The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), an agency of the City of Toronto. The system is a rail network consisting of five lines: Line 1 Yonge–University, Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, Line 4 Sheppard, Line 5 Eglinton, and Line 6 Finch West.
In 1954, the TTC opened Canada's first subway line, then known as the "Yonge subway" and now part of Line 1, under Yonge Street between Union Station and Eglinton Avenue with 12 stations. the network encompasses 109 stations and of route. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of , making it the busiest rapid transit system in Canada in terms of daily ridership. there are 26 stations under construction as part of the Ontario Line and three extensions to existing lines.
Lines The lines of the Toronto subway system are known by both a number and a name. While each line is also assigned a colour, the colours are used only to visually distinguish them on maps and signage, not as names.
There are five operating rapid transit lines in Toronto:
Line 1 Yonge–University Line 2 Bloor–Danforth Line 4 Sheppard Line 5 Eglinton Line 6 Finch West
One additional line is also under construction:
Ontario Line
Line 1 Yonge–University is the longest and busiest rapid transit line in the system. It opened as the Yonge subway in 1954 with a length of "Traffic authorities from all over world see subway opened", Toronto Daily Star, March 30, 1954, p. 3. and since then has grown to a length of . The modern line is U-shaped, having two northern terminalsat Vaughan Metropolitan Centre and and its southern end at Union station in downtown Toronto. an extension of Line 1 northwards to Richmond Hill is being procured, with five new stations and a planned opening date in the 2030s.
Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, opened in 1966, runs parallel to Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue between Kipling station in Etobicoke and Kennedy station in Scarborough. Construction on a three-stop extension of Line 2 northeastward from Kennedy station to Sheppard Avenue and McCowan via Scarborough City Centre began in 2021, with a planned opening date in the 2030s.
Line 4 Sheppard, opened in 2002, runs eastward under Sheppard Avenue East from Sheppard–Yonge station on Line 1 to Don Mills station; it is the shortest rapid transit line in Toronto at a length of and the only one without any open sections.
Line 5 Eglinton is a light rail line along Eglinton Avenue, running from Kennedy station in the east to Mount Dennis station in the west. The line has 25 stopping points, 15 of which are underground stations, with the remaining 10 being at-grade stops located in the road's median. Construction began in 2011, with completion of the project delayed several times. The line opened on February 8, 2026, at a cost of approximately $12billion. An extension of Line 5 westwards for to Renforth station is also under construction. The extension will have seven stations, four underground and two elevated. Construction began in 2022 and is scheduled for completion in the 2030s.
Line 6 Finch West, opened in 2025, runs westward at-grade in the median of Finch Avenue for and 18 stops from Finch West station on Line 1 to Humber College station. It was the first light rail line to enter service as part of the rapid transit system; construction began in 2019, and the line opened on December 7, 2025.
one new line is under construction: The Ontario Line will be a underground rapid transit line from Exhibition station to Don Valley station that will provide the first east–west rapid transit line through the Financial District and the central downtown core. The project evolved from the long-planned Downtown Relief Line, first proposed in the mid-1980s. The line is scheduled for completion in 2031 at a cost of $17 to $19 billion. Upon opening, the plan is to reassign the "Line 3" moniker formerly used by Line 3 Scarborough to the Ontario Line.
Until July 2023, the TTC operated an elevated light metro service. Line 3 Scarborough, originally known as the Scarborough RT, was an elevated medium-capacity (light metro) rail line serving the city's eponymous suburban district. It opened in 1985, running from Kennedy station to McCowan station via . It was the only rapid transit line in Toronto to use the Intermediate Capacity Transit System (ICTS) technology. Because of maintenance difficulties (along with the Line 2 subway extension into Scarborough), Line 3 was to be decommissioned on November 19, 2023. However, it was decommissioned approximately four months early due to a derailment on July 24, 2023. Bus service replaced Line 3 and is scheduled to continue until the extension of Line 2 to McCowan Road and Sheppard Avenue via Scarborough City Centre opens in 2030.
