Toronto TSP expansion proposed

Toronto transit officials want to make traffic lights work harder for buses and streetcars, with at least 70 new or updated signal-priority installations planned in 2026. (toronto.ca) The Toronto Transit Commission and City of Toronto said the upgrades are part of a wider program to speed up streetcar and light rail service, and staff describe the longer-term goal as expanding transit signal priority to more than 800 intersections. (toronto.ca) Transit signal priority changes how a traffic light behaves when a bus, streetcar or train is approaching, usually by extending a green light or shortening a red one. Toronto’s 2025 congestion report said the system relies on roadside detection and modified signal equipment at the intersection. (toronto.ca) Toronto said in April 2025 that it had 420 transit signal priority locations citywide, with more than 80 added over the previous two years. That same report said all of the city’s existing locations were operating as “unconditional” priority, meaning transit vehicles are granted priority whenever they are detected. (toronto.ca) The new push comes after months of complaints about slow trips on the surface sections of Line 5 Eglinton and Line 6 Finch West. The Toronto Transit Commission said average afternoon peak round-trip travel times have already improved by about 10 minutes on Line 5 and 20 minutes on Line 6 compared with initial service. (toronto.ca) The agency said recent signal changes, including green extensions, red truncations, lagging left turns and phase rotation, have produced travel-time savings of up to 42% per intersection. Those are intersection-level gains, not end-to-end route savings. (toronto.ca) Some of those changes are already live on the new light rail lines. The Toronto Transit Commission said on March 11, 2026 that enhanced signal priority had been implemented at all intersections on Line 6 Finch West and at multiple Line 5 Eglinton intersections between Don Valley and Kennedy, with more adjustments still to come. (ttc.ca) City Hall is also treating signal priority as part of a broader street-transit program, not a one-off fix for one corridor. Toronto City Council endorsed the RapidTO Surface Transit Network Plan in February 2024 as the basis for planning bus lanes, turn restrictions and signal improvements on 20 priority roadways. (ttc.ca) (cdn.ttc.ca) The Toronto Transit Commission said extra staffing and resources for the 2026 signal work are expected to be modest, with future capital and operating budget requests still subject to board approval. That leaves the next fight less about whether the technology works than how quickly Toronto pays to install it at scale. (toronto.ca)