Council passes motion to help speed up sluggish Finch LRT

Toronto City Council has passed a motion aimed at boosting the speed of the slow-going Finch LRT by giving it signal priority and to explore ways of speeding up other lines, including the someday-to-be opened Eglinton Crosstown.

The motion follows the lacklustre performance of the Finch West LRT at its opening more than a week ago.

One of the problems identified at opening was that the city was not giving signal priority to the LRT vehicles, contributing to performance some said was slower than the buses it replaced.

Responding to the debacle, Mayor Olivia Chow moved a motion today at council to advance implementation of more aggressive transit signal priority at intersections along the surface portions of the Eglinton Crosstown (Line 5) and Finch West LRT (Line 6) and to do more to speed up streetcars.

“We want to move quickly, to introduce active signal priority, so that the light will change when the LRT approaches, so we don’t have to wait so long,” Chow said.

She said staff would also look at left-turn signalling so vehicles aren’t waiting behind left-turning traffic.

But speaking with reporters, Coun. Brad Bradford accused Chow of having been “asleep at the switch” before the Finch line opened.

“These conversations have been ongoing for many years. Metrolinx was building the system, but they were building to the specifications of the TTC and the City of Toronto,” he said. “I would have much preferred that she had engaged far earlier and I think TTC customers would have appreciated that as well.”

Bradford is moving a motion to implement a money-back guarantee to issue refunds for any customer who experiences a delay of 15 minutes or more from expected performance on the TTC.

Eglinton Crosstown update in late January

The mayor said Tuesday that the city is also working to make sure that Eglinton Crosstown vehicles are given signal priority when the line eventually does open.

She said Toronto residents will get an update in late January on the status of the long-delayed Crosstown, but the line won’t open before then.

“You will get an update at the end of January as to where the Eglinton Crosstown, where it’s at, and we’ll be able to say more at that time,” Chow told reporters ahead of a city council meeting.

The Crosstown, which was supposed to be complete by 2021, has faced numerous delays and setbacks. The line completed its last day of a key testing phase on Dec. 1 and Metrolinx officials said it would likely be a few weeks more before the line could open. However it eventually became clear it would not open by the end of 2025.