Because where I was staying was directly on Line 5 (as it's designated) and my destinations largely weren't (shoutout to the Center for Renaissance and Reformation Studies at Victoria University, University of Toronto and to Snakes and Lattes), I took Line 5 a lot, including transfers to other lines and buses. And I have thoughts!
1. Seattle-Like
My first and dominant impression was that the line reminds me heavily of taking Sound Transit in Seattle. It's a light rail that operates more like a subway in terms of demand and frequency, but lacks the grade separation it should have for part of the route and has some weird variations in stop spacing and thus speed.
Also, visually, both involve cars that are a little less efficient at what they should be doing (carrying a ton of passengers) than they should be, because of their more tram-like design.
Both are/were also a single line (yes, I'm both aware and very happy that Seattle's is not anymore and that it's been a big boost to ridership, and obviously Toronto has other lines) that seems to fall a bit below expectations while still being awesome.
The stops that aren't underground could be a bit more physically protected from the elements, for instance, and definitely spaced further apart.
Basically what I mean by saying it's Seattle-like is that I'm so so glad it's open, but I have minor critiques of how it was designed and implemented that do not overall detract from that gladness.
2. Good Connections
Of course, where it's massively distinct from the 1 line or even the 2 line in Seattle is that it is the 5 line, and that means its intimately connected to a lot more transit than anything in Seattle is.
The connections to the 1 Line (Yonge-University) are pretty straightforward and generally well-marked, and allow the 5 be a fully-integrated part of the larger Toronto transit scheme.
This is clearly and appreciably indicated at the stops as well, and honestly extending a lot further down Eglinton is a big boon to the overall transit health of the city/metro. Is it the full vision of Transit City? Probably not. Is it a meaningful upgrade? Oh yes.
Frankly this line unlocked a great deal of the eastern part of the city that I had previously found annoying to access, and the concomitant changes in bus service also made general access around the city better. Maybe Toronto should edge out Vancouver if I ran CityBracket again...but this line wasn't open yet, and we didn't know how it would turn out.
That's right, this actually opened this year, 2026: it's brand spanking new. And so it's good that it hasn't had quite the growing pains of its cousin, the 6 Line, which I'll get to in more detail than last time someday soon (yes, I rode that too).
3. A Good Experience
That's the thing: overall, this is a good line. It's a good experience. Quick dwell times, even on weekends; quick transportation, unless you're literally going end to end; a good vehicle experience, though I do think they could be more subway-like and less tram-like and do a better job of throughput.
It would probably also help if they could be full walkthrough and if they were a bit clearer on the outside stops about where the trains will actually stop: they future-proofed the line to larger trains, but that means that the back of the stop usually doesn't actually have train doors.
They're good at indicating this at the underground stations (and the wayfinding in general is better than most North American transit I've seen) but not so much outdoors.
The trams are pretty, too.
The seats are comfortable, if again it would likely be even better if they were more subway-style, leaving more standing room around them.
And they are often faster than the traffic--though it would be nice if they didn't have to stop for the same lights.
Overall, I really enjoyed taking the Line 5 Eglinton Crosstown, and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting or transiting Toronto.
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