Better Late Than Broken: Why Toronto Is Right to Wait on the Eglinton Crosstown

After more than a decade of construction noise, shuttered storefronts, and endless promises, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT has become a symbol of transit frustration in Toronto. So when Mayor Olivia Chow confirmed this week that the line will not open before the end of January and is more likely to launch in early February it may feel like yet another delay. But this time, the delay is the right call.

Let’s be clear: nobody wants the Crosstown open more than the people who live and work along Eglinton Avenue. The damage to local businesses and daily commutes has been immense. Yet rushing a multibillion-dollar transit line into service just to hit an arbitrary date would be far worse than waiting a few extra weeks.

Mayor Chow’s comments suggest the city is siding with the TTC’s more cautious approach, rather than Metrolinx’s push to open the line as early as late December. That choice matters. Transit history in this province has already shown us what happens when political urgency overrides operational reality.

The shadow of the Ottawa LRT looms large over this debate. That system was launched amid celebration and optimism only to be derailed by breakdowns, service disruptions, and a public inquiry that later concluded decision-makers had lost sight of the public interest. The cost wasn’t just financial. Public trust in transit was deeply shaken.

TTC CEO Mandeep Lali’s resistance to a rushed opening deserves credit. Having worked on complex transit systems in New York and London, Lali understands that the final testing and “bedding-in” period isn’t optional it’s essential. Opening a line with unresolved technical issues doesn’t make a system look efficient; it makes it unreliable from day one.

Metrolinx, for its part, insists the Crosstown won’t repeat Ottawa’s mistakes and argues that remaining issues can be fixed quickly. That may well be true. But confidence alone is not a substitute for caution. Once passengers are on board, every failure becomes public, political, and personal.

Premier Doug Ford’s remark that the line will open in early 2026 only adds to the confusion and underscores why clarity and patience is needed. A few more weeks of testing is a small price to pay compared to years of reputational damage if the system opens before it’s truly ready.

The Crosstown doesn’t need a rushed ribbon-cutting. It needs a reliable first day of service, followed by a reliable second, third, and hundredth day. After years of delay, Toronto deserves a transit line that works not one that becomes another case study in how not to build public infrastructure.

If early February delivers a smoother, safer launch, then waiting is not failure. It’s finally learning the lesson Ontario transit projects have too often ignored: getting it right matters more than getting it done fast.