BY: peter nguyen

"Next stop, Sentinel Rd" is what we will hear soon as we leave Finch West station on the new Finch West Light Rail Train (LRT). It is on track to connect the North West part of Toronto in 2023, pun intended.

Toronto's new line 6 is an LRT connection starting at Line 1 Finch West station and ending at Humber College North campus.

The new LRT will open up new public transit travel options for the constituents of North West Toronto. Theoretically, but in practice, a year from now, if a student from the dynamic community at Jane and Finch wanted to get to their 8 am lecture at Humber College, they’ll be able to get there with a more comfortable and reliable option: the Finch West LRT. The advantage of the Finch West LRT is that it is on rails in its own dedicated lanes. This allows the LRT to bypass all the traffic on Finch smoothly. The Finch West LRT line will replace the current route 36 bus, one of Toronto's most congested bus routes.

Finch Avenue West is a roadway that acts as an exit/entrance to Highway 400. This means that in any given part of the day, Finch Ave is consistently packed with cars and busses full of people and large trucks, especially during rush hour. Traffic jams are bound to happen. The LRT being able to cruise past traffic jams means people can be transported to and from their destinations quicker. When people see that the LRT is reliable, it allows them the option to leave their car at home and take public transportation.

By having reliable public transportation via the Finch West LRT, residents can leave their cars at home and switch to public amenitites. As a result, traffic can be reduced along with CO2 emissions.