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…)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Two Line 6 LRVs cross Jane Street at Finch Avenue, December 3, 2025 as training wraps up ahead of revenue service on December 7
Can a brand-new light rail line outrun the local bus it replaces? Starting on Sunday, December 7, Torontonians will get the chance to find out when the new Line 6 Finch West light rail line finally opens to the public. Though built and maintained by Metrolinx, the service will be operated by TTC employees.
The new LRT, 11 kilometres long, with 18 stops, runs almost exclusively in a transit-only median on Finch Avenue West between Finch West Station at Keele Street in North York and Highway 27 in Etobicoke. The end terminals are below grade, with three traffic signals skipped. Otherwise, the light rail vehicles will be subject to stopping at the same traffic lights as all other cars, trucks, and buses.
New maps in the TTC subway system show the long-delayed Line 5 Eglinton-Crosstown (opening date still TBD) and Line 6, which opens Sunday December 7
For the last few weeks, Finch West has been served by the 36C bus, running between Finch West Station at Keele Street and Humberwood Loop near the Mississauga border, making a stop at the Humber College bus terminal. A separate 36 Finch West bus continues east from Finch West Station to Finch Station at Yonge Street. There will only be eight fewer stops on Line 6 than there bus stops between Finch West Station and Humber College; apart from overnight service, there will be no parallel local bus serving the corridor.
Map of the Route 36C Finch West-Humberwood service, modified from the TTC’s original
Without limited stops and signal priority, the new light rail line will not achieve any real time savings. On his website, transit advocate Steve Munro notes that the end-to-end time of the new Line 6 LRT is scheduled for 46 minutes, consistent across all operating time periods. The 36C’s fastest round trip times, late evenings and early Sunday mornings, is between 79 and 82 minutes, or 40-41 minutes one way on a slightly longer route.
To see this for myself, I visited Finch Avenue West and rode the 36C both ways between Finch West and Humber College. Wednesday, December 3 was an overcast and cold day, with the daytime high temperature hovering around the freezing mark. But the roads were clear and dry, with no collisions and little construction work in the way of traffic on Finch; conditions couldn’t be any better for early December.
Here were the times for the two buses I took. I started timing the runs as soon as the bus doors closed and departed the originating stop; waiting times at the initial stops were not included.
TTC Route 36C travel times on Wednesday Dec. 3
Eastbound (read down)
Stop/station
Westbound (read up)
12:07 PM (dep.)
Humber College bus loop
1:50 PM (arr.)
12:11
Westmore Dr.
1:37**
12:13
Martin Grove Rd.
1:24
12:18
Kipling Ave. (Mt. Olive)
1:29
12:20
Islington Ave. (Rowntree Mills)
1:19*
12:28
Weston Rd. (Emery)
1:11
12:33
Arrow Rd./Signet Dr.
1:09
12:38
Jane and Finch
1:04
12:42
Tobermory Dr.
1:01
12:44
Sentinel Rd.
1:00
12:51 PM (arr.)
Finch West Stn. (bus terminal)
12:57 PM (dep.)
44 minutes
Total time
53 minutes
* At Islington Avenue westbound, the bus was delayed by five minutes by a troublesome passenger ** At Westmore Drive westbound, the operator left the bus with twelve passengers on board to order coffee at a nearby Starbucks, resulting in a second delay of nearly ten minutes
The eastbound departure, leaving Humber College at 12:07 PM, made it to Finch West Station in 44 minutes, two minutes faster than the scheduled LRT trip. This bus, an articulated (18-metre) vehicle was relatively busy, with a few standees between Jane Street and Finch West Station, and most en route stops were made. There were no unusual delays; just some traffic near Highway 400; it also took two light cycles to complete the left turn from Finch to Keele approaching the subway station.
Westbound 36C bus waiting to depart Finch West Station
I returned towards Humber College on a different bus that left Finch West Station at 12:57 PM. For a while, this run, a standard 12-metre bus, was making exceptionally good time, with only a few passengers on board. It skipped several bus stops as no one wanted on or off until Tobermory Drive. Line 6 LRVs will stop at every station, just like the subway, even if there aren’t any waiting passengers.
