Station, now Don Valley Station) and under Kennedy Road into the Kennedy Station transit hub. As with Finch West, this was a Metrolinx-led project with a private consortium in charge of construction and maintenance, with the TTC in charge of train operations. So it will be interesting to see how Line 5 fares.

*With subway, light rail, buses, and GO trains, Kennedy Station is becoming a proper transit hub*

In the meantime, just as with my visits to Finch West, I decided to see how long it takes to get across the LRT corridor. In May 2024, I walked the entire route over three days, getting to know the corridor better (while documenting my stroll on a social media platform that I have since abandoned). With rumours of a mid-winter 2026 opening, I decided to ride the buses to get further context and time the rides.

*Congestion at Eglinton Avenue West and Oakwood Avenue, May 2024*

Tuesday, January 20 was an ideal day to ride the 32 Eglinton West and 34 Eglinton East buses. That was several days after the last snowfall (and a few days before the next big dump), and the roads and sidewalks were completely clear. It was a bright, sunny (albeit cold) day, and there was only one short construction zone on Eglinton Avenue, near Caledonia Road. Though only a small number of riders would use the entire Crosstown LRT line as part of a regular commute, it was worth getting a sense of how long the trip would take between each station.

I started at Kennedy Station after taking a Stouffville Line GO train one stop from Union Station, rode the 34 Eglinton East bus all the way to Eglinton Station at Yonge Street, and then after a break (including a stop at Cinnabon), continued west to Mount Dennis Station, which is already open to GO and UP Express trains, as well as a few TTC routes. The last half of the ride coincided with high school dismissal times that resulted in some crowding, especially between Avenue Road and Dufferin Street.

From Mount Dennis, I returned eastbound during a busy weekday afternoon rush hour, transferring to the first available 34 Eglinton East bus at Eglinton Station all the way back to Kennedy.

*Waiting for the 34 Eglinton East bus to Kennedy Station, January 20, 2026*

The table below shows the timings at each LRT stop.

Westbound (read down)	Stop/Station	Eastbound (read up)
1:28 PM dep.	Kennedy	5:35 PM arr.
1:32	Ionview	5:30
1:34	Birchmount	5:28
1:37	Warden Ave. (Golden Mile)	5:24
1:39	Hakimi Lebovic	5:22
1:42	Pharmacy	5:20
1:43	Victoria Park Ave. (O’Connor)	5:18
1:46	Bermondsey	5:15
1:49	Wynford	5:08
1:51	Don Mills Rd. (Don Valley)	5:01
1:53	Leslie St. (Sunnybrook Park)	4:58
1:57	Laird	4:50
2:00	Bayview Ave. (Leaside)	4:48
2:04	Mount Pleasant	4:44
2:10 PM arr. 2:47 PM dep.*	Eglinton Station (Bus transfer)	4:39 PM dep. 4:32 PM arr.***
2:52	Avenue Road	4:25
2:54	Chaplin	4:19
2:58	Bathurst St. (Forest Hill)	4:15
3:03	Cedarvale Stn.	4:09
3:07	Oakwood	3:56
3:11	Dufferin St. (Fairbank)	3:51
3:18	Caledonia**	3:44
3:21	Keele St. (Keelesdale)	3:41
3:25	Mount Dennis	3:37 PM
87 minutes	Total ride time (inc. a 7 min transfer at Eglinton Stn.)	118 minutes

* This gap provided an opportunity to use the washroom, and get a coffee and snack
** Time noted at Blackthorn Ave, the closest stop to the LRT station entrance
*** Took first 34A bus to Kennedy Station that departed Eglinton after my arrival; a 34C bus to Wynford Dr. and Flemingdon Park departed first

On the surface buses, the most significant traffic delays are near the Don Valley Parkway and Allen Road, especially eastbound between Oakwood Avenue and Cedarvale Station and between Don Mills Road and Bermondsey Avenue. For anyone crossing Yonge Street, the transfer between buses takes on average seven minutes including walking and waiting time.

*Line 5, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, will run deep below the Line 1 University Subway at Cedarvale Station*

The dedicated right of way should allow transit riders to get ahead of traffic congestion, especially around Allen Road, where the trains will run in a deep bore tunnel. In theory, the median right-of-way will help get passengers past congestion near the DVP and the big box retail in the Golden Mile, but if the trams are as slow through intersections as on Finch and held up by red lights, the advantage here will be minimal.

