I am going to put this debate to bed about whether it's red lights or excess station dwell times that affect the final travel time more.
For reference, I timed the average dwell times for Line 6 Finch West to be 49 seconds on average for the 16 intermediate stops, from door open chime to vehicle moving again. Line 1 dwell times are around 20 seconds, which in turn are longer than Line 2. So ~30 seconds excess dwell times for each of the 16 stops. Just under 8 minutes total time wasted.
52 minute (travel time average corroborated by TTC Instructor) Finch West to Humber College trip, video not mine:
| Stop | Dwell Time (sec) | Notes |
|---|
| Sentinel | 20 | — |
| Tobermory | 50 | — |
| Driftwood | 50 | — |
| Jane and Finch | 85 | — |
| Norfinch | 45 | — |
| Signet | 65 | — |
| Emery | 55 | — |
| Milvan | 90 | — |
| Duncanwoods | 35 | — |
| Pearldale | 20 | Door-open buffer after vehicle fully stops is unusually 4 sec instead of 2 sec |
| Rowntree | 53 | — |
| Mount Olive | 65 | — |
| Stevenson | 87 | — |
| Albion | 25 | — |
| Martin Grove | 23 | — |
| Westmore | 17 | Door open chime→door close; then 40s additional delay at red light (not a dwell) |
Here is the red light time wasted,
only partially accounting for time lost to deceleration. I only listed the 23 vehicle intersection traffic lights. A pedestrian crossing light is omitted due to its likely disuse. Line 6 had to slow and stop for 15 out of 23 intersections, for a total delay of at least 620 seconds or 10 minutes, 20 seconds. Average red light time ~41 sec.
| Location | Sec | # | Notes |
|---|
| Finch West Portal | 20 | 1 | out of tunnel straight into red light lol |
| Sentinel | 0 | 2 | |
| Tobermory | 0 | 3 | |
| Driftwood | 30 | 4 | |
| Jane | 70 | 5 | |
| York Gate | 75 | 6 | |
| Norfinch | 0 | 7 | |
| 400 East | 5 | 8 | |
| 400 West | 20 | 9 | |
| Signet | 0 | 10 | |
| Emery | 0 | 11 | |
| Jayzel | 10 | 12 | |
| Milvan | 50 | 13 | |
| Duncanwoods | 25 | 14 | |
| Pearldale | 20 | 15 | |
| Milday | 0 | 16 | |
| Rowntree (Islington) | 40 | 17 | |
| Mount Olive (Kipling) | 60 | 18 | |
| Albion Mall | 80 | 19 | |
| Albion | 75 | 20 | |
| Martin Grove | 0 | 21 | |
| John Garland | 0 | 22 | |
| Westmore | 40 | 23 | |
When you subtract the red light (10) and excess dwell time (8) from 52 minutes, you get 34 minutes, which is more than in line with what Metrolinx originally claimed ("33 to 34" and "38" minutes). This also disproves the other claims that acceleration and cruising speed is too slow for Line 6. The bigger problem is lack of strong signal priority—the current "conditional priority" might as well be "no priority"—and asinine dwell times of up to 90 seconds.
Source:
TL;DR red lights lead to 10 minutes of delays, which is more than the 8 minutes of excess dwell time. But, if both were removed, then this hypothetical 34 minute travel time would match Metrolinx's claims.
You are assuming the City isn't an incompetently weak negotiator at best or colluding with the TTC union at worst, maybe to protect good ol' boys' jobs. Case in point: Line 3 Scarborough RT inexplicably not being automated, as well as union push back anytime automation is discussed.
