Category Archives for "Urban Transit"

Finch West LRT to open December7, 2025

By Transport Action Ontario | Latest News , Urban Transit

Metrolinx and the TTC have announced that the long overdue Toronto Finch West LRT (Line 6) will open for revenue service on December 7, 2025. It will be Toronto’s first new rail line since 2002. The line runs largely above-ground in the median of Finch Ave. from Finch West subway station to Humber College, a distance of 11 km. There are 18 stops (16 at grade). Finch Ave. was widened as needed to maintain at least 2 general-purpose traffic lanes in each direction, plus cycling lanes. A maintenance and storage facility was also constructed.

The line was constructed by Mosaic Transit Group under a $2.5 billion DBFM contract signed in 2018, including 30 years of maintenance. The project was substantially delayed from its first planned completion date of 2021, due to numerous issues including the Covid pandemic, vehicle delivery issues and litigation.

Like York’s VIVA system, fare payment is off-vehicle, which will be new to TTC streetcar and bus passengers. The anticipated service level is 6.5 minute headways during peak hours and 10-12 minute headways off-peak, which is longer than the current bus headways (i.e. longer waits). The round trip travel time is scheduled for 97.5 minutes, which compares to the scheduled bus round trip time over the same distance of 100 minutes (AM peak) and 122 minutes (PM peak). It remains to be seen if more transit signal priority can be negotiated with the City to improve upon these times.

Presentation at Transportation Mobility Conference

By Transport Action Ontario | Community Transit , Highways and Bridges , Urban Transit

Transport Action Ontario board members recently presented at a Transportation Mobility Conference hosted by MPP Andrea Hazell, the Ontario Liberal Party transportation critic. We are always pleased to discuss transportation in a non-partisan manner to elected officials of any party.

The conference covered a broad range of topics, including community benefits, progress at the TTC, rural transportation and Canadian urban transit. Our presentation discussed transportation challenges and remedies in two Ontario regions – Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and southwestern Ontario. The GTHA portion discussed the cost of congestion, current Ontario actions and bold actions needed to reduce GTHA gridlock. The southwestern Ontario portion discussed transportation metrics and recent initiatives. The presentation was well received and is attached below.

Toronto Transit Commission Ridership Growth Strategy

By Transport Action Ontario | Latest News , Urban Transit

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is developing its 2026-2028 ridership growth strategy (RGS) and its 2026 budget considerations. Transport Action Ontario participated in the TTC Planning Advisory Group and has submitted input into the RGS. While the draft RGS had numerous components that we supported, our input emphasized the need for more transit-only lanes with enforcement. This is the single most cost-effective way to improve service reliability and attractiveness of the TTC and to meet the transportation needs of a growing region.

We also supported increases in the transit signal priority program and in the express bus, all-day-every-day and 10-minute networks.

Our submission is attached below.

Transit Updates Within the City of Toronto

By Transport Action Ontario | Latest News , Urban Transit

The City of Toronto experienced a flurry of interesting transit news items in June.  This posting summarizes many of them.  For further information, contact us at ontario@transportaction.ca.

RAPID TRANSIT PROJECTS

• A bombshell article in The Trillium revealed information about a significant “descoping” of the GO Expansion project.  See our post of June 27 for more details.
• Operational control of the soon-to-open Eglinton Crosstown LRT has been transferred to TTC, which will initiate final acceptance testing soon.
• Construction has started on the East Harbour transit hub.  This station will serve GO Lakeshore East, GO Stouffville and the Ontario Line subway.  It is expected to become the second busiest transit station in Greater Toronto, after Union Station.
• After 6 years of study, construction has started on Woodbine GO station on the Kitchener GO line.  It will replace Etobicoke North, which lacks capacity to accommodate future growth on the line.  Woodbine Entertainment Group is providing up to $170 Million to support construction.  According to the Province, the new station will create new links between Pearson Airport, UPX, GO Trains and bus service from TTC, MiWay, York Region and Brampton Transit.
• With the commercial close of the Stations, Rail and Systems contract, the construction and lifecycle maintenance costs of the 7.8-km 3-stop Scarborough Subway Extension (SSE) has been revealed to be $10.2 Billion, or $1.3 B/km.  This is twice the capital cost assumed in the Metrolinx Preliminary Design Business Case in 2020! Difficult soil conditions have slowed the SSE tunnel boring machine.  Tunneling was expected to be completed in 4Q-24, but only about 2 km of the tunneling has been completed.
• Contract award for the Yonge North Subway Extension Advance Tunneling project is expected this summer.