At Eglinton and Warden, I did see a traffic signal hold a green light a few extra seconds to allow a train to pass through before changing, so that was a positive sign. But watching the trains go by every few minutes, I noted that the transit priority system was not at all aggressive, and as on Finch, transit signals turn red 12 seconds before the general traffic signals do.

On January 28, Eglinton and Warden, the transit signals stayed green for a short extra time to allow the non-revenue LRT train to pass through and stop at the far-side platform. The train was moving at a more reasonable clip too.

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT, unlike Finch West, serves a regional need that requires better speeds and more capacity than a mere surface tram, especially as it will have many bus routes directly feeding into it, rather than just intersecting. Several bus routes that used to continue into Eglinton Station, such as 54 Lawrence East, will instead terminate at Don Valley (formerly Science Centre) Station, where riders going west to the subway will have to transfer. For inexplicable reasons, the short section between Don Mills Road and Laird will have one at-grade station with a signalized intersection, a weak link in what will likely be a very busy section of the line.

*Map of planned changes to TTC bus routes with Line 5’s opening*. *Some of the changes, including the introduction of Route 164 Castlefield and the extensions of routes 79, 161, and 168 to Mount Dennis Station have already been implemented.*

Hopefully, some of the lessons from the Line 6 opening will be applied to Eglinton before it opens. There should also be an opportunity, just as there is on Finch, to make further changes to operations where applicable during a “soft opening” period. But we can not afford yet another botched transit project, especially after 15 years of waiting.

January 30, 2026

Ion: An Ontario LRT that somehow works

There is a light rail system in Ontario that works in the snow. ION LRT at University of Waterloo.

Less than a two hours drive or train ride from Toronto, where that city’s first light rail line opened to universal disdain, a light rail line has been operating without incident for over five years. Trains operate like clockwork, signal priority works, and it has become the backbone of a regional transit system.

Though the Ion LRT project was subject to several delays, opening eighteen months behind schedule, operations have been notably smooth since the public opening on June 21, 2019. The delay is attributed to Bombardier’s late delivery of their Flexity light rail vehicles, which were built on the same assembly line as the TTC’s new streetcars.

A southbound Ion LRV turns from Charles Street to Borden Avenue. Note the white bar signal and the “no right turn – train” sign lit up.

Funded by all three levels of government, the Ion LRT was constructed and operated by GrandLinq, a public-private partnership (P3) consortium that includes operator Keolis and engineering and construction firms such as Aecon, Kiewit, and Plenary Group. Though design-build-operate P3 models are common for Canadian transit infrastructure projects, they have their challenges, as Waterloo Region would later find out. Fares and service are integrated into the Grand River Transit bus system, which is owned and operated by the regional government.

Waterloo Region is the smallest urban region in North America with a light rail system, and it works largely because of Kitchener-Waterloo’s geography. Many important regional destinations line up along the corridor: the terminals are both major suburban shopping centres that already functioned as major bus transfer points. In between the two malls are Downtown Kitchener and Uptown Waterloo, the two historic town centres, University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Kitchener-Waterloo Hospital. The LRT serves or passes near all these destinations (though Laurier’s campus is centred a few blocks east of the LRT corridor). Furthermore, the region’s master plan focuses urban growth along the LRT corridor with new high-rise residential and mixed-use development. A planned extension of the LRT into Cambridge south to the historic Galt town centre will further support regional urban intensification goals.

Ion trains operate every 10 minutes during weekday daytime hours; they operate every 15 minutes on weekends and weekday evenings, with 30-minute service from about 10:30 PM to the end of service starting around midnight.

Map of Waterloo Region’s urban system, which directs growth to existing and planned transit corridors and limits growth outside the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge. From the regional official plan.

Despite following a linear corridor, the LRT winds its way along city streets, railway rights-of-way, and hydro corridors. This allowed the region to reduce property and road construction costs as well as achieve higher speeds in specific off-road sections. The fastest section is north of Uptown Waterloo, where the corridor makes use of a freight railway spur line between Kitchener and Elmira that also happens to run directly past University of Waterloo. In the south end, a different railway corridor and a hydro corridor allow trains to reach Fairview Park Mall on a mostly off-street alignment. These off-road segments are protected by railway signals and barriers, like those in along LRT lines in Calgary and Edmonton.