At Islington Avenue there was a delay caused by a prospective passenger who rushed through a don’t walk/red light to get the bus, despite another one close behind. As the passenger was using a mobility device, the bus operator had trouble deploying the ramp because the bus had already inched ahead of the bus stop pad, ready to proceed with the green light. The driver needed to reposition the ramp and wait for the next green, which resulted in a five-minute delay.
Another delay came a few minutes later, when at Westmore Drive, just one stop before the Humber College bus terminal, the operator left the bus without notice and walked into a nearby Starbucks. After a few minutes, and seeing two other westbound 36C buses pass by, most passengers exited the open doors to flag down the next bus.
Passengers leave an unattended Route 36C bus on Finch Avenue West at Westmore Drive. The portal for Line 6 LRVs to descend under Highway 27 towards Humber College is behind
The TTC operator returned eight minutes later, and we finally arrived at Humber College Bus Terminal at 1:50, 53 minutes after departing Finch West Station. (It’s worth noting that Humber College also has a Starbucks and public washrooms in the main building near the bus loop.)
At least that’s one instance where the LRT will certainly be faster than taking the bus.
A longer walk, a longer wait
TTC and Brampton Transit buses layover at Humber College
Humber College’s bus terminal serves a total of nine TTC, Brampton Transit, Miway, and YRT routes. It’s also a connection point between TTC Wheel-Trans and Peel Region’s TransHelp paratransit services. But the LRT terminal station is a five-minute walk away from the terminal, which is adjacent to several primary buildings on campus.
A walkway leads between the bus terminal and LRT station, with partial shelter provided by a long canopy that blocks northerly winds, but not the prevailing westerly winds. At the end of the walkway is the entrance to the below-grade LRT platforms, which are parallel to nearby Highway 27. This alignment reduced construction costs over a longer approach to the college, but it permits a future extension to the planned Woodbine GO Station two kilometres to the south and even Pearson Airport.
Humber College Station entrance, at Highway 27. The walkway to the bus terminal and main campus is behind.
During weekday peak periods, the LRT will run every 6 minutes, about as frequent as the current 36C bus during weekday daytime periods. However, during off peak times, trains will only come every 10-12 minutes, resulting in longer waits. Anyone travelling from Humber College will have to factor in the longer walk and potentially longer wait time.
I will certainly go out on Sunday December 7 to celebrate the opening of this new line, which despite the unnecessarily slow speeds, will result in a more predictable and more comfortable ride, with significant capacity improvements during peak periods, especially at school dismissal times. LRT doors will line up with the platforms, making loading and unloading easier for passengers with mobility devices, strollers, or carts.
I will also go ride the LRT after the opening day crowds are done, to see how it works in day-to-day operation. There are ways to speed up the schedule: more aggressive transit priority, shorter station dwell times, quick turnarounds at the terminals with “step back” operation, schedule optimization, and I hope these are considered by Metrolinx, the TTC and the city as everyone gets used to the new transit line.
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Downtown Detroit, as seen from Downtown Windsor, on a gloomy November morning
Windsor, Ontario, is built on transportation. The city’s position, right across the river from Detroit, has shaped the region ever since French settlers made their home on the wide, short, slow-moving river between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair. (The river’s name, Detroit, is the French word for strait.) The narrow river made it a hub for shipping and for railways, followed by rail and road tunnels and highway bridges.
As the American auto industry got its start in Detroit, propelling it from a minor regional centre to the fourth-largest city in the United States, Windsor was a natural spot for companies like Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler to set up their first international operations. Canadian distillers and brewers also made Windsor their home and independent towns and cities lined the river, with names like Walkerville and Ford City. (These locales amalgamated with Windsor in 1935). The city had two electric railways: the Sandwich, Windsor, and Amherstburg (SW&A), a local streetcar and bus operation that also ran suburban lines to Amhertsburg and Tecumseh and the Windsor, Essex, and Lakeshore Rapid Railway (WE&L), which extended to Lake Erie at Leamington.
Today, Windsor has a population of 230,000, while neighbouring towns and townships in Essex County add another 200,000 people to the region. Though Windsor’s auto industry has been in flux since the 1980s thanks first to free trade agreements and now by US tariffs and protectionism, the region’s population continues to grow.
