Finch West Line 6 LRT

[Undead]

Scarborough and North Etobicoke, for example, have long been given scraps when it comes to public transport, areas that also happen to be some of the most diverse in the city.

Line 2 is being extended in Scarborough, Etobicoke is getting the underground portion of the Eglinton line which will be essentially a subway (plus the Eg West extension) and Sheppard is now being planned for extension east and west as well. The diversity bit is completely irrelevant.

I couldn't tell you where they would be built considering the sprawling nature of the region makes it very hard to justify any kind of higher-order transit in most areas.

The Jane bus/corridor is the lead candidate for LRT conversion, followed by the other busiest bus routes (Wilson, Lawrence West, etc).

 

[wmedia]

For future LRT lines, one of my colleagues suggested it would be cheaper and faster to buy every user of the line one of these exoskeletons, and have them all run instead!

 

[Obsidian]

The videos of these LRTs crawling along at turtle speeds are honestly embarrassing. I’ve been saying for the past couple of years that the problems with Lines 5 and 6 wouldn’t magically disappear once they opened. I already had the bar set low, but this is somehow worse than expected. A week in and we’re already seeing a full line shutdown? Come on.

And yet people are still insisting LRTs are perfectly fine for a city the size of Toronto. These lines are constrained by intersections, lack signal priority, and operate at street level in a way that’s unforgiving when anything goes wrong.

What really drives this is the underlying attitude that the outer boroughs don’t “count” as real Toronto. The city centre gets treated as the city, while everywhere else is managed cheaply. When it’s the centre, subways are justified, disruption is acceptable, and costs are worth it. When it’s the outer areas, suddenly LRTs, compromises, and “good enough” solutions are pushed instead.

Scarborough and North Etobicoke, for example, have long been given scraps when it comes to public transport, areas that also happen to be some of the most diverse in the city. Finch West and Scarborough LRT are classic examples, cheaper, surface solutions designed without full consideration for long-term capacity or reliability. Even Line 3, when it was operational, was a stopgap from day one.

This isn’t about individual prejudice; it’s about systemic biases in how the city prioritises infrastructure investment. Political influence, cost considerations, and historic planning choices have all favoured the centre and left outer, diverse boroughs with substandard options. Until the city recognises that every area deserves transit built to proper standards, this kind of fiasco is going to keep happening.

Said it before and I’m saying it again….I don’t want another LRT ever built in Toronto again. If you MUST….stick it underground or above ground.

Also, I love how they did everything to say “this isn’t a streetcar” yet have stops on Line 6 that mimic TTC streetcar stops and follow the speed limit for cars. Absolutely hilarious.

I’m glad the outrage forced the city into growing the F up…..keep the pressure on them….maybe they’ll realise this isn’t 1972 Toronto anymore.

The entire point of transit city was to bring higher order of transit to the burbs all at once.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Beta test out transit signal priority on existing streetcar right-of-ways, like The Queensway.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

The reason for using light rail on Line 6 is because of the "failure" of magnetically attracted induction rail using on the former Line 3 Scarborough Rapid Transit.

 

[Rainforest]

LRTs work reasonably well in a number of other cities, thus it was worth building some in Toronto.

However, any future LRT expansion will only happen if the first two lines can be fixed. In particular, if Finch West gets fixed.

If Finch West remains slow, then we can forget about almost any other new LRT corridor. Maybe, Waterfront East LRT still makes sense, as well as the extensions of both Eglinton and Finch to the airport (eliminating the transfers). Other than those, nothing will get going.

 

[urbanclient]

LRTs work reasonably well in a number of other cities, thus it was worth building some in Toronto.

This right here is a logical fallacy. Just because something worked well in some other cities, doesn't mean it was the optimal choice for Toronto. You’ve got to compare the population distribution, density and land-use patterns, not to mention account for future growth.

If you build for small city demand in a big city corridor, you’re just paying billions to create a future bottleneck. Ironically, in Finch West's case, it probably didn't deserve an LRT before Finch East, Lawrence, etc. got transit improvements.

