It absolutely does. Every single bus in the network is equipped with equipment to activate it, and a good couple of dozen routes operate through intersections equipped with it.
As well, the system used to have two sets of maximum green signal lengthenings - 16 seconds and 32 seconds. It's possible that everything has been cut back to a maximum of 16 seconds in the intervening years.
The priority system has since changed to a more modern one but there are still 2 maximum extension lengths: 16 and 30 seconds. The agreement is that transit can receive
up to 30 seconds of extra green if a 'Walk' display is shown at the same time, but if a 'Don't Walk' is displayed only 16 seconds is permitted, to avoid creating confusion for pedestrians. Of course the 'Don't Walk' extensions are a lot more obvious to casual observers, but you can spot a 'Walk' extension when the light begins the 'Flashing Don't Walk' the instant the streetcar/bus crosses the stop line.
You can see the list of ~300 intersections with some form of 'transit priority' using the City's Open Data and searching for 'transit' under 'pre-emption type'. I find that
mirasan.ca is a convenient way of navigating that data. Most of the priority intersections are on streetcar routes, but there are also several on major bus routes such as 35 Jane, 36 Finch West, 29 Dufferin, 7 Bathurst etc.
But as
robmausser perfectly summarized, 'priority' is a vague concept. In typical engineering practice, it just means anything the signal does that is specifically triggered by a transit vehicle. It doesn't actually mean that transit gets better service than cars. Elsewhere in North America, transit priority can be hilariously weak, for example in Philadelphia buses can only receive up to 6 seconds of green extension and then priority is disabled for 4 minutes at the intersection before the next bus is allowed to receive 'priority'. Given that the signals are coordinated for cars, even with this 'priority', buses probably spend more time at red lights than cars. Other examples include many signals where transit needs a white bar indication to turn, such as Sheppard & Parkway Forest in the video above. Depending on the setup of the intersection, transit vehicles may spend more time waiting for their 'priority' signal than cars spend on average waiting for their green.
In Toronto it is also a constant fight between the TTC and the City to determine the level of priority transit should receive at traffic signals. The City of Toronto's new traffic signal system is able to provide pretty much any type of priority you can think of, but the City doesn't necessarily allow it to do so.
Signaling priority is kind of an oxymoron without dedicated/protected lanes. I was so surprised at the treatment "trams" were given when I first moved to Toronto.
To the contrary, priority is very useful without dedicated lanes because it can be used to clear cars off the tracks in front of the streetcar, such as left-turning cars. See for example northbound Broadview at Danforth, where approaching streetcars can significantly lengthen the left turn arrow as they approach, which helps avoid getting stuck waiting for them.
IMHO it needs to be longer than 16 seconds. 30 seconds is more reasonable. Unless they move all streetcar stops to after the intersection.
As well the system should trigger changing a red to a green light quicker if a streetcar approaches a red light.
It needs to be more aggressive. Streetcars absolutely deserve priority.
Red Truncation (i.e. 'changing a red light to a green light quicker') in downtown Toronto is already as aggressive as physically possible. As soon as a streetcar is detected the Flashing Don't Walk (FDW) begins immediately on the perpendicular street if it was in 'Walk' and the minimum Walk had already been served. But from that point it's still a while before the light can actually turn green for the streetcar because you still have to wait through the FDW (typically 10-25 sec), Yellow (3-4 sec) and All-Red (2-3 sec). Violating any of those times would be a major safety issue, and an obvious non-starter.
But there aren't many places where truncation can be used. At most intersections along streetcar routes, the normal green for the side street is equal to the minimum walk (7 sec) plus the FDW, so there's absolutely nothing that can be done to shorten it.
