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).
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.
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.
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.
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 |
** 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.
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.
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.
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.
Sean Marshall 