However, despite the region’s history and growth shaped by water, rail, and road links, public transport is lacking in Windsor-Essex, with several routes in peril. This is despite the presence of the University of Windsor, St. Clair College, two major hospital campuses, and a large built-up prewar urban area. Windsor was also the only large urban municipality to completely cease transit operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, where others continued to provide basic services subject to health and safety restrictions.
On August 30, 2025, Transit Windsor’s Tunnel Bus service was cancelled, after Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens vetoed a council decision to maintain the service (funded partly by an increase in the one-way fare from $10 to $20). Even though the historic cross-border relationship is strained by threats of annexation, tariffs, and an authoritarian president, the Tunnel Bus still provides an essential link for business and leisure, with many fans of Detroit’s sports teams on the Canadian side of the river, and hundreds of workers crossing daily to Detroit’s offices and hospitals. Without access to an automobile or an expensive cross-border taxi ride, the bus is the only year-round way to get to the United States between Fort Erie and Walpole Island, as neither the tunnel or the Ambassador Bridge allow pedestrians or cyclists.
The new Gordie Howe Bridge will include a new multiuse path. However, it is not convenient to Windsor or Detroit destinations, nor is it close to decent transit options on either side of the soon-to-open crossing, including the Q-Line Streetcar, D-DOT and SMART buses, or intercity links such as VIA Rail, Amtrak, or Greyhound.
The Linq, the new privately-operated Tunnel bus between Windsor and Detroit
There is, however, a new privately-operated bus service, called The Linq. It has several used transit buses with bike racks and offers trips every two hours for a $15 one-way fare. It is a downgrade from the Transit Windsor-provided service, but the connection is still there.
Though the Linq tunnel bus passes by the Windsor transit terminal, it doesn’t stop close by
Unfortunately, there is no direct connection between Linq and Transit Windsor. The only pickup location in Windsor is at the corner of Bruce Avenue and Riverside Drive, a five-minute walk from the transit terminal where the former city-operated bus departed from. Though the Linq bus passes by the Windsor terminal, it does not stop right there. The route still serves the Rosa Parks Transit Terminal on the Detroit side, along with the stop by the tunnel entrance next to Mariners’ Church.
Regional (dis)connections
LTW 42 bus at Essex Sports Centre
While visiting Windsor, I wanted to ride Route 42, the bus service linking Windsor with the towns of Essex, Kingsville, and Leamington. Operated by Transit Windsor using urban transit vehicles, the service got funding from the province, the County of Essex, and the Town of Leamington. It operates three weekday and two Saturday round trips, charging a flat $10 one-way fare or a $15 same day return fare, with free transfers to Leamington’s LTGO on-demand service and Transit Windsor’s urban routes at St. Clair College.
The service began in 2019, replacing a long-discontinued intercity coach route operated by Greyhound Canada and Chatham Coach Lines, along the old route of the WE&L Rapid Railway that ran until 1932. The bus only makes four stops: St. Clair College in Windsor, and sports and recreation centres in the three towns. The route’s number is not inspired by Douglas Adams but by the 42nd parallel, which runs a few hundred metres south of Leamington.
LTW Route 42 route map
Unfortunately, the three sports centres are poor locations for promoting transit ridership. In Essex, the arena is a 10-to-15-minute walk to the town centre, a reasonable stroll for many. In Kingsville, the arena complex northeast of the built-up area is 2.5 kilometres from the town centre, a 35-45 minute walk with no local transit options. Without access to a car ride, the Route 42 service becomes inaccessible to many potential users.
Previous coach service operated by Greyhound and Chatham Coach Lines stopped in the town centres.
Essex Town Centre, a 10-15-minute walk from Route 42 at the sports centre
As of April 30, 2026, the LTW Transit service connecting Windsor with Essex, Kingsville, and Leamington will come to an end. This was a matter of funding. The provincial rural transport funding program came to an end, and neither the County of Essex nor the Town of Leamington were willing to continue subsidizing the service beyond the end of the academic year.
Though the province is willing to fund expensive new highway and transit projects in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, including new subways and light rail and sprawl-inducing freeways, it is unwilling to back the provision of small town and rural transit services that connect residents to larger centres, whether it be for work, school, health appointments, shopping or social connections. Without a province-wide strategy and a sustainable funding program, services that started up with much promise are disappearing in places like Grey and Oxford Counties and Napanee and Deseronto.
