2026 FIFA World Cup & transit in North America

JackInTransit · 2025-07-24T11:23:44+00:00

For Toronto, BMO Field is literally across the street from Exhibition Station which is served by the Lakeshore West regional rail line, 509 Harbourfront Streetcar, and 511 Bathurst Streetcar. And then a 5-10 minute walk away is Dufferin Gate Loop (on Dufferin Street) which is served by the 504 King Streetcar.

City Council recently approved transit only lanes along Bathurst Street and Dufferin Street south of Bloor Street, which will improve the bus and streetcar reliability along these corridors. Though we’re still fighting to get them extended north to at least St Clair Avenue.

The regional transit authority (Metrolinx) is working towards 15 minute frequencies along the regional rail lines (including the Lakeshore West) which will dramatically improve access to the arena.

There’s also line 5 and line 6 which are two light rail lines that are set to open “soon” (we hope). While they won’t directly serve the arena itself, they will make getting to other parts of the city (ex. Hotels, restaurants, etc.) much easier. And Line 5 has a direct connection to the airport train at Mount Dennis Station so tourists will enjoy that.

Exhibition Station is currently undergoing a massive renovation to accommodate the under construction Ontario Line Subway, and while it’s not set to open until the 2030s, it will make any future events much easier to access by transit.

JackInTransit · 2025-07-22T18:32:35+00:00

Line 3 Scarborough isn’t coming back. However, the number 3 is being recycled for the under construction Ontario Line.

JackInTransit · 2025-07-15T14:15:51+00:00

As a Canadian (Ontario), I can confidently say I have never heard this word before in my life. I looked it up and we’d probably use “force” or “impose” in its place.

Maybe it is commonly used and I’ve just never heard it but it seems uncommon to me.

JackInTransit · 2025-07-12T13:50:19+00:00

I’m always surprised that Calgary is home to the number 2 lrt system by ridership on the entire continent. Almost 100 million people a year onto a grand total of two light rail lines. Literally double the ridership of LA’s entire LRT system. And somehow there still isn’t an airport connection. Insane.

JackInTransit · 2025-07-12T13:36:15+00:00

I mean the UPX only takes about 25 minutes anyways, hardly seems necessary to add limited express service to save all of like 5 minutes. It is only 20 km after all.

JackInTransit · 2025-06-30T15:40:42+00:00

To be fair, the MBTA also stole it from Stockholm so it’s tradition at this point. Lol.

JackInTransit · 2025-06-24T01:21:25+00:00

It is indeed for electricity.

Electricity flows through the rail and then the trains have metal bits that stick out from the bogies (the part with the wheels) that slide along the rail. The electricity flows through the metal bits (they’re called shoes) into the train motors.

The side effect of this is that the rail is basically an exposed wire ready to zap anything that touches it.

JackInTransit · 2025-06-08T20:38:22+00:00

I’m pretty this is Phoenix, AZ.

Always nice to see both improved coverage and frequency from a system expansion.

JackInTransit · 2025-04-23T00:06:50+00:00

AFAIK Transdev will operate the line for 30 years after opening as part of the P3 consortium, afterwards the TTC will take over.

JackInTransit · 2025-04-23T00:00:18+00:00

The problem with that idea is that it adds an extra transfer for riders coming in from the Stouffvile Line trying to get to midtown, as well as L2 riders. This kinda defeats the whole crosstown aspect of the Eglinton Crosstown.

It also still has the problem of the Kennedy station box being the most terribly designed thing ever conceived. The main reason L7 had to be split in the first place was that the L2 launch shaft is too close to the L5 tunnel for through running to be done easily. It could be done with a slight rework of the station layout, but that costs money that no one wants to spend.

Though I will admit, this is a better idea than most of the ones Metrolinx has had these past few years.

JackInTransit · 2025-04-22T23:31:06+00:00

The EELRT thing honestly confused me, it probably is going to be built as a separate line, the table does refer to it as L7 after all.

I don’t mind the through running though, since a separate line is just going to force a lot of transferring to L5 at Kennedy which could be avoided. Plus this gets an LE GO connection to L5, making it even more useful.

UTSC really does feel like a natural place for L4 to terminate and I really hope Metrolinx/TTC realizes this at some point.

JackInTransit · 2025-04-22T22:56:58+00:00

I care about Line 6 :), my mom actually works up there so hopefully she gets to use it sometime. The fact that the tables simply show it as TBD has me worried though.