This ability to switch between different alignment types is a clear advantage of light rail transit for medium-capacity transit systems. During overnight hours, freight trains headed to a plastics plant in Elmira use the same rails north of Uptown Waterloo as the LRT does during the day, making it an example of the “tram-train” model more common in Europe.

The on-street sections, though slower than the off-road portions, provide access to Downtown Kitchener and Uptown Waterloo, including the planned new transit hub in Downtown Kitchener that will provide a better connection to GO Transit trains to Toronto. Unlike Toronto’s streetcars and Finch West LRT, however, the signal priority system works. On King Street between Downtown and Uptown, there are many intersections with traffic signals, but the LRTs generally do not have to stop at any of those red lights. At intersections, LRVs continue at regular speed, typically 40 km/h through this section.

A southbound LRV on King Street. It just passed two signals with a clear (white vertical bar) signal; the next signal ahead will soon change to allow the LRV to proceed. Note that there are no “transit signal” signs, as Waterloo Region worked to have these approved by the province.

Waterloo Region also worked to permit unique transit signals, which feature only white bar aspects. A vertical bar indicates “proceed” while a horizonal bar indicates “stop.” A flashing horizontal bar lets the operator know that it will soon switch to “proceed” while a flashing vertical bar warns of an upcoming stop signal. This reduces the sign clutter that is found on Toronto’s streetcar and light rail corridors.

A typical Toronto assembly, with red, amber, and green transit signal aspects that look similar to the larger traffic lights above and accompanied with a “transit signal” sign. Of course, the Finch West LRV approached an amber signal, rather than being given a go ahead.

To be fair, the advantage in Waterloo Region is that most of the on-street sections of the LRV corridor are on narrower urban streets rather than suburban arterials like Finch Avenue. King Street and Charles Street in Kitchener only have two general traffic lanes and are not major throughfares (a provincially-maintained freeway between St. Jacobs, Waterloo, Kitchener, and Highway 401 absorbs much of this traffic). The regional government also widened a section of Weber Street to four lanes to divert traffic from King ahead of LRT construction. This resulted in the loss of about two dozen houses and businesses.

But by maintaining a narrow right-of-way on King Street, the LRT runs with minimal delays. It is easier to provide aggressive transit signal priority with short pedestrian crossing distances, narrow intersections, and lower traffic volumes.

The video below illustrates how the LRT runs along King Street northbound from Kitchener Central Station.

View from the front of a train heading north towards Waterloo

Despite the LRT working well, it is still far from perfect: there are several sections in which the trams crawl at a 10 or 15 km/h speed, particularly on the south end. At Hayward Avenue the route switches from a railway corridor to an alignment alongside Courtland Avenue; this section has two tight turns and crosses an industrial driveway. Had a few more properties been expropriated (at additional cost) this would not have been an issue. Until a proper protected pedestrian crossing is installed at a path connecting Trayner Avenue to Fairway Road (a critical pedestrian link that was overlooked during the planning phase), LRVs must also slow down along the hydro corridor approaching Fairview Park Mall.

The P3 contract also limits the ability to make service improvements. In 2024, Waterloo Region proposed revising the LRT schedule to run trains every eight minutes during peak periods, but because of a fixed staffing contract, it would have resulted in 30-minute service after 8PM. Luckily, local transit advocates successfully opposed that change. Had the LRT been operated directly by Grand River Transit, they could have simply trained more operators on the LRT service, even transferring bus drivers to the rail division.

Overall, however, the LRT works in Waterloo Region both as a transit service and a planning tool. It provides useful lessons on what to do (real signal priority and proper signal aspects, make effective use of on-street and off-street routing where each makes sense), and what not to do (enter strict operating contracts) when building a new transit line. Waterloo Region made its rail transit work for its geography and its needs, and that is the most important thing.

January 19, 2026
Orangeville’s free ride

Buses on the Orange and Blue routes await departure at Orangeville Transit’s transfer hub

Earlier in December 2025, I took a short trip to Orangeville, Ontario, to take a ride on the province’s only fare-free transit system. Though Orangeville Transit provides a vital service for the town’s residents, the fare-free service is not necessarily a model for larger transit systems.

The town of Orangeville, population approximately 30,000, is on the outer edge of the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area. Until 2021, it was connected to the Canadian Pacific mainline at Streetsville by a municipally-owned railway; Highways 9 and 10 link the town with Highways 400 and 410. GO Transit runs a limited weekday bus service from Brampton, and the remnant of Grey County’s GTR system runs between Orangeville, Shelburne, and Dundalk.

