Finch West LRT to open on Dec. 7: sources

Finch West LRT vehicle during revenue service demonstration along Finch Avenue West. (Government of Ontario)

The long-awaited Finch West LRT will open in less than a month.

Sources tell CTV News the new TTC route, which will be known as Line 6, will open on Dec. 7.

It had originally been slated for operation in 2023.

The TTC says Line 6 is 11 kilometres of light rail transit connecting riders along Finch Avenue West.

It will start at Finch West Station on Keele Street and run all the way to Humber College Station, near Hwy. 427.

“It (Line 6 Finch West) will provide customers with convenient and reliable rapid transit service and transform northwest Toronto’s connections to the rest of the city and beyond,” the transit commission says on their website.

• READ MORE: New transit hub that will eventually serve Eglinton Crosstown now open in Mount Dennis

Line 6 will include 18 new stops: Finch West Station, Sentinel, Tobermory, Driftwood, Jane and Finch, Norfinch Oakdale, Signet Arrow, Emery, Milvan Rumike, Duncanwoods, Pearldale, Rowntree Mills, Mount Olive, Stevenson, Albion, Martin Grove, Westmore, and Humber College Station.

The TTC says the LRT will allow for transit users to make easy connections to Line 1, 30 bus routes, as well as regional transit in regions like York and Mississauga.

Onboard fare payment will not be available, and riders will need to tap their payment cards before boarding the LRT, similar to the subway. All stations and vehicles will also be fully accessible.

The news comes after a photo of a new TTC map featuring Line 5, coloured in orange, and Line 6, in grey, was spotted by a social media user at Museum Station this week.

Line 5 is the long-delayed Eglinton Crosstown route, which opened its first station, Mount Dennis, near Eglinton Avenue and Black Creek Drive, on Nov. 16.

The Mount Dennis station connects riders with the Kitchener GO line, the Union-Pearson Express, and later the Eglinton Crosstown stops.

There is still no opening date for Line 5. Construction began in 2011 and it was originally slated to begin service in 2020.

With files from CTV News’ Siobhan Morris and Joe Van Wonderen