Why is LRT preferred over a subway extension?
The design of a transit service is based on the number of people it is expected to carry per hour in a single direction at the peak point, the busiest spot on the line. City planning forecasts for the Eglinton Crosstown corridor into the foreseeable future show a peak point demand in the order of 5,000 to 5,400 people per hour. This demand can easily be accommodated by LRT, particularly given that the new light rail vehicles being designed for the TTC will be about twice the size of a standard Toronto streetcar, and can be easily coupled to operate as two-car or three-car trains, if single vehicle operation is too frequent to avoid vehicle bunching. A peak point demand of 5,000 to 5,400 per hour is well below the 10,000 passengers per hour generally required to justify the much higher cost of a subway. Why is LRT preferred over buses? LRT is more comfortable for riders, quieter, has no emissions on the street, and is far superior in carrying capacity in a constrained environment such a
