Ooops! The initial version of this article used Line 6 in the title. I am too focused on the impending Finch opening!
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation has announced that the Line 5 Crosstown project achieved substantial completion today, December 5. The line is now transferred to the TTC for operation.
No start date has been set, and the TTC will have to conduct its own final pre-service testing just as they did on 6 Finch after the provincial hand-off. A likely date would be mid-February which corresponds to a planned schedule change far enough in the future to accommodate both Line 5 testing and the crewing process for concurrent network changes.
The opening of Line 6 on December 7 is a “mid period” change that is not part of the TTC’s regular cycle, but is likely due to a political desire to complete at least one of the lines in 2025.
According to the Ministry, service on Line 5 will ramp up:
Opening Day
- Operation from 6am to 11pm
- Peak service every 4’45”
Six-Month Service
- Operation from 5:30am to 2:30am
- Peak service every 3’30”
The TTC has not announced what type of supplementary service will operate during the six-month interim period, nor the service to be provided on a parallel 34 Eglinton bus from Kennedy to Mount Dennis Station in the long term.
Steve Munro 
To ask the obvious: if the TTC will be operating the line, why is the Ministry telling us how initial service will be structured? Isn’t that up to the operator?
Steve: Who knows? With the change in travel times and headways between Metrolinx info and actual TTC schedules for Finch, MTO might be staking their position. Also this gets into the issue of how many cars Metrolinx’ equipment maintainer will make available vs TTC estimated of plausible travel time.
A perfect example of the cock ups possible with multiple entities responsible for various parts of the operation.
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How is it that minister Sarkaria thinks it could still open in December – even if remote?
Steve: Metrolinx and MTO always forget the time it takes for TTC to do final testing and implement the schedule changes. They go through the same crap with GO announcing (and re-announcing) future service changes, and they should know that an announcement does not make it so. Mlx acknowledges that Ottawa got into deep trouble setting a political rather than an operationally realistic open date (among other problems), but forget this when they want to appear as if they will hit DoFo’s “both lines in 2025” claims.
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Should have chosen another day than Krampusnacht, or Krampus Day, (December 5, 2025). lol
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The Cons in London had it all figured out decades ago when they smashed British Rail into a thousand pieces, “ripping wheel and rail asunder”.
Then they had to replace Rail Track with Network Rail … then when some Tocs started to fail or they couldn’t get anyone to bid on franchises, Her Majesty’s government had to take them over. They finally realized the whole thing was ridiculous and it will all be replaced by Great British Railways within a few years, meaning there will only be “one throat to choke” when things go awry.
An imperfect analogy, of course, but it’s the same mentality at work here in Ontario, where one party knows best and will show those city people how things are done … and end up smashing the TTC into a thousand pieces (all while enriching their cronies).
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Is the term “hand over” really accurate? For this new model isn’t more accurate to describe MX as the owner/operator and TTC as simply a labour supplier? So in this scenario ultimately MX decides what the service level will be and the TTC serves that schedule with the necessary operators?
Steve: That’s a good question. There have been disagreements between TTC and Metrolinx about how much service is needed on the new lines, and I suspect that Metrolinx will be stingier about funding more frequent service than the TTC might be.
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The problem here is that the TTC is not simply the “operator” of the LRT lines, like Bombardier (I think) is the “operator” supplying the crews of the GO trains. (And wasn’t there some kind of fiasco there recently?)
The LRT lines aren’t add-on, independent lines on the Toronto transit map like GO’s train and bus network. They are integral parts of the local, TTC system, and they replace TTC bus routes. So the TTC should have more say in how they operate. Unfortunately once you get several different organizations with several different ideas, you have the recipe for trouble.
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Was on Line 6 today (Dec. 7) and spoke with one of the line supervisors (they actually exist!) and was told one problem they have is that the maximum running speed is limited by “the maintainers” and TTC has no control over the speed setting. The current speed almost always guarantees the tram is slow enough to hit every single red light. This negates the positive benefits of far side stops. If the TTC is supposed run the route it needs control of all operation aspects.
A second supervisor I spoke with did not know where the control tower for the line was – I am guessing it is in the MTF buildings and not an integral part of the control tower at Hillcrest.
Another problem is reaching a green lit intersection with 10 or less seconds on the pedestrian crossing clock – the tram will stop and await a fresh green as it needs more than 10 seconds to cross and clear the intersection. Work on adjustable signal timing/priority is a must.
TTC was still running #36 buses on the route today – on the ride from Humber College back to Keele/Finch my tram was passed by three of those buses.
Metrolinx has claimed the trams will provide a faster ride than the existing busses. Steve can you add a comparison of current (Nov./Dec. 2025 route 36 bus speed vs. line 6 speed in 6 months or so? It would be interesting to see if Metrolinx or “the maintainers” can meet the time saving target.
Steve: I plan to do comparisons of operations once tracking data for Line 6 cars is available.
I am please to see this new service, but if it is not faster and more efficient, why make a change from buses? There has to be a qualitative improvement of service. Otherwise it is a waste of taxpayer dollers for a political photo op.
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Line 6 should be displayed as a “reduced speed zone”, similar to Lines 1 & 2.
Maybe include the legacy streetcar network as part of the “reduced speed zones” as well. LOL.
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