Orangeville Transit, GO Transit, and GTR Route 2 signs on Hansen Blvd.

These three services meet at a curbside stop on Hansen Boulevard at First Street adjacent to the Orangeville Mall on the north side of town, where there is a standard bus shelter. After getting off the GO bus here, a GTR van arrived a few minutes later, dropping off a few more passengers. A few minutes after that, a yellow school bus arrived, sporting an Orangeville Transit sticker on the side. This would be my bus.

Yellow school bus in Orangeville Transit service

Though Orangeville has a fleet of four 30-foot buses, there have been reliability issues with those vehicles. First Transit, the contracted operator, uses its school buses to substitute for those.

After a winding route through several residential subdivisions, circling back on Hansen Boulevard, the bus arrived at the central transfer point located in a field west of the downtown core. The transfer point, located behind a small shopping plaza, is adjacent to the abandoned Orangeville-Brampton Railway corridor. However, the new terminal is not served by GO or GTR. GO Transit buses layover at the old Canadian Pacific Railway station site on Townline before heading south to Brampton GO Station.

Orangeville Transit map, with two routes operating on 45-minute schedules

In some ways, the fare-free service in Orangeville is a success. Ridership more than doubled between 2019 and 2023, the year it introduced free fares. The program has since been extended through 2026. However, Orangeville Transit is a very small operation, with only two routes, each on a 45-minute schedule. The two routes are made up of circuitous, one-way loops that provide service to the entire municipality, but do not provide through or speedy service.

Though large systems, like GO Transit and the Toronto Transit Commission, get more than half their funding from fare revenue (in the late 1990s, fares made up 80% of the operating costs for those two systems due to provincial austerity), smaller systems, with lower costs, can get by with free fares. This is also true of some mid-sized American systems, such as Richmond, Albuquerque, or Kansas City, where fare collection might be more trouble than it is worth. But there’s a trade off; for many riders, a more frequent and faster ride would be worth a few dollars — reliable government funding along with targeted reduced fare programs might be a better solution.

In Orangeville’s case, the rider gets what they pay for — a slow, infrequent, and circuitous service where you might end up picked up by a school bus.

Transit journeys, wrapped

Orangeville Transit was the last of 32 distinct transit services I got to ride in 2025 and was one of 10 systems I rode for the first time (another three of those were in Italy). Unfortunately, my first ride on Deseronto Transit was also my last. With the obvious exception of the Vatican, I have been on at least one transit service in every one of the 21 countries I’ve been to so far.

Local and regional transit systems taken in 2025:
Toronto Transit Commission
GO Transit
Brampton Transit
MiWay
York Region Transit
Durham Region Transit
Burlington Transit
Hamilton Street Railway
Orangeville Transit (1st time)
Simcoe County Linx
Barrie Transit
Wasaga Beach Transit (1st time)
London Transit
Deseronto Transit (RIP)
Belleville Transit
Kingston Transit
Brockville Transit (1st time)
River Route (1st time)
Transit Windsor
LTW Transit (1st time)
Thunder Bay Transit (1st time)
OC Transpo
Société de transport de l’Outaouais (Gatineau QC)
Société de transport de Montréal
Winnipeg Transit
Calgary Transit
TransLink (Metro Vancouver)
BC Transit (Greater Victoria)
Azienda Napoletana Mobilità (Naples) (1st time)
Azienda per la mobilità di Roma Capitale (1st time)
Ente Autonomo Volturno (Campagna IT) (1st time)

December 30, 2025

Still waiting for the Finch West LRT

December 7, 2025 may be a day that will live in transit infamy. That was the day Line 6, the Finch West LRT, opened to the public, and it did not go well.

First off, any discussion on the initial failure of Line 6 should acknowledge that was never designed to be a rapid, regional transit link. The LRT, serving Northwestern Toronto, was intended to be an upgrade to the slow, congested, and busy 36 Finch West bus, feeding into the rapid transit network at Finch West Station. Line 6 is a legacy of Transit City, a LRT plan proposed under previous mayor David Miller intended to connect the inner suburbs of Etobicoke, North York, and Scarbrorough to the subway and to each other.

As with all proposed Transit City routes (with the exception of the tunneled central section of the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT), there were always going to be compromises on Finch that would not make it a true rapid transit service. Situated almost entirely on the surface, Line 6 trains are easier for residents to access than subways in deep tunnels; closer stop spacing was intended so the new transit line continues to serve the needs of those who live, work, go to school, and frequent the corridor, without the necessity of a parallel local bus. Anyone expecting subway speeds were in for disappointment.

