Here's something nobody ever raps about when bigging up Toronto as a cool place to live (aside from impossibly high rent prices and aggressive avian neighbours): It takes for-freaking-ever to get around the city.
A new Forum Research poll suggests that commute times have risen roughly eight per cent in Toronto over the past six years, from an average of 29 minutes in 2013 to a whopping 42 minutes as of this month — and that's 42 minutes each way, not in total.
"Young people, and particularly public transit users, are hardest hit by long commutes," explains the polling firm's president, Lorne Bozinoff.
And in this little hallway of #UnionStation, Toronto... Le sigh. #GOtrains
— Claudia (@cyopro) June 13, 2019
How's *your* morning commute? pic.twitter.com/IMSh95hpUU
"The majority say that building more public transit is the way to alleviate congestion, but we've also seen an increase in the amount of people who want another option, or just don't know how to improve the problem."
True say, given that Toronto actually has more public transit options now than it did in 2013. The problem is that we also have more people commuting — 87 per cent of all residents, according to Forum, up from 81 per cent six years ago.
Analysts blame an increase in commuters heading downtown every day from Etobicoke, York Region, and North York, in part, for the rise in overall commute times, and while drivers make up the majority of all commuters, transit users remain the hardest-hit.
In other news, Toronto traffic is REALLY getting on my nerves now that I do the rush hour commute.
— Nojoud Al Mallees (@nojoudalmallees) June 19, 2019
Cyclists and pedestrians boast the lowest commute times at 31 minutes and 22 minutes each way, respectively.
"One point of surprise in the results is this: amongst those who identify transit as their primary mode of transportation, they say their average commute is 52 minutes," reads the report, issued this morning.
"Well above the average, and above those who identify a private vehicle as their primary mode of transportation (40 minutes)."
People between the ages of 18 and 34 spend more time commuting than any other demographic with an average journey of 46 minutes between home and work or school.
Tell me again, old people, how entitled milennials are. I dare you.
by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO
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