scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
True, the statement that Toronto is the worst commute in the world may or may not be accurate, but IMO that's missing the point. As you and many have said, the main point is to emphasize that Toronto commutes suck. You can criticize the study all you want, and you can talk about justifications as to why Toronto commuting "scores" did bad, but the bottom line here is that Toronto commutes suck.
I also find it curious that the Toronto Board of Trade chose to publish this so close after the announcement that transit funding had been gutted. Personally I'm glad the Toronto Board of Trade decided to publish this when they did.
No, the point of the study is not that commutes are bad. We already know that. The study is trying to make people and the city less satisfied and less happy with commutes by setting up the media to attach a WORST IN THE WORLD label - using some dubious stats, of course - to Toronto. Then, people and governments will be more likely to listen to and support the Board of Trade. With these rankings, the actual state of commuting (or any other metric, from air quality to unemployment) is irrelevant. What is important is that cities get ranked so somebody's the best (good for bragging and boasting and boosterism) and somebody's the worst (good for keeping people worried and miserable and goading and urging governments to change policies). The Board of Trade wants more transportation infrastructure, and they think WORST IN THE WORLD might help their cause. Strong reactions could theoretically get the province to change its mind and retain funding for transit, but strong reactions could also get the Liberals kicked out of office...and changes in provincial governments haven't been especially kind to transit in Toronto. Angry people are good at getting things stopped but bad at getting new or different projects moving.