Still, the LRT was supposed to improve travel times over the existing bus, with wider stop spacing than the legacy streetcar network, a congestion-free right of way, signal priority, and decent operating speeds. With a promised average speed of 20-21 kilometres per hour, a total trip time of 33-34 minutes each way, it would have been a bit faster, more comfortable, and certainly more reliable than the bus. It was never going to be as fast as a subway, but for Finch Avenue West, that was okay.

*Screen capture of a Metrolinx FAQ webpage, with frequent and relatively speedy transit service promised for the Finch West LRT*. *The webpage was still up as of December 18, 2025*.

As the first modern LRT to open in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), Line 6 was to be a preview of additional lines planned and under construction elsewhere in the Golden Horseshoe, including the yet-to-open Line 5 Crosstown LRT, the Hurontario Line, the Hamilton LRT, and a proposed Line 7 on Eglinton Avenue East towards the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus and Malvern. Delivered by Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency, each line would be constructed and maintained by a P3 consortium, though the Toronto LRTs would be operated by TTC employees.

The hoped-for narrative that the provincial government, Metrolinx, the city of Toronto, and the TTC all touted — a smooth new ride, worthy of including on the subway maps — quickly fell apart on Sunday December 7, though there were plenty of warning signs of slower-than-promised operations.

*Opening day crowds on December 7. Passengers disembark from a wrapped LRV that touts Line 6 as “far and wide the best way to go far and wide.”*

On Sunday, December 7, there were plenty of people eager to try the new LRT: railfans and urbanists, curious families, and local residents, lured by free fares on the opening day. Though I was there and took several trips, I wasn’t going to make too many judgements on opening day. There would be inevitable hiccups with the large crowds and cold, snowy temperatures. Still, there were visible problems.

*An eastbound LRV approaches Islington Avenue (Mount Olive Station) as the transit signal switches from green to amber. The traffic signals are still green.*

So far, a lot of the post-opening discourse has been on operating speeds and traffic operations. Instead of 33-34 minutes, as claimed by Metrolinx, trips were taking 55 minutes each way. Additionally, the transit signal priority (TSP) system has not been activated, causing light rail vehicles (LRVs) to wait entire light cycles, even for private vehicles to turn left before proceeding. The dedicated transit signals turn red about 10-20 seconds before general traffic gets a red light, even as LRVs approach the intersections. On December 16, Toronto City Council approved a motion to implement “more aggressive” TSP on Finch West and the surface portion of the Line 5 Eglinton-Crosstown LRT, as well as on the legacy streetcar network.

The problem on Finch West is not just a matter of transit signal priority. The number of stops along the line, also criticized by several critics, is also not a problem, as Finch West was never intended to be a high-speed regional line. (That said, Mount Olive and nearby Stevenson could have been consolidated into a single stop west of Kipling Avenue.) The other problems are poorly managed schedules and streetcar-style slow zones on a modern LRT alignment.

Right now, LRVs are forced to slow to 25 km/h at all intersections, even though all conflicting traffic has a red light. This is an inexplicable restriction given that motor traffic, including TTC buses, have a 50 km/h limit, and many drivers will proceed at significantly above the posted limit. These restrictions are not found elsewhere in North America; in Calgary and Edmonton, LRTs are protected at many at-grade intersections with railway-style lights and gates. In places like Minneapolis-St. Paul and Phoenix, additional LED flashing signs warn drivers of an approaching LRV, which glides through the signalized intersection at higher speeds than on Finch. (There is also a lot less sign clutter, with intuitive signals for left turns and transit).

Transit schedules are also needlessly padded, with too much time for lower speeds and lengthy station stops. On a repeat visit to Finch West, on Wednesday December 17, 2025, travel times were inconsistent and slower then either 36C bus I took a few days before the LRT opened. (Even the trip with the long Starbucks pitstop.)