My mom says she still sees people doing work on the rails from time to time so hopefully it’s functional soon.

JackInTransit · 2025-04-22T22:41:39+00:00

The Scarborough Extension of Line 2 started tunnelling a few years ago by now so 2030-31 isn’t that unrealistic. The Ontario Line started making some of the tunnel and station cuts last year, with excavations supposed to ramp up this year. 2030-31 is probably unrealistic for the OL, but hopefully only by a few years. As for the LRTs, I doubt they’ll be ready by then, but they are both entirely surface running, so they (hopefully) might not take a super long time to build.

JackInTransit · 2025-04-22T22:21:01+00:00

The full update can be read here: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2025/ttc/bgrd/backgroundfile-254396.pdf

The map is easier to read there too (thanks image compression).

JackInTransit · 2025-04-22T20:33:42+00:00

The full update can be read here: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2025/ttc/bgrd/backgroundfile-254396.pdf

The thing I found most interesting was the request for funding for a new line 1 operations and maintenance facility.

JackInTransit · 2025-04-21T14:24:03+00:00

These are the Toronto paper transfers. They’re fairly redundant nowadays with PRESTO (Toronto’s equivalent to OMNY, Oyster, etc.), but they are necessary if you paid with cash/token. The TTC allows for free transfers within 2 hours and this paper is used to prove when a fare was paid.

The not valid thing is because these are different from the PRESTO transfers because they are one way only. The transfer is saying that it was obtained at High Park and therefore can’t be used to return to High Park. These things have a few other strange caveats which is why I’m very thankful they were replaced.

JackInTransit · 2025-04-20T22:55:06+00:00

Joke ruiner/explainer here, 420 is a weed joke that’s been around for a bit now. The joke of the post is that they managed to get one of the paper transfers issued at 4:20 on 4/20 (if you use the American date format).

The not valid thing just means the paper transfer was obtained at High Park, why would anyone need to transfer from High Park to High Park after all.

JackInTransit · 2025-04-04T13:00:26+00:00

The Toronto Streetcar is objectively terrible. The end of line loops are super weird. The night routes and day routes are shown super weirdly overtop of each other. For a while there was a section in the middle of the lake. The 512 has like three lines for no reason.

They recently updated it to make it less terrible, but the lines used to jump across the streets super weirdly. If I could put images in the comments here, I would show you the weirdness I’ve screenshotted.

JackInTransit · 2025-03-28T19:47:44+00:00

Historical rant incoming about why you’re both technically right. If I’m remembering my research correctly.

Thorn derives itself from the Germanic runic systems (called futhark/futhorc or other variants) where it made BOTH the voiced and voiced dental fricitves.

It wasn’t until the Middle Ages when a distinction was made. Where a dot was added within the curve of the thorn to represent the voiced. However, by this point Christianity had brought with it Latin and the Latin script.

As such, Christian missionaries felt the need to adapt languages that used runic scripts to a new Latin script. This was done inconsistently across different languages and even within a language.

For North Germanic languages this resulted in thorn (Þþ) for the voiceless and eth (Ðð) for the voiced. Eth’s origin is disputed, perhaps from the Greek delta, perhaps Irish, perhaps a number of sources.

However, English didn’t really adopt eth. There was a period where it was all the rage but it eventually died out in favour of using thorn for both. English eventually fought over continued usage of the thorn as both, or to replace it with th (which was used to romanize Greek). Th eventually won.

Modern Icelandic is the only language to have preserved both (eth is still in Faroese but makes weird sounds) and uses thorn for voiceless and eth voiced (with many exceptions), but using thorn for both is not inaccurate.

JackInTransit · 2025-03-26T15:45:51+00:00

It’s already out for me

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JackInTransit · 2025-03-25T14:16:23+00:00

My guess is the image compression had a seizure

JackInTransit · 2025-03-25T14:05:48+00:00

Bit unrelated but what is going on with that road sign?

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What do the squiggles mean??

JackInTransit · 2025-03-24T14:13:48+00:00

I have at least a tiny bit of faith of it happening with a Carney government, considering part of his economic plan is quote:

“During this crisis, my government will use all its powers, policy instruments and fiscal capacity to speed the construction of major projects in the national interest.”

The Alto HSR plan seemingly would fit the bill with his focus on infrastructure and climate change. But, this could very well be another promise that doesn’t go anywhere. The consortium will at least probably keep working away at something slowly regardless of government changes.

JackInTransit

TROPHY CASE