T3G
Senior Member
3-7 cars per home?! That doesn't seem believable at all. I'd believe it if it was 2-3 cars per home, but up to 7?! What kind of household needs 7 cars???!!
Toronto Eglinton Line 5 Crosstown West Extension | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx
- Thread starter W. K. Lis
- Start date
crs1026
Senior Member
innsertnamehere
Superstar
7 cars in a large suburban home could look like this:
1. Dad's car
2. Mom's car
3. Sports car
4. Adult son's car
5. Adult daughter's car
6. Teenage son's car
7. Grandma's car (she lives in the basement suite)
bam - 7 cars. It's increasingly common with kids living at home well into adulthood these days.
That large of a number is far from typical, but it's definitely not unusual to regularly see 3-4 cars in driveways in the 905.
drum118
Superstar
You forgot the 2nd or 3rd family living there to help pay of the first family mortgage before moving onto the next in line to buy a house. Then you have the renter(s) who lives in one of the bedrooms or in various units in the basement or the whole basement.
A number of garages have been converted to living quarters and one reasons you have cars parked in the area between the sidewalk and the road, let alone on the road. You will find cars parked on the grass area as well that hasn't been converted to a driveway yet. See this in Toronto a lot that the grass area has become non existing even for the 2nd or 3rd car,
A large number of homes had garages built too small to hold 1 or 2 cars and that was raised more times enough at council meetings for Mississauga.
To get line 5 to the transitway will require a cut and fill tunnel from the plan station location as well allowing the extension to the airport.
ericmacm
Active Member
It’s not hard to get to a high number of cars per household with a lot of young adults still living with parents due to cost of living. When you’re stuck living at home in your mid-late 20s, a car might be the only thing that makes you feel like you have some sense of freedom. It is also pretty close to necessary for every working adult in the household to have their own car given that it’s incredibly likely everybody’s workplaces are spread out across the GTA which could make carpooling difficult with differing schedules.
I am early Gen Z and this is actually pretty standard for a lot of people I know who didn’t or couldn’t afford to move away from Mississauga. Lots of parents with individual cars and 2-3 kids in mid to late 20s still living at home with individual cars as well. The car count can get even higher if someone has a “fun” car or there are grandparents living at home as well.
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facepalming_brooklynite
Active Member
I wonder what percentage of that cost of living goes to the expense of owning a car?
ericmacm
Active Member
I’m not saying car ownership isn’t expensive - it is. What I am saying is that renting, especially near or on transit, can be more expensive, and can completely financially kneecap you if you are just starting out. The average rent for 1 and 2-bedroom apartments in Mississauga at this point in time is just over $2,200 and $2,600/month, respectively. Average individual after-tax income in Mississauga is $41,420 for the 24-35 age bracket (based on most recent data), which is just shy of $1,600 per biweekly paycheque, or $3,400/month. If you are in a 1 bedroom apartment in your own, you are paying 65% of that paycheque toward rent every month - $1,200 left over for any remaining necessities and expenses, like utilities, food, transit, debt payments, savings, etc. It is also likely that rent is higher when near or on a transit line due to higher demand. Job opportunities can also be significantly more limited in the peripheral GTA without a car, especially for higher paying positions. This obviously gets much easier if you have a roommate or are living with a partner/spouse, but not everyone has this option.
Alternatively, the option of living at home with parents and siblings, not having to pay rent or pay for meals (or chipping in some money to help out with home expenses), buying a car and paying a monthly car payment (national average of $400-800/month, bonus points if you inherit or are gifted a car), even with the additional expenses including gas, insurance, maintenance, etc can be a much more lucrative option from a pure dollar perspective, in addition to gaining associated freedoms of owning a vehicle. This option gets even more lucrative if you want to save up for a house in the future or need to pay down student debt, which would be impossible with 65% of your income getting eaten up by rent. It’s kind of sad because you learn a lot when you go out on your own, and you lose a lot of growth and life experiences if you’re just staying at home, but this is the state of things now in the 905.
drum118
Superstar
The percentage is a mixed bag base on the income, number of ppl in the family, cost to maintain a certain life style, your driving habits and so on. Too many factors to say what the percentage is that will vary widely in the same age bracket.
lot of ppl look at driving as a right over other things and don't look at the cost of owning and driving operation cost as a major expense, well other do.
Don Coyote
Active Member
I used to have a friend that has 6 cars at his home. He lived with his parents and extended family members... while I'm not friends with him anymore, I go by his house sometimes and still see those 6 cars sitting in the driveway. So as crazy as it seems, it does seem to happen sometimes
nfitz
Superstar
While 7 is possible, I don't see it as the norm. At the same time - surely some must have less than 3 cars.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Wonder how many cal-de-sacs next to the Eglinton West Crosstown LRT extension (and along Eglinton Avenue East, for that matter) would require the purchase of property to create walk-ways, for easier access to the stations?
crs1026
Senior Member
Let's not stop with cul-de-sacs. We should be putting density on subway lines, right?
Richmond Gardens is a great place to start converting single family lots to 4-plexes, and lining Eglinton with towers.
If the NIMBY's up that way don't like it, they should thank Doug for bringing them a subway when they could have saved some cash and had a surface LRT.
- Paul
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Example of a cul-de-sac problem...
15 minute walk to reach Islington-Eglinton ("Richview"?) Station. In need of a walkway through the fire station or Richview Collegiate Institute. Ditto for other cul-de-sacs in Etobicoke. You can use Google Maps to create other "walk" scenarios.
15 minute walk to reach Islington-Eglinton ("Richview"?) Station. In need of a walkway through the fire station or Richview Collegiate Institute. Ditto for other cul-de-sacs in Etobicoke. You can use Google Maps to create other "walk" scenarios.
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rbt
Senior Member
I'm surprised there isn't a pedestrian path to Islington from Ravenbourne.