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Despite Toronto, Montreal gridlock, commuters reluctant to use transit

M II A II R II K

M II A II R II K

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Despite Toronto, Montreal gridlock, commuters reluctant to use transit


Aug. 24, 2011

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Read More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ters-reluctant-to-use-transit/article2140000/


A new study suggests the vast majority of commuters remain reluctant to use public transit, despite public campaigns encouraging people of its environmental and cost benefits. The Statistics Canada study found about 82 per cent of commuters traveled to work by car in 2010, while 12 per cent took public transit and six per cent walked or cycled. “Of the 10.6 million workers who commuted by car, about 9 million reported that they had never used public transit for their commute,†says the 2010 General Social Survey. “About 7.4 million of these people thought public transit would be somewhat or very inconvenient.†About 1.6 million car commuters, or 15 per cent, said they had tried using public transit to get to work; 53 per cent of them considered it inconvenient.

- “Commuters who used public transit took considerably longer to get to work than those who lived an equivalent distance from their place of work and went by car,†says the study. Nationally, users of public transit spent 44 minutes travelling to work, compared with 24 minutes for those who went by car. Commuting times are door-to-door, StatsCan notes. Times for public transit are generally longer because its use can involve walking to a transit stop and waiting for a bus, it says.

- In the six largest cities, the average commuting time was 44 minutes for public transit users and 27 minutes by car. The gap in average commuting time was slightly larger in mid-sized metropolitan areas — 46 minutes on public transit and 23 minutes by car. “The gap was not a result of distance travelled,†the agency says. “Among workers in (cities) with at least 250,000 residents who travelled less than 5 kilometres to work, car users had an average commute of 10 minutes, compared with 26 minutes for public transit users. The same held true for longer commutes.â€

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The Toronto Transit Commission NOT having a 2 or 3 hour transfer limit does not help. I would like to do a stopover to purchase something, banking, or do an errand by TTC, but the current transfer rules do not allow that (except on the 512 St. Clair streetcar). One can do a stopover by car, but it adds to the gridlock to do so.
 
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W. K. Lis said:
The Toronto Transit Commission NOT having a 2 or 3 hour transfer limit does not help. I would like to do a stopover to purchase something, banking, or do an errand by TTC, but the current transfer rules do not allow that (except on the 512 St. Clair streetcar). One can do a stopover by car, but it adds to the gridlock to do so.
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Why should you get to make two trips on one fare? 2 hours is longer than any reasonable transfer would take.
 
The article is flawed in that it is not "Toronto commuters", but rather GTA commuters. Big difference. Obviously people in Halton, Durham, York and Peel regions don't use transit...it's more or less non-existent.

And they have long commutes because they live in sprawling bedroom communities far from where they work.
 
Fare by distance would also go some ways in making stopovers more feasible.
 
Earlscourt_Lad said:
Because it would be convenient to do so on some occasions. Thus increasing transit's appeal.
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Agree. They can market the transfer as a 'pass'; not a day pass but a 3 hour pass that allows you to use any streetcar, subway and/or bus for 3 hours. All the driver has to do is see the time and date and do the math. This of course would work MUCH better if it everything was electronic.
 
44 North said:
The article is flawed in that it is not "Toronto commuters", but rather GTA commuters. Big difference.
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A Vancouver commute measured for the city proper is closer to 7 to 10 minutes on average and likely 50% or higher pedestrian vs. everything else ratio. It is roughly the same size as the old city of Toronto where Eglinton was the extreme north but the bulk of residents would be walking from roughly Wellesley to Queen.

Montreal proper is about half the size of Toronto by area and far better subway coverage (residents within 1km of a station).

Comparing the greater areas of all 3 is the only reasonable way to do this kind of thing. Ancient political boundaries don't mean much to the people crossing them on a daily basis for work.

I am curious to know if the `work from home` crowd was factored in.
 
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Dumb, bizarre article. Title make reference to traffic issues of Montreal and Toronto, while the only mention of transit use numbers is for nation-wide, and none for any particular cities or CMAs, and makes no comparison to transit usage from previous years, therefore Canadian's are reluctant to hop onto transit and reduce car use???

In 2006, proportion of workers using transit was around 22% for both Toronto and Montreal CMAs, and over 30% for both Toronto and Montreal proper. Of course, the Globe prefers the report much lower nation-wide number of 12%, which include small cities and towns and rural residents, and makes no mention of cycling or walking at all. But that's the right-wing media and it's pro-car agenda for ya.
 
The Globe is right wing?

I'd say they're the most centrist newspaper out here. Try comparing them to the Sun or the Star to get a vague idea of what centrism means.
 
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I find these commuting numbers fairly accurate. For me to take my bike and transit to school, it takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Driving can be done in half to a third of the amount of time. A few years ago I used to live in Thornhill, and to commute to my job took about 60 minutes by transit and only 20 to drive.

This is what drives me nuts when in other threads people argue that speed with transit is not important. Maybe if your time is worthless this is the case, but for most people they want to get to their destination in a quick and timely manner. If it takes them 2 or 3 times longer to do this by transit, then they simply will refuse to use it.
 
Earlscourt_Lad said:
Because it would be convenient to do so on some occasions. Thus increasing transit's appeal.
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What is it about occasional users having a beef with the extra $3? A day pass is $10. A weekly is $30ish. My monthly is $100ish. If you need to stop a couple of times during the day, buy a day pass. It's amazing how liberating it is to have a pass. Buy a pass.
 
Time-based transfers are great (Ottawa's system uses it). You can go wherever you want, get off as many times as you want, just as long as you get to your destination before your transfer runs out. In the daytime, the transfer is good for 2 hours (I believe). After 10pm, the transfer is good until 3am. This comes in handy when you're going to the Market to a bar, you already have your ride paid for because the same transfer that got you there can get you home.

Personally I find the TTC's transfer rules (and the paper system in general) to be silly and outdated. It desperately needs updating.
 
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