Give Transit the Green Light

Update: We're one step closer to giving LRTs the green light!

Thanks to over 1,300 other transit riders who sent a message to city councillors this month, Toronto City Council voted to review traffic signals along Eglinton and Finch West to prioritize transit users!

Thanks to your advocacy, Mayor Olivia Chow moved a motion to report back on opportunities to speed up transit riders’ commutes on new LRTs when they open in the Fall, and Councillor Josh Matlow moved a motion to have that report accelerated to July. This isn’t a done deal quite yet. We still need to send a strong message to City Council in July to ensure transit riders on new LRTs get the green light for more reliable and fast service.

A $12.6 billion rapid transit line shouldn't wait at red lights 

When the $12.6 billion Eglinton Crosstown and $2.5+ billion Finch West LRTs finally open after years of delay, transit riders expect them to be as fast and reliable as possible. 

But waiting at red lights will be built into the Eglinton Crosstown’s schedule, according to the Toronto Star, because the Crosstown will not have active Transit Signal Priority (TSP). The Eglinton Crosstown LRT will operate along the street and need to go through intersections with traffic signals between Kennedy and Laird, with the exception of the Science Centre Station.

TTCriders is calling for new LRTs to have active signal priority. This means when a transit vehicle approaches an intersection, a green light will get extended or a red light will be shortened, so that waiting times at traffic lights are minimized. For example, when active transit signal priority was added to the METRO Green Line in Minneapolis, only 5% of trains stopped at signalized intersections

Who goes first? Will a few drivers hold up hundreds of transit riders? 

TTCriders is also calling for transit vehicles to be prioritized before left-turning single-occupancy vehicles. 

The Infrastructure and Environment Committee met on April 9, 2025 to discuss the Congestion Management Plan - 2025 Update. The Committee passed a motion to create a plan for more enforcement and towing of vehicles that block streetcars. Mayor Olivia Chow also wrote a letter in support of this initiative. Why should one or two drivers hold up hundreds of transit riders? This same principle should be applied to new LRT projects, by using active transit signal priority. At the meeting, Transportation Services staff confirmed that the Finch West and Eglinton Crosstown LRT lines will use a "conditional" form of transit priority. 

Another motion was passed at the April 9 meeting to develop a strategy for expanding Transit Signal Priority to all high ridership routes and reporting back this coming Fall. 

What are the different kinds of transit signal priority?

Graphics by Nico Zucco.

Full Active TSP (also called unconditional TSP) Full active TSP will typically detect an approaching transit vehicle and modify the traffic signal cycle to allow a green by either extending a concurring green phase or truncating a red phase This does not necessarily mean that vehicles will consistently receive a “green wave” along a line, but that the system will try to minimize time spent waiting at traffic signals  For example, only 5% of trains stopped at signalized intersections when full active TSP was added in Minneapolis.

Limited Active TSP (also called conditional TSP) A transit vehicle may ask for a green light to be extended a certain period of time, only under certain conditions, such as running behind schedule.   Some transit systems use other “conditions” for extending green lights, such as crowding on transit vehicles.  The TTC’s 420 intersections with TSP use “Advanced Transit Signal Priority,” which is a form of limited active TSP that detects vehicles running behind schedule and extends the green phase up to 30 seconds.

Passive TSP Passive TSP does not actively respond to transit vehicles as they approach intersections. Instead, signal phases are predetermined to provide optimal travel time savings to transit vehicles on a line (Source: TSP control at signalized intersections: a comprehensive review, p.2) Passive TSP is not responsive to delays that occur along the line that push trains behind schedule.

Phasing: Who goes first?  The photo above was taken on April 5, 2025 at the intersection of Eglinton East and Leslie.  Currently, the phasing of the lights is set up for left-turning vehicles to get an advanced green light.  Analysis by Steve Munro shows that dedicated transit lanes are slowed down by waiting for left-turning traffic, "particularly when combined with the “double stop” effect of farside stops." Data from St. Clair shows that "streetcars spend more time waiting to cross intersections than they do serving the farside stops."  TTCriders is calling for transit vehicles to be prioritized before left-turning single-occupancy vehicles.