TTC MATTERS

• Vigorous debate continues on whether Bathurst and Dufferin Streets (south of Eglinton Ave)  should be reconfigured from the current two-lanes for general purpose traffic/parking in each direction to one dedicated bus lane, one general purpose lane and no parking in each direction Heavy lobbying is underway both for and against.  A decision is expected in July.
• The TTC board is contemplating a pilot test of platform edge doors in subway stations.  Benefits include passenger safety, fewer issues with “trespassers on track” or “debris on track”, and more efficient heating/cooling of stations.  Cost to implement at a legacy station would be about $40 – 60 Million per station, or about $4 Billion in total.  Staff will develop a pilot test plan for one station, possibly Dundas (TMU) Station.
• As part of Toronto’s strategic parking framework, TTC is considering lowering transit fares during certain times (festivals, events) to reduce traffic congestion during big events.

Photo: Two TTC streetcars pass a steel frame building being erected for Ontario Line works at Osgoode.

GO Expansion Undergoes Major “Descoping”

By Transport Action Ontario | Latest News , Urban Transit

Transport Action Ontario (TAO) has long supported the GO Expansion project, slated to provide 15-minute all-day two-way electrified passenger rail service on core portions of 5 GO lines, plus improved service on the remainder of the network.  In fact, our organization proposed something very similar in 2013 called Regional Rapid Rail,  two years prior to the first provincial announcement.  GO Expansion was modeled after the German S-Bahn or Paris RER approach, and caused excitement across North America.

In 2022, Metrolinx signed a Progressive DBOM contract with ONxpress, a consortium of 4 large engineering and transportation firms.  A 30-month development phase was targeted to produce a firm implementation plan by the end of 2024.  Additionally, a related consortium, ONxpress Operations Inc (OOI), consisting of Deutsche Bahn and Aecon, was contracted to take over operations and maintenance of the GO rail network starting January, 2025.  Meanwhile, about $10 B of early works construction (stations, tracks, grade crossings) continued.

Therefore TAO was very concerned when news of problems recently emerged.  In a bombshell article on June 10, 2025, the on-line magazine The Trillium reported that GO Expansion had been “descoped” due to budget constraints, and the operating contract with OOI had been terminated to due “fundamental differences of opinion”.  Metrolinx will now focus on a “minimum viable product”, which apparently consists of electrifying the two Lakeshore lines by 2038, with the Barrie, Kitchener and Stouffville lines to follow sometime later in Phase 2.  No further details on scope and timing of incremental service improvements (even if modest) on any of the 5 lines was available.

At the Metrolinx board meeting of June 26, the termination of the OOI contract was confirmed.  It was also revealed that the development phase of the work had concluded in December and that Metrolinx had accepted a Design and Construction Proposal. New deliverables for the consortium have been issued, including construction on track and stations and deployment of signals based on ETCS Level 2.  However, again no details were provided.

The lack of details on upcoming construction, as well as any upcoming service improvements, is frustrating and throws uncertainty into large transit-oriented development proposals all across Greater Toronto.  What is this “minimum viable product”? With nearly $10 B of early works completed, TAO believes that some sorts of service improvements, eg 30-minute all-day two-way diesel service on the Barrie, Kitchener and Stouffville lines, cannot be hard to achieve.  We are also disappointed that the bold vision for European-style regional rail appears to have died. 

TAO will be advocating with the Province and Metrolinx to promptly provide details for the public on the Design and Construction Proposal.