Will Eglinton Crosstown Open Saturday?

Due to a concern with the Eglinton Crosstown LRT’s emergency brakes, TTC Chair, Jamaal Myers was unable to confirm the rumored February 8th opening date. The Star reports that Mandeep Lali, CEO of the TTC, says “the premier might have mistakenly interpreted the TTC’s Feb. 8 “board period”…as the official date when the line would open.”

The Star reported on the weekend that Ontario Premiere Doug Ford says the opening date is Saturday with the added caveat that “…it is totally up the TTC”. While it is true the TTC will operate the line, it was built by private company, Crosslinx Transit Solutions, contracted by Metrolinx, an arms length agency of the Ontario government. There is no official opening announcement on the TTC, Metrolinx, Crosslinx or Ontario government websites.

Advocacy organisation TTC Riders, Executive Director, Andrew Pulsifer, says: “We’re glad that it’s finally opening, but sincerely hope it launches without the kinds of reliability problems we saw on Line 6…”. The Finch LRT or Line 6 which opened recently has opened with significant issues for the community, chief among them: slowness. While the slowness issue persists the private company that built line 6, Mosaic Transit Group, has already shut down their website.

There is a lot of concern with both the delayed opening of Eglinton and the opacity behind the delays. “I live near Eglinton and everyone around here talks about how construction dragged on with no real clarity about what was happening,” said Jian Cheng, a local resident. “I’m relieved that I’ll finally be able to ride the line, but it’s frustrating knowing how much disruption our community endured without transparency or accountability.”