Cost of commuting to and from the 416

[RedRocket191]

Even if the GO station was close enough (and Cbab has confirmed that it isn't), I don't see the point in biking just to save $23 a month.

Exercise, faster than walking, and you can use the bike for so much more.

 

[doady]

Exercise

Risking life and limb on Highway 10 just for exercise? Doesn't it defeat the purpose? You might as well stop by a fast food restaurant on the way and eat some burgers. Not that there are any fast food restaurants on Highway 10 in the first place.

 

[RedRocket191]

Risking life and limb on Highway 10 just for exercise? Doesn't it defeat the purpose? You might as well stop by a fast food restaurant on the way and eat some burgers. Not that there are any fast food restaurants on Highway 10 in the first place.

Folding bikes are sidewalk legal.

 

[EnviroTO]

(as if this is news to TTC)

I think it is. Their primary measures seem to be distance to a bus stop, transit visibility, and how many people they can jam into a vehicle without giving them a seat. Their thinking seems to be that if you can see transit from your front door you will take it. That might be true once, but once you ride you will quickly decide if it is worth your while to put yourself through the same experience a second day. Heck, the TTC only figured out recently that lack of air conditioning might be affecting summer ridership on streetcars. They still aren't entirely sure whether passengers would like seats or not. They had an opportunity with St.Clair to show they get it by spacing stops similar to the Bloor-Danforth line but still put in too many stops. They have an opportunity to prove they can time lights properly on Queens Quay but haven't done it. When the decided to go on a learning trip they went to Minneapolis/St. Paul whose total ridership network wide including buses and LRT is about a third the ridership of TTC's streetcar network or 1/16th the TTC's total. Of course they heard praise for how great the Minneapolis solution was but there was almost nothing before so of course it was seen as a major win and with a poor modal split there was probably a seat for everyone.

 

[nfitz]

There are other considerations in the equation. 20-25 minutes of exercise twice a day will keep you a bit slimmer, feel better, etc.

You can read, phone, write, sleep on the transit.

Stress related to driving etc.

However, I'm in a similiar situation, but I mostly drive.
(from home in Gerrard/Woodbine to work in Lesmills area is about 65 minutes on TTC to go 12 km, with the worst drive about 30-minutes (average is 25) - but the kicker is to get to the office when it opens at 8:00 AM I need to leave at about 6:55 AM on TTC, but at that time, I can drive and be there by 7:10. So about 40 minutes a day (if I get in at 7 AM) in the car, and 130 minutes on transit.

That's 1.5 hours a day, 7.5 hours a week difference, that I get to spend with my daughter if I drive. Though I take transit if the weather is ugly, if I need to stop along Yonge somewhere, or I've had it with driving.

 

[ponyboy]

I tried biking, but exercising in the bad air on the roadway was making me congested. So I bought a vespa and ride it everyday to the station, and park it for free at the bike racks.

If you're on a 12 month plan, you pay only $100 for the TTC metropass.

 

[eller]

This thread interests me as I live in the east end of Toronto and work in Mississauga, Meadowvale to be precise. My present route has me taking the subway to Islington and then I transfer to Mississauga Transit's 82N bus, which is an express route that takes a hellride up the 427, across the 401 dodging trucks and erratic drivers. If I did own a car, I don't think I'd want to take it as I would be pulling 500km/week from my engine, its gas tank and my nerves.

My present cost scheme has me spending $47/wk on a GTA pass which allows me to board TTC and Miss. transit buses without issue. Annually, the cost is $2,444 which is further offset by the federal transit tax credit.

Getting out to the 'saug is not usually an issue for me. Total time is approximately 1hour 30 minutes, not including wait times which vary for both the TTC, Mississauga Transit and as highway congestion. Getting home is another matter, where on a bad day my trip has taken over 2 1/2 hours. I have also carpooled and taken the GO downtown and to Sheppard with similar results in timing.

I just cannot wait for it to snow. :s

 

[W. K. Lis]

From this link:

Where Car Commuting Is Shrinking — And Where It’s Not

Where are Americans making the shift away from driving to work?

Crunching newly-released Census data, Yonah Freemark looked at how commute travel is changing in different cities and regions. In general, car commuting in major metro areas declined between 2005 and 2015, but the shift was greater than a couple of percentage points in only a few cities.

Keep in mind that commuting accounts for less than 20 percent of all trips, so these numbers may not reflect trends in other kinds of trips. Annual Census estimates also have fairly high margins of error, so any shifts that aren’t very significant in size should be taken with a grain of salt.

Here are the tables that Freemark compiled.

The share of people driving to work dropped in most major metro areas

The standouts here are greater Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle. Meanwhile, the share of car commuters increased in greater Houston, L.A., and Charlotte. It’s worth nothing that both Houston and L.A. made significant investments in rail infrastructure over the last decade. But apparently that wasn’t enough on its own to shift commuting patterns.


Transit commuting is increasing in most places, but not by much

There are more gainers than losers in this table, but again only the Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle regions increased transit commuting by more than 2 percentage points.

Looking at cities, not regions, Seattle is a real standout in reducing car commutes

The nearly 9 percentage point drop in car commuting in Seattle is impressive. Nowhere else really comes close.

On the other end of the spectrum, Sun Belt cities and Texas cities stand out as the worst performers.

Washington Metro’s troubles show up in DC’s transit commute rate

The worst performer here isn’t a Sun Belt city, but Washington, D.C. — where WMATA’s management of the transit system has led to serious safety problems and the agency is currently preparing to make drastic cuts in late night service.

In another surprise, Las Vegas notched a respectable increase.

Overall, these Census commute numbers suggest that while you need good transit service if you want more people to take the bus or the train to work, building transit capacity isn’t sufficient, on its own, to increase transit commuting. Other factors like land use, the safety of walking and biking, and the expansion or shrinkage of car infrastructure have to be taken into account.

 

[cplchanb]

TBH the article doesnt really relate much to a thread thats been dead for 8 years and 5 days....where did you find this...

 

[ssiguy2]

When you see stats like that for cities with near zero transit commuting like OKC & VB, it really makes you wonder if the cities should just scrap the entire idea of transit except for the disabled/elderly and put most of that money into a more extensive door to door Handi-Dart system or just create a comprehensive Vanpool system.