What to know
- Olivia Chow says she’ll bring a city council motion next week to give the Finch West LRT stronger transit signal priority, allowing trains to move ahead of turning cars.
- Chow acknowledged riders’ complaints about slow travel times on Line 6, saying the service should become faster by January or February if the motion is approved.
- Regarding the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT, the mayor says the line is “not ready” to open yet, stressing safety concerns and pointing to Ottawa’s rushed 2019 LRT launch as a cautionary tale.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says the Finch West LRT could become faster by the end of the winter, as she pushes for transit signal priority as the line is being criticized for slow travel times.
The mayor told Now Toronto on Thursday that she is planning to move a motion at city council next week to increase transit signal priority for the line, giving the LRT priority over cars that cross its path while making turns.
“When the train gets to a traffic signal, they should have priority. In the past, they didn’t because what Metrolinx had was a system that is conditional priority. They need to have much higher priority because there’s like three or four cars making left turns, and it blocks a train that has 40, 50, 80, 100 people in it. There’s no reason to do that,” she said.
The mayor’s comments come less than a week after the highly-anticipated Line 6 finally opened, prompting criticisms from riders who raised concerns over the line’s slow speeds, delays and operational issues.
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Chow rode the new line herself during its launch day last Sunday, and admitted that she also found travel times to be slow, but says it should improve by next year if her motion is approved.
“Next week, I have a motion on council to ask them to go fix it, and then early next year it will be so much better. It’ll be fast…January, February, around then.”
Although the line is still not operating completely under city jurisdiction, with its trains still being operated by Metrolinx, the mayor said TTC and Metrolinx will work together to implement the new measure.
“It needs Metrolinx working with TTC and the transit people to get the lights, giving them priority and changing the bylaws so that, in some areas, left turns are given second priority, trains go first and then left turns later.”
MAYOR SPEAKS ABOUT EGLINTON-CROSSTOWN LRT DELAYS
Another transit project that has been making headlines throughout the year is the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT, which has been under construction since 2011, with still no launch date in site, despite its completion date having been originally planned for 2020.
The line is currently being managed by Metrolinx, but will soon be transferred to the TTC, which will then determine when it will actually open.
The final Revenue Service Demonstration (RSD) for Line 5 was completed earlier this month, revealing that the LRT is running over 20 minutes slower than expected.
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Despite frustration among riders and transit advocates over the significant delays in launching the project, Chow told Now Toronto the trains are still not ready to be opened.
Emphasizing the need to make sure the line is safe for riders, the mayor recalled Ottawa’s Confederation Line which faced several issues, including power outages, operational problems, and two derailments, after the city pushed for its opening in 2019 despite concerns raised during its testing phase, according to media reports.
“It’s not ready. The train needs to be ready. It needs to be foolproof,” Chow said about the Crosstown LRT. “What happened in Ottawa when they rushed and opened it in 2019 they lost power. The door didn’t close properly. The bricks didn’t work…it derailed twice. It was like, ‘Oh my God,’ because they rushed the opening. So, we need to make sure everything is safe and reliable.”
For now, the mayor said she is “on top of all the things they need to fix” and will provide an update on the line soon.
