Dear Members of Council,
I urge you to support this motion to implement full transit signal priority for Toronto’s streetcars and LRTs.
The City has already invested approximately $16.7 billion of taxpayer money into the Finch West LRT and the Eglinton Crosstown. Without proper signal priority, we are actively choosing to underperform that investment.
We have already seen the consequences on Line 6. A route designed for a 34-minute end-to-end travel time is now taking up to an hour during peak periods. This is not a construction issue. This is not a vehicle issue. This is a policy failure.
At many intersections today, a handful of left-turning private vehicles are given priority over streetcars and LRT vehicles carrying hundreds of passengers. This is indefensible in a city that claims to take congestion and climate seriously.
World-class cities across Europe give transit vehicles priority at signals because they understand a basic truth: the only scalable solution to traffic congestion is providing a faster, more reliable alternative to driving. Toronto’s traffic is already among the worst in North America, and it will continue to deteriorate if transit is allowed to remain slow and unreliable.
At present, the Finch West LRT is not a viable alternative to driving. Without signal priority, it cannot fulfill the role it was built for.
By approving this motion, Council can immediately improve travel times, increase reliability, and unlock the full value of these multi-billion-dollar investments. Faster transit will shift trips out of cars, which benefits everyone, including those who must drive.
Transit riders vote. There is a municipal election in less than one year. Support for policies that materially improve daily life will be remembered.
I urge you to vote in favour of this motion.
Kind regards,
[Your full name]
P.S. I also urge Council to approve as many RapidTO projects as possible while you still have the authority to do so. Provincial intervention is likely following FIFA. We have already seen clear benefits on Dufferin Street for both transit users and drivers. RapidTO must be expanded to other key corridors without delay.
Councillor _______,
My name is _____, and I am writing to you today as a student, a daily transit rider, and someone who consistently observes the system-wide consequences of Toronto’s inadequate transit signal priority.
Since the launch of Line 6 Finch West, riders across the corridor have reported the same recurring issue: despite being built as rapid transit, the line is repeatedly forced to slow down or stop at intersections because the signals do not meaningfully prioritize the LRT. What should function as a seamless, high-performance rapid transit service instead operates like a fragmented, stop-and-go streetcar, not because of the technology, but because of the signal policies governing it.
This problem is not isolated to one corridor.
Along Eglinton, the soon-to-open Line 5 Crosstown faces similar operational constraints. At numerous intersections, left-turning private vehicles, with a maximum of 50 people inside them, are consistently given smooth, uninterrupted priority, while the LRT, a multibillion-dollar investment designed to carry more than 100 passengers per train and thousands per hour, is required to wait for car movements that serve far fewer people. Signal timing in its current form treats transit as secondary, undermining the core purpose of building LRT in the first place.
If Toronto is going to invest in modern rapid transit, that transit must be allowed to operate as intended. Allowing car left-turn phases to override LRT movements is not only inefficient, but actively counterproductive.
For these reasons, I am urging you to strongly support:
- Full, unconditional Transit Signal Priority on all of Toronto’s LRT lines, including Line 5 Eglinton and Line 6 Finch West
- Effective, meaningful Transit Signal Priority on Toronto’s streetcar network
These improvements can be activated immediately and would improve travel times for thousands of riders overnight. Rapid transit cannot be rapid if single-occupant vehicles are consistently prioritized ahead of it.
Thank you for taking the time to read this message. I look forward to seeing meaningful progress on this issue.
Sincerely,
_____