Welcome to Transit City, Toronto's plan to bring light rail transit to every corner of the Toronto.

To help accomplish this goal, the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission have developed a plan to expand rapid transit services into neighbourhoods across our city. 

The Transit City Light Rail Transit Plan, or “Transit City” for short, is a vision for a public transit network that will be fast, reliable, comfortable and accessible by all.

Work on Transit City is already well underway.

This bold new program includes many new lines to connect you with other TTC and regional transit services, such as the subway, bus routes, and GO Transit.

What is Light Rail Transit?

LRT is in use in many cities around the world such as Paris, Madrid, Calgary, and Vancouver; and its popularity is growing.


Why is Light Rail considered the best rapid transit solution for Toronto?

LRT can operate in the middle of the street but has the flexibility to operate underground, like a subway.

LRT is environmentally friendly – with no local emissions.

Based on its successful history of operating subways, streetcars and buses, the TTC studied a variety of options to expand rapid transit services to areas where it is badly needed, beyond the city’s core.

LRT is the best choice to connect to these areas.

At nearly twice the length of standard streetcars, light rail vehicles will seat more passengers and can be coupled to accommodate more people as the city grows.

The floors of these vehicles will be level with the on-street platforms, and will be fully accessible to everyone.

These comfortable, modern cars can reverse direction without having to turn around.  

A pre-paid fare system will allow you to board quickly through all vehicle entrances, reducing the time needed to pick up passengers, resulting in less time waiting, and more time moving.
 
 
LRT will operate in its own reserved lane, separated form other traffic, so passengers will be protected from the effects of increasing traffic congestion, – a big improvement over riding a bus in mixed traffic during rush hours.

With reserved lanes, not only will the service be faster; it will be more reliable as travel times become more predictable, leading to a significant improvement in on-time performance.

To further improve the operating speeds of the LRT, there will be some increase in the distance between stops; the walk to your stop may increase slightly, but it will be more than offset by overall faster travel speeds once on the LRT.

This concept shows a typical new design for an LRT stop, which will be used on each of the new routes.  

Route stops will be both functional and attractive. 

Streetscaping and urban design features such as new trees are an integral part of the LRT projects, and will improve the look and function of roadways on which LRT lines will be constructed.

Where possible, new bike lanes will be included in the Transit City roadways.

LRT lines will support, and help encourage, the increased development levels that the City has planned for key areas of the city, while providing much improved transit service to the stable residential areas that will continue to be protected.  

Planning is well underway to make transit an even better travel alternative throughout the City of Toronto

With the Transit City LRT program, everyone in Toronto will benefit from…

reduced emissions…

a faster, more reliable, and more comfortable rapid transit network…

new bike lanes…

and from the pedestrian-friendly street design to be built in each corridor.

The Toronto Transit Commission is known around the world for the uniqueness of its system, and the interconnectedness of its bus, streetcar and subway lines. Add to that, now, Light Rail Transit.

Indeed, Transit City is part of the evolution of great city-building, where access to affordable, reliable public transit is at everyone’s doorstep. The TTC is a proud partner in city building. It is with excitement that it embarks on a Transit City for all of Toronto.