Can Toronto's new Line 5 Eglinton beat a TTC subway train in a race?

Speeds are already improving on the new Line 5 Eglinton within weeks of the problem-plagued project's February opening, but how does Toronto's newest transit line stack up to a subway route built in the 1960s?

Before the opening of Line 5, the fastest way across the 19-kilometre route covered by the LRT via TTC was through a combination of buses and the Line 2 Bloor-Danforth subway. Which begs the question of how much time commuters are actually saving by using the new route.

We put these questions to the test with a race from Mount Dennis Station to Kennedy Station, pitting a Line 5 trip against a combined bus and subway trip to determine just how much of a difference the new LRT makes.

@blogto Line 5 VS Line 2: Which is really faster 🎙️🎥 @betabriii 🎙️🎥💻 @antonwongvideo ♬ original sound - blogTO

In the end, a trip along the full length of Line 5 took just seconds more than an hour, while the combined bus and subway trip from the same start and end points took almost one hour and twenty-three minutes — a clear win for the LRT.

It's also worth pointing out that this time trial was conducted before the TTC began to roll out signal priority on Line 5, which is expected to significantly improve travel speeds along the line's surface section in the weeks to come.