Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown is so long overdue it has signs for the doomed Line 3
The Eglinton Crosstown LRT is still incomplete years after its initially-projected opening, and the public hasn't even been provided with an opening date for the beleaguered transit line.
As the months fly by with no news of the line's completion (there has only been more bad news and further delays in 2023), the line is already starting to feel dated.
News that the Ford provincial government plans to relocate the Ontario Science Centre to Ontario Place has already threatened to make the Crosstown's Science Centre Station name completely meaningless, but that's not the only signage that will look out of date whenever the new line finally enters service.
Many of the line's stations are largely complete and sitting idle awaiting the start of revenue service. Wayfinding signage around Crosstown stations includes directions for commuters leading them to connecting lines.
At the Crosstown's current eastern terminus of Kennedy, those wayfinding signs include directions for the Line 3 Scarborough RT. But there's just one problem: Line 3 is set to shut down for good this November, and the Crosstown is currently not projected to come online until 2024.
So basically, these signs direct riders of a line that should have opened already to a line that won't exist by the time the first line opens.
The contractor for the @CrosstownTO has installed signage which includes Line 3.
— Malik Ahmed (@peanutbutter180) June 29, 2023
Line 3 will shut down permanently several months before the Crosstown opens.
I assume they are now buying black stickers to cover up all mentions of Line 3 on signage. pic.twitter.com/LDPw6W5ymJ
The Line 3 signage at Kennedy won't be entirely useless, however, as it will still direct Crosstown passengers to the replacement bus service set to offset the loss of Line 3 until the new Scarborough Subway Extension is completed.
There may be some sense in running the shuttle bus service as Line 3 for consistency. That only becomes a problem though if the Ontario Line (the new Line 3) opens prior to the Line 2 Scarborough extension.
— Jason Paris (he/him) (@JasonParis) June 29, 2023
Regardless of the possible continued use of the Line 3 route number for the bus replacement, the sign's use of a subway train to depict the line will be a vestige of a line that not longer exists by the time the Crosstown begins moving passengers.
While it might not be a huge deal in terms of the wayfinding experience at Kennedy Station, the Line 3 signage directing Crosstown riders to a soon-to-be-defunct transit line will stand as a reminder of just how long it took Metrolinx to bring rapid transit to Eglinton.
Metrolinx
