The newly opened Finch West LRT is moving at an expected pace despite complaints from riders, according to transit officials, but some experts say changes to traffic signals could help it move faster.
Among the many riders who took the new Line 6 Monday morning was Fariyal Jameel, who rode the Finch West LRT to get to her college.
“It’s still the same speed,” she told CBC Toronto while on the train. “I’ve been on it for as long as I would be on the bus for.”
“I’m giving it grace because it’s just the first few days, but I do hope it gets better,” she said.
Several riders said the previous bus route on Finch Avenue W. was faster, speaking to CBC Radio’s Metro Morning on Monday.
It took about 55 minutes for the train to complete its 10.3-kilometre route from east to west during rush hour Monday morning, according to a CBC reporter who rode the entire line. The reporter’s eastbound return trip was closer to 47 minutes.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said she will ask city council on Thursday to approve a motion that would remove speed caps where possible and increase service on Line 6.
“I’ve rode the trains and I know it can be faster,” Chow told reporters at a news conference Tuesday morning.
The Toronto Transit Commission only recently got operational control of the LRT, but the TTC board is meeting on Wednesday to discuss ways to make the train go faster.
The speed on the Finch West LRT is as fast as expected and planned, said TTC spokesperson Stuart Green. Though open to the public, the Finch West LRT is still being tested, he said.
WATCH | CBC tests out Finch West LRT’s first rush-hour service:
Finch West LRT enters first rush-hour test
The new Finch West LRT officially opened to passengers on Sunday after four years of delays and budget run-ups. CBC’s Haydn Watters breaks down how the line is performing with its first rush-hour commute.
“We do what’s called a soft opening,” he told CBC Toronto. “It allows us to work out some further bugs and kinks in real time.”
The line is expected to shave off some travel time by spring, Green said. But the TTC has “not yet determined a trip time improvement on the LRT,” Green said in an email on Tuesday.
Transit priority signals needed, say some
The Finch West LRT loses a lot of time at intersections, according to transit researcher, writer and consultant with Infrastory Insights, Jonathan English, who took the train on Monday.
That could be improved by implementing transit signal priority (TSP), a strategy that would allow trains to get through intersections without having to wait for lights to change or for cars to turn, English said.
“It’s something that can be fixed relatively easy,” he told Metro Morning on Monday. “It’s a software fix, not a hardware fix, now that the infrastructure is here.”
The technology is used on some transit corridors in Toronto, where green lights are extended so the TTC is less likely to be held up, according to Roger Browne, director of traffic management with the City of Toronto.
But English said it’s not being used to its full potential on the Finch West LRT.
“You do sometimes stop at red lights, stop for left turning cars and that really does add travel time,” he said.
WATCH | Toronto’s Finch West LRT opens:
Residents react to Toronto’s Finch West LRT opening
Sunday marks the opening of the Finch West LRT, which becomes Line 6 on the TTC. It’s the first time a new transit line has opened in the city in more than two decades. CBC’s Haydn Watters travelled the line’s route to hear how locals are feeling.
Transit riders should be rewarded for their choice to take TTC over driving, according to Andrew Pulsifer, the executive director of transit advocacy group TTCriders.
“That the 50,000 people who are going to ride that line every day are stuck behind left turning vehicles is a travesty,” Pulsifer told CBC Toronto on Monday, and said the city should use TSP to speed up the trains and support ridership.
“If it’s super slow, which it looks like it is, it’s just going to erode confidence in that line and people aren’t going to take it,” he said.
Improvements on the way, according to city
Chow told reporters on Tuesday she will ask council to approve the addition of TSP on Line 6.
The TTC supports the implementation of TSP on LRT lines and on streetcar and bus routes, Green said.
“It is one way to really get transit moving in this city,” he said and it’s already in the works.
The city is monitoring traffic patterns now that the line is open and is working on improving TSP so that transit will have priority over left-turning cars, according to Browne.
“It’s a case of us needing to gather a bit of data first, once the system is live and operating to then model and then come up with a design that we can actually implement safely,” he said.
Updating TSP in Toronto is “well underway,” Browne said, adding the city could start a pilot of those changes on certain parts of Spadina Avenue as early as January or February.
However, in a follow-up interview Tuesday, Browne said it’s unclear how much TSP can speed up the line.
“It’s actually really hard to say how much of an impact transit signal priority is going to have,” he told Metro Morning. “Will it be able to make it that much faster? Again, that remains to be seen.”
