A new transit corridor in Scarborough is nearing the finish line, with a dedicated busway set to open at the end of September. The four-kilometre route is meant to replace the now-defunct Line 3 subway service, filling a gap that has affected riders in the area since the old train line stopped running. For a community that lost its rapid transit link, the opening is being framed as welcome relief.
The project turns a newly created road in Scarborough into a designated route reserved for buses. Rather than mixing in with general traffic, the express service will have its own corridor, a design intended to keep buses moving quickly and reliably along the stretch. That dedicated setup is the core of what makes the busway more than just another road.
At a press conference on Thursday, the mayor said most of the work is already complete, aside from a few finishing touches. The final layer of asphalt is down, the lights are up, and the signals are installed. In the coming days, contractors are expected to complete the pavement markings, install the final curbs and guardrails, and get the platforms ready for service.
The route itself is compact but strategically placed. The four-kilometre express corridor runs between Kennedy Station and Ellesmere, with stops at Terra Avenue and Lawrence Avenue. That alignment threads through a part of Scarborough where reliable connections have been in demand, linking key points along the way rather than sprawling across the district.
For riders, the main selling point is speed. The dedicated service is projected to reduce travel times between Kennedy Station and Scarborough Central by up to seven minutes per ride, which adds up to more than an hour a week for regular commuters. The busway is also designed to connect the Eglinton LRT to the transit hub at Scarborough Town Centre, tying the new corridor into the broader network.
The benefits are expected to reach well beyond the express buses themselves. The corridor will speed up travel for riders on eight different bus routes that pass through it on their way to the station at Scarborough Town Centre. The TTC is projecting that more than 100,000 riders will use the new express busway every week, a figure that underscores how heavily the area leans on transit.
Before the corridor carries passengers, it will be put through its paces. Over the next six weeks, the TTC plans to run tests to work out any potential bugs, checking the route, the service, the buses and the operators. The road that closed in 2023 left a hole in Scarborough's transit map, and this testing period is the final step before the busway formally opens at the end of September.