With the imminent opening of Line 5 Eglinton LRT on February 8, the TTC has repeatedly been asked “will it be faster than the bus”. They have said, yes, but with few details.

On February 3, the online schedules (GTFS format) came out for the next period including stop-by-stop travel times for Line 5. This article compares these times with the existing schedules for the 32 Eglinton West and 34 Eglinton East buses. The LRT is almost always faster except late in the evening, and then on only part of the route.

Later in the article are charts of scheduled speeds and stop spacing for the bus and LRT operations.

Scheduled Travel Time Comparisons

Here is a comparison by time of day for weekday service.

Eastbound	7-8am Bus	7-8am LRT	1pm Bus	1pm LRT	5pm Bus	5pm LRT	8pm Bus	8pm LRT	11pm Bus	11pm LRT
Mt. Dennis to Kennedy	1h29m	54m	1h29m	52m	1h46m	54m	1h10m	52m	54m	52m
Mt. Dennis to Cedarvale	25m	11m	22m	10m	29m	11m	16m	10m	11m	10m
Cedarvale to Yonge	18m	9m	17m	9m	19m	9m	12m	9m	9m	9m
Mt. Dennis to Yonge	42m	20m	39m	19m	48m	20m	28m	19m	20m	19m
Yonge to Don Valley	20m	12m	21m	12m	27m	12m	18m	12m	15m	12m
Don Valley to Kennedy	27m	22m	29m	21m	31m	22m	24m	21m	19m	21m
Yonge to Kennedy	47m	34m	50m	33m	58m	34m	42m	33m	34m	33m

And for westbound:

Westbound	7-8am Bus	7-8am LRT	1pm Bus	1pm LRT	5pm Bus	5pm LRT	8pm Bus	8pm LRT	11pm Bus	11pm LRT
Kennedy to Mt. Dennis	1h22m	52m	1h21m	52m	1h36m	54m	1h10m	52m	55m	52m
Kennedy to Don Valley	20m	21m	28m	21m	29m	22m	21m	21m	17m	21m
Don Valley to Yonge	32m	13m	22m	13m	24m	13m	20m	13m	17m	13m
Kennedy to Yonge	52m	34m	50m	34m	53m	35m	41m	34m	34m	34m
Yonge to Cedarvale	14m	9m	14m	9m	20m	9m	13m	9m	9m	9m
Cedarvale to Mt. Dennis	16m	9m	17m	9m	23m	10m	16m	9m	12m	9m
Yonge to Mt. Dennis	30m	18m	31m	18m	43m	19m	29m	18m	21m	18m

Generally speaking, travel times are much shorter for the LRT with the least difference falling in the surface section east of Don Valley Station. This is partly due to traffic and signal constraints at cross streets, and partly due to stations being closer together preventing operation at high speed between them.

Scheduled Speeds

The charts below show the scheduled speeds for buses in January and trains in February 2026. The travel times are taken from the GTFS electronic schedules published by the TTC on February 3, as are the stop spacings.

Buses in January 2026

LRT in February 2026

Note that scheduled speeds are the same for many periods with only the peaks having slightly lower speeds on part of the route.

Stop Spacing

The issue of stop spacing comes up routinely when some advocates and professionals talk about speeding up transit service. The charts below show the spacing of stops on the existing 32/34 bus routes, and on the coming 5 Eglinton LRT. Note that the LRT stops are much more widely spaced.

Those who live between stops and do not wish to, or cannot, walk to a station will have to be content with the new 34 Eglinton bus running from Kennedy to Mount Dennis every 20 minutes.

Late in the evening when the LRT is closed, there will be a shuttle bus on top of the 34 service, but the shuttle will only stop at LRT stations running, effectively, as an express service. The 334 night bus consolidating the existing 332 and 334 routes will make all stops.

TTC Service Standards provide that stops on local surface routes should not be more than 400m apart making a maximum walking distance of 200m assuming no obstacles such as hills, and not including access distance to the main transit street from inside of street blocks.

Bus in January 2026

LRT in February 2026