You can ask the TTC, Metrolinx, and even Toronto's "strong mayor," John Tory, when the long-overdue Eglinton Crosstown LRT will finally enter service, and nobody can give you anything resembling a straight answer.

A full two years after the line was projected to enter service, and entering year 13 of construction, the LRT is in its final stages of construction, but it remains a complete mystery when the first commuters will board the light rail vehicles and experience the 19-kilometre line with its 25 stations and stops.

Even Toronto's top political dog (as opposed to Toronto's top political actual dog) can only field a vague guess as to when that long-anticipated opening will occur.

Appearing on CP24 Breakfast, the mayor was questioned about the undetermined timeline for completion of the Crosstown, asked by Nick Dixon if the line would be finished by the end of Tory's current third term... in 2026.

"Oh, definitely. I mean, it will," stammers the recently re-elected mayor.

"I regret the fact that they haven't come out with a date, but I think you'll find it'll be finished in the next 12 months sometime, that's my guess. But I don't know anything more than anyone else."

That means the mayor is taking Metrolinx's vague 2023 promise at face value, offering a full one-year window in a not-even-remotely-helpful guessing game.

"I think it would be better if they just came out and said, 'this is the date, this is what we're doing, this is what's wrong,'" argued Tory.

Tory insists that "It's really some technical glitches they're working out," as work trudges on for the line.

"I'm just guessing," the Mayor says, stressing that he personally believes that by this time next year, the line will be operational.

This would really stretch out that 2023 promise to its furthest possible extent.

Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster dropped the bombshell news this past September that Crosslinx Transit Solutions, the consortium responsible for the Crosstown's construction, had "fallen behind schedule, are unable to finalize construction and testing, and therefore the system will not be operational on this timeline."

Metrolinx says Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown LRT opening is delayed yet again https://t.co/pqe4Bx1QJm #Toronto #Metrolinx #EglintonCrosstownLRT

— blogTO (@blogTO) September 23, 2022

The situation boiled over into anger earlier in December, when Ward 12 councillor Josh Matlow and Ward 8 councillor Mike Colle held a heated press conference calling for a public inquiry into the delay.

Toronto is fuming after Metrolinx says it has no idea when Eglinton LRT will open https://t.co/UWUI0WaOPG #Toronto

— blogTO (@blogTO) December 9, 2022

The pair cited leaked documents that allege Metrolinx has "no idea" when the line would enter service.

Apparently, nobody does.