Eglinton Crosstown gets flashy hype videos to make people forget it might never open
The Eglinton Crosstown LRT has become a running joke in Toronto: long-delayed, over budget, and still without a confirmed completion date in sight.
Almost a decade and a half after the project was announced, and following a dozen years of frustrating construction disruptions, technical issues, legal challenges between Metrolinx and Crosslinx Transit Solutions, and oh, so many delays, the future TTC Line 5 still sits idle.
Three years have passed since its initial projected completion date of 2020, and commuters still have no clue when their new ride will finally arrive.
Metrolinx must be all too aware of its public perception regarding the bungled Crosstown disaster and appears to be trying to get people re-hyped about the 19-kilometre light rail line with some good, old-fashioned PR.
The transit agency has begun releasing flashy new marketing-style videos to promote the long-overdue line, and seemingly make Toronto forget how long this new transit route has sat just out of reach, unused and mostly complete.
The Eglinton Crosstown LRT will have 25 stations and stops linking to 54 bus routes, and three @TTChelps subway stations and @GOtransit lines. 🚉
— Crosstown (@CrosstownTO) October 3, 2023
We’ll be sharing the latest looks into the stations, vehicles and technology behind the line starting tomorrow with Oakwood Station. pic.twitter.com/7s8BIjmucN
However, the move is not necessarily being met with the warmest reception from commenters, who are demanding real news on the Crosstown's projected opening.
Exactly. It’s all bullcrap
— AllanC. (@AllanCow1958) October 4, 2023
Metrolinx followed up with another video offering up an inside look at Oakwood Station, one of the 25 stops and stations that sits almost entirely complete while frustrated commuters pack onto buses in the interim.
Take a look around Oakwood, one of the underground stations for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. 🚉
— Crosstown (@CrosstownTO) October 4, 2023
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Jetez un œil à la station Oakwood, l’une des stations de métro pour le TLR d’Eglinton Crosstown. pic.twitter.com/rBqk9pDHv7
But just like the first video, the Crosstown's X post was met with similar comments from irate TTC passengers wanting answers from Metrolinx on when the line will finally open.
"Take a look at the stations you will use 10 years from now!"
— Alec B (@yourboybigal) October 4, 2023
"Would it be too much to put your efforts on getting the line open rather than nonsense like this," complains one X user, adding, "It has only been 12 years."
And an entire city is waiting to use these. Too bad it is just sitting there.
— 🇳🇱john🇨🇦 (@listenntalk) October 4, 2023
The Eglinton Crosstown has become something of a poster child for delayed infrastructure projects.
A May article in the Toronto Star lampooned the tumultuous project by listing the many large-scale works completed in less time than the Crosstown, including the Colosseum in Rome, the Manhattan Project that produced the world's first atomic bomb, and even the process to land astronauts on the freakin' moon.
Jack Landau