It also does not help that Windsor-Essex does not have a regional level of government or even a degree of cooperation between the various municipalities. In York, Waterloo, Durham, and Niagara, regional governments have taken over transit services and are working to connect their entire regions together, even rural communities. Even Simcoe County provides a regional transit service to its smaller towns. The suburban Town of Tecumseh has a limited transit service separate from Windsor’s, while LaSalle and Amherstburg contract Transit Windsor for limited service within their communities. A regional transit service, subsidized by the entire Windsor-Essex tax base, could go a long way.
That’s a wrap
To conclude this post, I have few other observations of riding Transit Windsor over two days in late November. There are several ways that transit service can be improved, including better wayfinding, better connections between modes, and giving passengers a better view.
VIA Rail runs four daily trains between Toronto and Windsor, from a station in the Walkerville neighbourhood, three kilometres east of the downtown core. Passenger trains on the CN line used to continue to the downtown waterfront until the 1960s, when service was cut back to Walkerville, which had a wye to turn trains around. Eventually, all the CN, CP, and Michigan Central tracks and docks were removed from the riverside, which allowed Windsor to develop a lovely waterfront park system.
The Crosstown Route 2 along Wyandotte Street stops nearby the VIA Station off Walker Road, about a five-minute walk between bus and train. But getting between the two modes is not clear. Apart from a VIA Rail logo on the transit map, there is little indication of this useful connection at the station or at the bus stops on Wyandotte. Route 2 offers decent service during daytime hours, every 10-15 minutes on weekdays from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM, but it quickly drops to every 30 minutes at 6:30 PM. Saturday daytime service is every 20 minutes, and on Sundays, every 40 minutes. Frequencies on other core routes, including the 1A and 1C Transway buses, is similar.
Compare this with Kingston, a city less than half of Windsor’s size, which provides direct transit service onto the VIA station grounds. In London, the downtown station is a more prominent landmark, and easy to get to by multiple routes.
As a regular transit passenger used to fare cards, transit apps, and open payment systems, I found myself annoyed by having to carry exact change — a toonie, a loonie, and three quarters — every time I rode. Transit Windsor does have plastic fare cards, but they can only be loaded up with individual fares or a 15-day or 30-day pass, not a declining balance that could be used on regional routes. As cash is less common as a payment type (with some smaller businesses going cashless), larger transit agencies should catch up.
The typical view from a Transit Windsor bus
Finally, I became annoyed by how many buses in Transit Windsor’s fleet are fully covered by vinyl advertising wraps, excepting only the windshield, front door, and driver’s side window. Even the LTW 42 bus, which goes a long distance at higher speeds, was fully wrapped. I took six different buses in two days and only one wasn’t wrapped. It makes for a miserable time as a rider, especially one who wants to see the neighbourhoods the buses pass through; I explained why advertising wraps are a bad idea before. At the very least, ad wraps should limit how much of the passenger window area is covered, as the TTC does.
Windsor has all the essentials for building a good transit system: a large pre-war urban area, post-secondary institutions, hospitals, and a well-populated and growing exurban and rural periphery. It just needs the leadership to recognize its potential.
While Montreal was celebrating the opening of another portion of its REM automated light metro system between Gare Centrale and Deux-Montagnes on the region’s north shore, Torontonians had to settle for the partial opening of two light rail stations on the delayed Line 5 Eglinton line: Mount Dennis and Cedarvale.
While the opening of Cedarvale (apart from the light rail platforms) slightly improved circulation at the existing Eglinton West Station, Mount Dennis Station provides for a new GO Transit and UP Express stop, a large TTC bus terminal, and access to a historic Kodak building. It’s an interesting structure that facilitates new intermodal connections, but could definitely benefit from a few minor improvements.
An UP Express train leaves Mount Dennis for Union Station, with the Toronto skyline in the background
The Mount Dennis and Weston neighbourhoods were established around major industries, including CCM, Moffat Stoves, Willys-Overland, Dominion Bridge, Kodak, with even more employment at the nearby stockyards and slaughterhouses at St. Clair Avenue. The CN and CP railways passing through brought materials in and finished goods out. Today, only the Facelle tissue plant — now owned by Irving — remains in operation from that industrial past. The Dominion Bridge property later became the home of a TTC bus garage, while the Kodak plant became the site of the Eglinton Crosstown light rail storage and maintenance facility.