Line 6 travel times on Wednesday Dec. 17

Eastbound (read down)	Stop/station	Westbound (read up)
12:59 PM (dep.)	Humber College LRT Station	12:31 PM (arr.)
1:03	Westmore Dr.	12:25
1:05	Martin Grove Rd.	12:22
1:10	Kipling Ave. (Mt. Olive)	12:13
1:14	Islington Ave. (Rowntree Mills)	12:09
1:26	Weston Rd. (Emery)	11:57
1:29	Arrow Rd./Signet Dr.	11:54
1:33	Jane and Finch	11:46
1:37	Tobermory Dr.	11:35
1:45	Sentinel Rd.	11:32
1:48 PM (arr.)	Finch West Stn. (LRT Terminal)	11:27 AM (dep.)
49 minutes	Total time	1 h 4 minutes

It took eleven minutes to go two stops, less than a kilometre, from Tobermory Drive to Jane Street on the westbound trip. Lengthy station dwell times at Tobermory (five minutes) and Mount Olive (three minutes) on that westbound ride, with no onboard announcements was especially frustrating. The return eastbound trip from Humber College was 15 minutes faster, even with much of the same slow zones at intersections and switches, the 10 km/h curve near Humber College Station, and lengthy stops.

With such unpredictable and unreliable service, Line 6 is running at least as badly as the downtown streetcar routes. Without immediate fixes, people will completely lose faith in the TTC and future LRTs, including Eglinton-Crosstown. We can not just rely on tweaks to signal times; we need a complete review and overhaul of streetcar and LRT operating practices.

At least we know what can and should be fixed before the Eglinton-Crosstown line opens, a much longer LRT route that will have a regional transit role.

One more thing…

What is with all the doors between the Line 1 subway station and the LRT terminal at Finch West. Passengers have to pass through four sets of doors to transfer between two TTC services, as well as ascend one escalator or elevator, walk down one set of stairs (or navigate a long and circuitous ramp) and then ascend another escalator or elevator to get to the other platform.

*Stairs or a long, circuitous ramp between the doors from subway to LRT*

Though transfers can be tricky, at the very least, these doorways should be kept open, and shut only during station closures or during fire alarms, as done in hospitals or shopping centres. Other TTC stations have no such barriers between modes or may have a single door to exit a subway station terminal to the bus platform. Automatic sliding doors could have also been an option. Instead, the powered doors are left to one side, with the button against the wall. It’s not an ideal design from an accessibility point of view.

December 18, 2025

Canadian intercity transport at the end of 2025

Deseronto Transit is now one of Ontario’s lost transit links

December 2025 marks the end of the sixth year that I have been keeping track of Ontario’s intercity transportation links. In 2020, I launched an online Ontario intercity map, expanding that effort to a Canada-wide map in 2022.

Over the last six years, Greyhound Canada disappeared after years of decline, the COVID-19 pandemic hit with travel restricted, the Ontario provincial government set up one-time funding for intercommunity transport links while deregulating the intercity coach industry, and many municipalities dipped their toes into providing rural transit services.

At the end of 2025, there was some good news to note — several rail transit lines opened in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Edmonton, while a few new rural services opened in Eastern Ontario. Unfortunately, there were also some major losses in Ontario, particularly in Grey County, Oxford County, Napanee-Deseronto, and the impending cancellation of a major route in Essex County. Unlike in Ontario, however, rural transport links remain stable in Quebec and British Columbia.

Stable funding is essential to keep these intercommunity and intercity links alive, particularly where private operators have not filled a need. For example, Flixbus recently cut back their once-a-day route from Toronto to the Lake Huron coast and will not serve rapidly-growing Saugeen Shores during the colder months. That part of Ontario is left only with a three-days-a-week TOK coach despite potential demand. A well-funded regional transport service coordinated by Grey, Bruce, and other adjacent counties could address this, but there needs to be political will to ensure stable and predictable service needed to grow ridership over the long term.

I just completed a round of edits to my intercity map, noting changes to routes, service levels, and in some cases, stop locations. A few new scheduled air shuttles in Atlantic Canada and Manitoba are included; these types of services are only mapped if they also provide non-airport service or at least connect to urban transport.

There are also more grey lines. Starting with edits in mid 2024, I have chosen to grey out abandoned routes, rather than just eliminating them. It is well worth noting where transport links have disappeared, and where replacement service might be worth planning.

Hopefully 2026 will see better service than the end of 2025.

As always, please contact me with any information that I have missed. While I’ve tried to keep this map as accurate and up to date as possible, Canada is a big country.

VISIT the interactive map

December 10, 2025

Category: Ontario

Line 6 travel times on Thursday Feb. 26

Transit journeys, wrapped

Line 6 travel times on Wednesday Dec. 17

One more thing…