You should build an LRT only if you never expect that corridor to need a subway. If a corridor could conceivably support a subway in the future, an undercapacity LRT will eventually lead to untenable congestion. So instead of supporting long-term intensification, the corridor stalls out and growth shifts elsewhere *cough* Eglinton.

 

[ThenWhat]

LRTs work reasonably well in a number of other cities, thus it was worth building some in Toronto.

However, any future LRT expansion will only happen if the first two lines can be fixed. In particular, if Finch West gets fixed.

If Finch West remains slow, then we can forget about almost any other new LRT corridor. Maybe, Waterfront East LRT still makes sense, as well as the extensions of both Eglinton and Finch to the airport (eliminating the transfers). Other than those, nothing will get going.

Finch and Eglinton are not the first LRT in Toronto. We've had Harbourfront and Spadina LRT decades ago, eventually demoted to mere streetcars.

To propose a new LRT project in Toronto, it is not enough to note that it works in some other cities. The proposal should demonstrate an understanding of the reasons why LRT projects in Toronto (most recently Lines 5 and 6) ran into trouble, and to explain what the proposed project will do differently to deal with those reasons.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Finch and Eglinton are not the first LRT in Toronto. We've had Harbourfront and Spadina LRT decades ago, eventually demoted to mere streetcars.

To propose a new LRT project in Toronto, it is not enough to note that it works in some other cities. The proposal should demonstrate an understanding of the reasons why LRT projects in Toronto (most recently Lines 5 and 6) ran into trouble, and to explain what the proposed project will do differently to deal with those reasons.

The "first" light rail in Toronto was along The Queensway. It could have been an extension to the "Queen Subway", that was to use streetcars, before the powers-that-be switched to Bloor & Danforth for the second subway.

In 1957, to accommodate construction of the Gardiner Expressway, the streetcar tracks were removed from Lake Shore Boulevard between Roncesvalles Avenue and the Humber River, and the bridge crossing the rail corridor was demolished. As a replacement, a new private right-of-way was built along the Queensway from the Sunnyside Loop to the Humber Loop.

 

[Bojaxs]

But do you know where elevated tracks are probably the least politically palatable in toronto ?

Rosedale?

 

[Leo_Chan]

The Line 6 platform at Finch West Station looks like it is enclosed, but the temperature is virtually the same as outside. Obviously Humber College Station's platform is fully exposed, but are there any things that can be done to make the temperature more comfortable without being a complete waste of energy? I don't really have any experience with indoor but not temperature controlled stations in the system or abroad, so I could be missing something obvious.

 

[Thaboss]

The Line 6 platform at Finch West Station looks like it is enclosed, but the temperature is virtually the same as outside. Obviously Humber College Station's platform is fully exposed, but are there any things that can be done to make the temperature more comfortable without being a complete waste of energy? I don't really have any experience with indoor but not temperature controlled stations in the system or abroad, so I could be missing something obvious.

Platform screen doors...

Or

Only open transit doors where the button is pressed.. so you can wait in the warmer train

 

[Admiral Beez]

Rosedale?

They used to have commuter rail.

Toronto Belt Line - Toronto Railway Historical Association

The Toronto Belt Line was a visionary railway commuter network that began running trains 75 years before GO Transit and shut down after only two years of operation. There are no known photographs of any of its trains, yet thousands of Torontonians enjoy walking, jogging or biking along its...

www.trha.ca

 

[Leo_Chan]

Platform screen doors...

Or

Only open transit doors where the button is pressed.. so you can wait in the warmer train

Platform screen doors would make the platforms of the station considered indoor so the climate is separated and temperature manageable.

 

[Kyle Campbell]

Ottawa is fully grade separated for one. If anything ottawa moves too slow for how well its been grade separated lol

Finch west lights turn red earlier than the adjacent streetlights, including when transit is given a left turn light.

Finch trains stops are right after lights and dwell times at those stations are very long.

The trains are being run at extremely slow speeds to avoid aggressive acceleration and breaking.

Watch videos of finch leaving finch west station. Nowhere on earth would a bus move that slowly.


Its a basic math problem really. An extra min here and there and next thing you know its been 20 extra min.

Far side atops actually make sense, when you combine them with TSP, the train glides through a green light and then waits on the far side. But this seems to be a left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing situation.