Given current media reports about the City reviewing its options for increasing streetcar priority across the system, we made some inquiries about the current situation regarding streetcar priority signalling at intersections for the 512. As those of us who ride it regularly will have perhaps noted, it did not seem that any kind of priority signalling is in effect.
We are advised that the TTC worked with the City of Toronto in 2024 to update transit signal priority on St. Clair to improve speed and reliability for transit customers and that the update to transit signal priority helped lengthen green lights and shorten red lights to benefit streetcar movements.
The TTC is now also working with the City on implementing more aggressive and effective transit signal priority on streetcar corridors like Spadina and St. Clair, which includes strategies that allow streetcars to travel through the intersection first before left-turning autos do. These strategies will be tested on Spadina soon and expanded to St Clair later in 2026.
Image: © Ashley L. Duffus/A Great Capture