Item - 2025.MM35.15

Mayor Olivia Chow, seconded by Councillor Jamaal Myers, recommends that:

1. City Council direct the City Manager, working with Metrolinx and the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, to advance implementation of more aggressive, active transit signal priority at intersections along surface portions of the Line 5 Eglinton and Line 6 Finch West, subject to contractual and legal obligations, and to provide an update on progress in the first quarter of 2026.
 

2. City Council direct the City Manager, working with the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, to report back in the first quarter of 2026 with a plan, including costs and staffing requirements, to implement further measures that improve streetcar network speed and reliability, including signal timing adjustments, a more aggressive transit signal priority policy, deploying traffic agents at key intersections to prevent blocked streetcars, and recommendations for removing on-street parking and restricting left turns during high-peak periods on key streetcar routes.
 

3. City Council direct the City Manager, working with the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, to report back in the first quarter of 2026 with a plan, including costs and staffing requirements, to expedite transit signal priority activations at intersections on the surface transit network where the required technology is not currently installed.

On December 7, on a cold morning before the sunrise, hundreds of eager transit aficionados and riders gathered to launch Line 6, the Finch West Light Rail Transit. Opening a new, long-awaited transit line is a big moment for our City. We must ensure the new Finch West Light Rail Transit lives up to the promise of getting our City moving.

The Finch West Finch West Light Rail Transit is projected to have 51,000 riders each day, and bring 230,000 people within walking distance of rapid transit. It will move generations of people across the northwest of our City, connecting them to jobs, education, family and friends with greater ease. It will help reduce congestion on our roads and help people choose transit over driving.

To succeed at the above, the Finch West Finch West Light Rail Transit has to work well. It must be fast and convenient to use. Now that the Toronto Transit Commission has full operational control of the line, the City can help play a role in speeding it up. Transit riders and experts have rightly pointed out that the Finch West Light Rail Transit does not have the active signal priority that’s critical to the successful operation of surface-level rapid transit. We can fix this.

We also need to be prepared for the opening of Line 5 Eglinton, early next year. Transit signal priority will be important to ensure that service meets the expectations of transit riders for whom Line 5 has been long awaited, and the City can start to get prepared now so that transit signal priority can be activated as quickly as possible.

The motions below direct staff to advance implementation of a more aggressive, active signal priority for the Finch West Finch West Light Rail Transit and the Eglinton Crosstown Finch West Light Rail Transit at intersections, so they can travel more quickly and get people moving faster. It also asks staff to expedite work in the other areas of the city that need it, including across our streetcar network.