One building from the massive Kodak complex was preserved: Building 9, the employee recreation centre. The rear section of the main floor contains a public entrance to the station from the passenger pick-up and drop-off area, accessible washrooms, and access to the rest of the building (which is currently vacant). A bright mural, which once graced Building 9, can be found near the GO/UPX platform accesses. A heritage plaque tells the story of the building.
Mount Dennis Station platforms and Kodak Building 9Building 9, as seen from the TTC bus terminal. Note the Metrolinx “T” icon, with the logos of three services – GO, TTC, and UP – below.The GO/UP Express section of the station is brightened by a colourful mural saved from Kodak Building 9Heritage Toronto Plaque affixed to Kodak Building 9
As UP Express and most GO Kitchener Line trains now stop at Mount Dennis, approximately three extra minutes is added to train trips. UP Express, which took 25 minutes between Pearson Airport Terminal 1 and Union Station, now takes 28 minutes. On the first day of stopping service last Sunday, very few passengers got on or off UP or GO trains (of the few that did, most appeared to be transit enthusiasts), but with more TTC bus connections and the Line 5 service hopefully coming soon, the station should become much busier.
Mount Dennis Station was mostly empty on its first dayA mostly empty Mount Dennis bus terminal currently serves six routes; this will increase to 13 when Line 5 finally opens
Mount Dennis will be served by 13 different bus routes when the station is fully open, including a new route 901 express between Mount Dennis and Pearson Airport, via Dixon Road. Though most of the changes are simple route extensions to the new terminal (like the 161 and 168), the 35 Jane will be split into two (while the 935 express stays on Jane, bypassing Mount Dennis), and daytime surface service on Eglinton between Mount Dennis and Kennedy Stations will be limited to an infrequent Route 34 bus.
Map of planned bus network revisions upon opening of Line 5 (click for larger image)
Despite some long corridors (particularly between the escalators up to the bus terminal and down to the closed-off LRT platforms), the station is well designed for the complexity of the site. The bus terminal and LRT platforms are both within the fare-paid area, eliminating one barrier between buses and rail.
Corridor towards the elevator and escalators from the TTC fare gates and LRT to the bus terminal. The natural light comes in from the large windows of Building 9. Public washrooms are on the left, past the windowed room, presumably a future retail space.Looking down to the LRT platforms
Three of four UP/GO platforms are in service (the fourth track, which would allow for more frequent GO Kitchener Line service is under construction). I was impressed to see two elevators to each platform, providing essential redundancy for improved accessibility and reliability. However, the GO/UPX platform access points are not easy to spot from this long corridor, which also leads to the Eglinton Avenue and Weston Road intersection.
Passage to GO and UP Express trains from the TTC bus/LRT area, looking west
There is no visible wayfinding signage in this long tunnel. Only when one reaches the escalators at the other end are directions apparent, as the overhead signs are affixed to sloped ceilings. This should be a relatively easy fix, but an important one.
No wayfinding signage visible below escalator levelin the GO/UPX area
Furthermore, an opportunity to provide a useful link to the Mount Dennis neighbourhood from GO/UPX Platform 4 (the west-most platform) has not been exploited. An undeveloped road allowance from the corner of Barr Avenue and Brownsville Road, used for station construction, is fenced off and barricaded. This would provide an alternate route to the station from Weston Road, particularly to the nearby Toronto Public Library branch, and would only need a few Presto tap readers and perhaps a fare vending machine. Perhaps it will take private highrise development to make this happen.
Looking west from Platform 4 to the Barr Avenue road allowance
Finally, it was frustrating to see so little wayfinding signage in the TTC bus terminal. Though the TTC has numbered each of the bus bays from 1 to 15, these numbers do not appear inside the waiting area or over the doors. Digital screens over each bay display very small text with next bus information.
TTC bus terminal plan, with each bus bay and assigned routesOutdoor signage at Mount Dennis bus terminal
The wayfinding signage needs to be corrected, but at least these are simple fixes. Otherwise, it was a treat visiting a new transit hub on a sunny (though cold) November afternoon. The heritage preservation was a nice touch; hopefully, new use is found for Building 9’s upper floors. Furthermore, one hopes the rest of the Line 5 Crosstown stations open soon.