Finch West LRT begins service on Sunday

Seven years after construction first began, the Finch West LRT is set to carry its first riders Sunday morning.

Toronto’s newest transit line officially opens to the public with the first ceremonial ride departing Finch West station at 7:20 a.m. The first official westbound train will depart from Norfinch Oakdale Station at 7:33 a.m., while the first eastbound train will leave Jane and Finch Station at 7:47 a.m.

The 10.3-kilometre, 18-stop line runs along Finch Avenue West between Finch West Station on Line 1 Yonge-University and Humber Polytechnic’s North Campus, with connections to York Region Transit, MiWay and Brampton Transit.

First day rides along the new transit route will be free, and commuters will have the opportunity to collect some Line 6 souvenirs, including ride guides, vehicle cutouts and commemorative coins.

“Thank goodness, we’re open for business now,” Premier Doug Ford said on Friday ahead of the line’s official opening.

“As they say, it takes a whole village. Well, it took the whole city and part of the province to get this going, but it’s open now.”

The line will operate under “soft opening” hours at least until the spring, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays, with shuttle buses filling the gap between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.

Trains will arrive every six and a half minutes during the weekday morning and afternoon rush hours and 10 to 12 minutes at all other times.

Onboard fare payment is not yet available on Line 6 vehicles, meaning riders will have to pay on the platform with Presto, credit or debit cards. There will also be a single-ride vending machine for those paying cash.

With the opening of Line 6, the focus now turns to the much-maligned Eglinton Crosstown LRT, which cleared another milestone on Friday as independent engineers verified the line is now ready for service and that the TTC has assumed “full operational control.”

It will now be up to the transit agency to determine an opening date, which now seems destined for 2026. Once open, Line 5 will be under similar operating restrictions as the Finch West line, at least until the spring.

Construction of the Eglinton Crosstown began in 2011 and was supposed to open in 2020, but it has been repeatedly pushed back due to various legal, construction and testing issues along with COVID-19-related delays.

With files from Nick Westoll and Meredith Bond