Even car-obsessed L.A. has opened more transit than Toronto in last 25 years

Toronto is in the midst of the most significant transit expansion in its history, but you wouldn't know it from looking at a TTC subway map.

Three new lines and one major route extension are currently reshaping Toronto transit maps, but thanks to countless delays for the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRT lines and the closure of the Scarborough RT, the subway map has actually shrunk in recent years.

In fact, transit expansion in Toronto has been so riddled with inaction, and, more recently, construction challenges, that even the famously transit-averse Los Angeles — known the world over as a city built for the car — has leapfrogged the 416 in new transit lines opened since 2000.

A comparison of the two cities' transit map changes between 2000 and 2025, shared on Reddit this week, shows just how much more Los Angeles has built in the last quarter century.

Toronto Subway vs. LA Metro 2000-2025 Comparison
byu/Rody365 intoronto

The side-by-side contrast has dredged up emotions in frustrated transit users in Toronto, many of whom are entirely unsurprised that even L.A. has managed to build more transit than Toronto in recent years.

As of publication, the Reddit post has received over 300 comments, including many from dismayed Toronto transit users.

And there's good reason for that.

Aside from the 2002-opened Line 4-Sheppard, the TTC has not opened a single transit line during the first quarter of the 21st century. In fact, with the 2023 closure of the Line 3-Scarborough RT, the TTC is still operating just three lines — a number unchanged for 23 years now.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been on a push to expand its network and has constructed three new subway lines during the same period, doubling the number of lines it operates.

It's a pretty rough comparison at surface level, but Toronto's transit map is set to look totally different in the months and years to come.

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT is expected to finally enter service as the TTC's Line 5 this coming September, while the Finch West LRT is anticipated to open as Line 6 in the months to come.

The ongoing Scarborough Subway Extension project will carry the Line 2-Bloor Danforth deeper into Scarborough by 2030, while the Ontario Line is expected to add a third new route to the subway map by 2031.

And even more is on the horizon, like the forthcoming Yonge North Subway Extension project for Line 1.

So, while L.A. managed to leapfrog ahead of Toronto's transit map, the TTC network's upcoming new lines and extensions will flip the script in the near future.