Line 5 Put Little Jamaica a Short Ride From Lytton Park. The Foot Traffic Hasn't Followed Yet.

Line 5 Eglinton opened to the public on February 8, 2026. Since then, the stretch of Eglinton Avenue West known as Little Jamaica has been a single westbound ride from the Avenue and Chaplin platforms. Through the summer and into this fall, the owners who waited out the construction have been asking the same question. Their question is whether the people now riding past them underground will get off.

The answer so far is mixed. Some businesses noticed a change soon after the line opened. Others say they still haven't seen the crowds, and both of the strip's big summer festivals were cancelled. That makes the short ride from Lytton Park a bigger deal than it looks on the map. Without a festival weekend to bring people in, the strip relies on regular riders deciding that this Saturday's lunch is five stops west.

Five Rides West of Avenue

Heading west, the TTC lists the stations in this order: Avenue, Chaplin, Forest Hill, Cedarvale, Oakwood, Fairbank. You pass four stops between Avenue and Fairbank. The three that matter for food are at the end:

1. Cedarvale. blogTO's station-by-station guide to Line 5 notes that Caribbean food is to Eglinton West what Chinese food is to Spadina. It calls RAP's, a short walk from Cedarvale, some of the best in the city. Carole Rose has owned Rap's for decades, and it sits east of Oakwood Avenue. The menu is built on jerk chicken, fried chicken, oxtail and goat.
2. Oakwood. Randy's Patties is at 1569 Eglinton Avenue West, across the street from the station. The station's TTC address is 1580 Eglinton Avenue West. blogTO says few patty shops in the city come close to the fame Randy's has built over its decades in business. A Tripadvisor review from an August 2026 visit confirms the shop is open after its 2024 reopening.
3. Fairbank. Kingston 12 Patty Shop is at 1808 Eglinton Avenue West, a short walk from the station at 1815 Eglinton Avenue West. blogTO pairs it with Rincon Paisa, a Colombian spot for empanadas and arepas. Kingston 12's online ordering page is live with a full menu. Rincon Paisa's own site still lists 1885 Eglinton Avenue West with hours and online ordering. That site hasn't been updated recently, though, so check before you go.

All three stations are on one corridor. You can get off at Cedarvale, walk west past Oakwood toward Fairbank, and ride home from wherever you finish. Between Oakwood and Fairbank, the street runs past the Reggae Lane mural. The City's public art record lists it as a Little Jamaica work created in 2015.

What the Line Was Supposed to Bring

Line 5 took a long time to build. blogTO describes 15 years of construction and missteps before opening day. CityNews counts a 14-year construction and commissioning period. Through all of that, businesses on Eglinton West stayed open behind hoarding. Many hoped the finished line would bring back the customers the construction years had cost them.

The first reports were mixed. Two weeks after opening, CityNews reported that Natural Flavas, the juice bar at 1657 Eglinton Avenue West, had closed its storefront for good just after the line started running. The same report quoted Kingpin Wings at 1708 Eglinton Avenue West, which had noticed a difference in foot traffic but said a real change would take time.

By July, the tone was more cautious. Carole Rose told CityNews she could see people coming out of the station and going into it, and said "The business, we would like to see more of it." She also said she was still hoping for a summer boom. Jason McDonald owns Casual Hair Salon, steps from Oakwood station, and chaired the Little Jamaica BIA until earlier this year. He described the strip in much harder terms.

"There's absolutely no foot traffic because of the LRT; everything is beneath us."

McDonald's point explains the whole situation. Line 5 runs underground through this stretch. A train can now move people past Rap's and Randy's faster than the old bus ever could. But nobody on the train sees the storefronts above. Each visit has to be planned before the rider reaches the platform.

Why the Festival Calendar Went Quiet

In most years, a festival weekend could have brought those planned visits in bulk. This year neither event went ahead.

Taste of Little Jamaica was scheduled for July 18 on Eglinton Avenue West between Oakwood and Glenholme avenues. Organizers cancelled it after months of planning, saying they could not secure all the approvals they needed through the City's permitting process. It was the second year in a row without a big summer event. In 2025, the BIA's Little Jamaica Festival was cancelled days before it was due to start, over funding constraints and permit issues.

The City has said both are coming back. Pat Tobin, its general manager of economic development and culture, said City staff, the Taste of Little Jamaica organizers and the BIA would meet again in September to start planning early for next year. He also said the Little Jamaica Festival is scheduled to return in July 2027.

Smaller events kept going in the meantime. Tobin pointed visitors to the new Afro-Caribbean Farmers' Market outside Fairbank station on Sundays. He also mentioned night markets on July 25, August 29 and September 26. The farmers' market opened July 5 at Eglinton Avenue West and Dufferin. It runs Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and its posted final day this season is October 4. That makes tomorrow the last chance to catch it before next summer.

After that, the confirmed calendar is short. Hart House and the Canada Black Music Archives are co-presenting a Little Jamaica Music History Walking Tour on Tuesday, October 6, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. It starts at Fairbank station and is free for University of Toronto students. No Little Jamaica events after that date have been announced so far. Until next July, most visits will be ordinary lunch trips.

Planning the Ride This Month

The train is now easier to use on evenings and weekdays. Since Sunday, May 3, Line 5 has run later every evening between Mount Dennis and Kennedy, and the late-night shuttle bus has been removed. Trains run until 1:20 a.m. every day. Service starts at 5:30 a.m. Monday to Saturday and 7:30 a.m. on Sundays. Starting Monday, June 22, weekday trains run every three to four minutes from 7 to 10 a.m. and from 3 to 7 p.m. The surface bus is a much slower backup. The 34 Eglinton runs every 20 minutes. If the line is closed, the TTC runs a Line 5 shuttle bus instead.

On a Sunday, the farmers' market opens at 11 a.m., three and a half hours after Line 5's 7:30 a.m. Sunday start. That leaves time to ride to Cedarvale for lunch at Rap's, walk west along Eglinton past Oakwood, and pick up patties at Kingston 12 near Fairbank before taking the train home. That's the kind of trip the organizers and owners are hoping for between now and the festivals' planned return in July 2027.

Lytton Park keeps getting easier to connect to the rest of the city, and knowing which stops are worth getting off at is part of knowing the area well. If you're thinking about how Line 5 fits into your own week here, or into a move you're considering, Courtney Smith is happy to talk it through. Let's Connect.