History Timeline +List of line, extension, and station openings and closings of the Toronto subwayDate Event March 30, 1954 The Yonge subway opens from to Union station. It runs under or near Yonge Street and is part of today's Line 1 Yonge–University. February 28, 1963 The University subway opens from Union station to . It is an extension of the Yonge subway northwest under University Avenue. February 25, 1966 The Bloor–Danforth subway (now Line 2 Bloor–Danforth) opens from to . It runs under or near Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue. May 10, 1968 Bloor–Danforth subway extensions open west to and east to . March 30, 1973 A Yonge subway extension opens from Eglinton to . March 29, 1974 A further Yonge subway extension opens from York Mills to . January 28, 1978 The Spadina subway, an extension of the University subway, opens from St. George to . The entire line is renamed the Yonge–University–Spadina subway. November 21, 1980 Bloor–Danforth subway extensions open west to and east to . March 22, 1985 The Scarborough RT (later Line 3 Scarborough) opens from Kennedy to . June 18, 1987 on the Yonge–University–Spadina subway opens. It is an infill station constructed between two existing stations, Sheppard (now ) and Finch. March 31, 1996 A Spadina subway extension opens from Wilson to Downsview (now ). November 22, 2002 The Sheppard subway (now Line 4 Sheppard) opens from Sheppard–Yonge to . It runs under Sheppard Avenue East. December 17, 2017 Line 1's Toronto–York Spadina subway extension (TYSSE) opens from Sheppard West to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. July 24, 2023 Line 3 Scarborough closes following a derailment and the TTC later announces the closure as permanent in August 2023. The permanent closure of Line 3 had already been scheduled for November 2023, in preparation for the extension of Line 2 further into Scarborough in the early 2030s. December 7, 2025 Line 6 Finch West opens from to . It primarily runs along the median of Finch Avenue at surface level. February 8, 2026 Line 5 Eglinton opens from to . The line follows Eglinton Avenue in a mix of elevated, underground, and median surface-level running.
Line 1 Yonge–University
Canada's first subway, the Yonge subway, opened in 1954 with a length of . The line ran under or parallel to Yonge Street between Eglinton Avenue and Union station. It replaced the Yonge streetcar line, Canada's first streetcar line. In 1963, the line was extended northwards from Union station under University Avenue to Bloor Street, where it would later connect with the Bloor–Danforth subway (opened in 1966) at the double-deck St. George station. In 1974, the Yonge Street portion of the line was extended from Eglinton station north to Finch station. The Spadina segment of the line was constructed north from St. George station initially to Wilson station in 1978, and in 1996 to Downsview station, renamed Sheppard West in 2017. Part of the Spadina segment runs in the median of Allen Road – an expressway formerly known as the Spadina Expressway – and crosses over Highway 401 on overpasses. Six decades of extensions gave the line a U-shaped route running from its two northern terminals (Finch and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre stations) and looping on its southern end at Union station. The latest extension from Sheppard West to opened on December 17, 2017, making the line long, over five times its original length.
Line 2 Bloor–Danforth
Opened in 1966, the Bloor–Danforth subway runs east–west under or near Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue. It replaced the Bloor streetcar line (which also served Danforth Avenue). Initially, the subway line ran between Keele station and Woodbine station. In 1968, the line was extended west to Islington station and east to Warden station, and in 1980, it was further extended west to Kipling station and east to Kennedy station.
Line 3 Scarborough
Opened in 1985, Line 3 (originally the Scarborough RT) was a light metro line running from Kennedy station to McCowan station. The TTC started to construct the line to use Canadian Light Rail Vehicles. However, the TTC was forced to convert to the Intermediate Capacity Transit System technology because the provincial government threatened to cut funding to the TTC if it did not. This line was never extended, and in July 2023, the line was shut down pending its dismantling due to a derailment that resulted in injuries. It is set to be replaced with an extension of Line 2 to Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road via Scarborough Town Centre.
Line 4 Sheppard
Opened in 2002, the Sheppard subway runs under Sheppard Avenue from Sheppard–Yonge station to Don Mills station. The line was under construction when a change in provincial government threatened to terminate the project, but Mel Lastman, the last mayor of the former City of North York (today part of Toronto), used his influence to save the project. Despite the construction of many high-rise residential buildings along the line since its opening, ridership remains low resulting in a subsidy of $10 per ride. The line was intended to be extended to Scarborough Centre station, but because of the low ridership and the cost of tunnelling, there was a plan to extend rapid transit eastwards from Don Mills station via a surface light rail line, the Sheppard East LRT. However, in April 2019, Premier Doug Ford announced that the provincial government would extend Line 4 Sheppard to McCowan Road at some unspecified time in the future, thus replacing the proposed Sheppard East LRT.
Line 5 Eglinton
Metrolinx funded the Line 5 Eglinton, a light rail line along Eglinton Avenue. From Mount Dennis in the west to Brentcliffe Road (east of Laird Drive), the line runs almost entirely underground where Eglinton Avenue is generally four to five lanes wide. From east of Brentcliffe Road to Kennedy station, the line operates on the surface in a reserved median in the middle of Eglinton Avenue, where the street is at least six lanes wide. Building on the surface instead of tunnelling reduced the cost of construction on the eastern end of the line. The average speed of the line is ; as a comparison, the average speed of the heavy-rail Line 2 Bloor–Danforth is . The Eglinton line originated from Transit City, a plan sponsored by then–Toronto mayor David Miller, to expedite transit improvement by building several light rail lines through the lower density parts of the city. Line 5 was expected to be completed in 2024, but it has faced numerous delays. The Government of Ontario announced on December 5, 2025, that substantial completion of the line had been achieved and that full operational control would be transferred from Metrolinx to the TTC, with service expected to begin in early 2026. The TTC later announced that Line 5 would open for revenue service on February 8, 2026, as part of a phased opening.
Line 6 Finch West