Could you outrun the train? Finch LRT takes 55 minutes to cover 10.3 km route

Northwest Toronto’s newly-opened light-rail transit (LRT) line is getting its first taste of rush hour Monday — but it doesn’t appear to be rushing.

The new Finch West LRT, also dubbed Line 6, officially opened to passengers Sunday after four years of delays and budget run-ups. Running mostly above ground along Finch Avenue W., Toronto transit’s first new line since 2002 connects Humber Polytechnic to Finch West Station and Line 1 subway service at the eastern end, with 18 stops along the way.

Large crowds checked out the first trains on the line Sunday, with many people saying they’d been waiting years for a faster, more reliable commute through the northwest part of the city.

The first day went off mostly without a hitch, but Monday morning is a chance to put the line through its paces. Toronto transit averages about 2.6 million customer boardings each weekday, according to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) CEO’s latest report, and more workers are being mandated to commute to the office this fall and winter.

But for anyone who planned to take the new train to the office to start the work week, it might have been best if they didn’t hit the snooze button.

A CBC Toronto reporter rode the entire 10.3-kilometre line from east to west Monday morning, finding it took roughly 55 minutes to complete. As a reference point, over 400 runners ran this year’s Toronto Marathon 10-kilometre event in under 55 minutes.

CBC Toronto’s eastbound return trip to Finch West Station was about eight minutes shorter, clocking in at roughly 47 minutes. Still, several riders Monday told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning that the previous bus route on Finch Avenue W. was faster and had more stops along the way, making it easier to access.

TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said in an email that the initial scheduled travel time for the LRT, based on the testing phase, is 46 minutes from one end to the other.

“As we move towards full service and beyond, improvements to average speeds are expected through operational familiarity and confidence and adjustments to corridor operation in collaboration with the City of Toronto,” he wrote.

Policy and infrastructure consultant Jonathan English, who rode the train Sunday and Monday, said there’s still room for changes and improvements.

He said the line was starting with a “pretty cautious operation,” moving slowly and stopping at red lights for traffic. One way to speed things up, he said, would be to use transit signal priority on the line, which gives trains the right of way while motor vehicles have red lights.

“It’s a software fix, not a hardware fix, so to speak, now that the infrastructure is here,” English told Metro Morning. Implementing transit signal priority is a matter of political will, he said.

“We put a lot of effort into building this impressive piece of infrastructure,” he said. “We’ve got to get the most out.”

Advocacy group TTCriders has announced it plans to ask city council to implement transit signal priority for Line 6. Members say they’ve heard the LRT will in some cases take as long or longer than the old bus route.

Toronto’s director of traffic management previously told CBC Toronto the city would consider transit signal priority on the line after observing how it was running in the early stages.

The TTC says trains will arrive every six and a half minutes during morning and afternoon rush hours and every 10 to 12 minutes at other times.

The line was first proposed in 2007 but was delayed by years of political debates, changes in funding and repeated construction setbacks, which generated criticism from locals in the area. Construction on the LRT broke ground in 2019 and it was originally slated to open in 2023.

Residents react to Toronto’s Finch West LRT opening 

A report by Metrolinx earlier this fall said the line’s total cost was $3.7 billion, including life cycle, operating and maintenance costs, putting the project above the initial $2.5 billion estimate.

That same report also shows the Eglinton Crosstown LRT — a delay-plagued project also first proposed in 2007 — has incurred a cost of over $13 billion.

Ford says Eglinton Crosstown LRT could open in 2026

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said last week the delay-plagued Eglinton Crosstown LRT is expected to open in 2026 or “very soon after.”

Construction began on that line in 2011, and it was first expected to open in 2020. September was later touted as a possible opening date but performance issues had pushed that timeline back further.

While people in northwest Toronto have been waiting years for the LRT to open, hoping it would make it easier to get around the city, several advocates are also concerned that low-income neighbourhoods could be gentrified if the LRT makes the area along the line more desirable.

“There’s a lot of issues around affordability,” Christine Le, a York University graduate student who’s done research work with the Jane/Finch Centre, told Metro Morning on Monday.

She said the Jane and Finch community is affordable compared to other parts of the city, attracting many new immigrants and low-income people. Line 6 could make it easier to access and explore the Jane and Finch area, which is exciting for residents and businesses in the area, she said, but that could drive up housing prices.

“It brings a lot of opportunities for people who live outside to really know what Jane and Finch is about, which is pretty cool. But again, I think housing is a big issue.”

Jane/Finch Centre executive director Michelle Dagnino told Metro Morning last month that when construction of the LRT was announced, centre staff began hearing of renovictions at buildings along the route that hadn’t been upgraded in years, followed by skyrocketing rents.

Humber Polytechnic’s dean of students told CBC Toronto last week he’s hopeful the new line will make campus more accessible to students, while also making the city as a whole easier to navigate by better connecting the school to Toronto’s transit network.