I have no clue and would also like to know the answer. I have someone on my team that drives from Pickering. He’s got pretty good consistent GO train access but for some reason he chooses to drive in. He literally moans and complains about how traffic will screw his day and sometimes it takes him up to 2.5 hrs to get home from the office, but then the next day he’s still driving in in his car. We have other coworkers that live very close to him and try to tell him to just use the GO train… he says “yes, I should” but then just always drives and complains. I don’t get it at all.
People are very resistant to trying new things. I have taken a few people on the GO to get downtown and they said they didn't even think about that as an option and didn't realize how easy it is. I can guarantee you next time they need to go downtown they will drive.
GO trains are not as frequent as the subway though.
I live near the Go line in the east and even Google Maps doesn't show Go trains as public transit options unless you happen to check around when a train will pass through.
A lot of non-downtown transit is very slow and intermittent. Takes 1 hour 40 minutes to do something by transit vs 40 minutes by car, and so on.
I take the GO train/GO bus sometimes from Markham to downtown. It’s nice to kick back and relax then being 100% alert and driving. You still gotta be aware on the go bus but it’s not taxing like driving is. I also enjoy flying by traffic/gridlock lol
*Quicker when you time your departure with the train times. What about when counting the waiting time?
I quite enjoy using the GO train, but wish for there to be better frequency, especially in the remote parts.
Yeah frequency has been improving a lot lately. And they announced big changes coming next month including 30 minute frequency on the Kitchener line, which is twice as much as present. The plan is for most lines to have 15 minute frequency by 2030 within the GTA, and hourly or better to the outer cities like Barrie and Kitchener
Vast majority of the time yes. Only maybe quicker to drive at an odd time like 5am/6am on weekends. Yeah you avoid the usual crunch points. We lack highways for our population compared to other large US cities.
As someone who used to drive to Mississauga from Pickering for work and recently got a job around Yonge/Dundas, I am absolutely loving the GO right now, especially the one ride system with the subway combination
It's hubris. I worked for a boss who needed to get to a meeting quickly out in Pickering and was worried the traffic would make him late. I realized the meeting was near the GO station and mentioned the GO train in a meeting and he was like "not a bad idea". I then proceeded to list some times he could catch the train and he goes "I was joking. I wouldn't be caught dead in such dirty disgusting things with all those awful losers. I'd rather be late for the meeting."
Some people think if they take mass transit they aren't successful. Only failures take transit.
I haven’t had traditional television for so long when I do go visit my parents, commercials seem so weird to me. But decades of sucking at the marketing teet will 100% brainwash you to think ownership of a product is necessary to your status as a human being.
This is it. My parents wouldn't be caught dead on public transit even though it's way more convenient. Living in the suburbs with a car is a lifestyle package for living in avoidance of poor people.
I'm originally European and I do not understand the suburban dream *at all.*
Town house I totally get, you're in the city, stuff is close, culture everywhere. Completely rural I get too. It's quiet, there's loads of nature etc.
Suburbs? There's no culture, you have to drive to any kind of café, restaurant etc, your neighbors are all weirdly sectioned off from you. You still have very little access to nature... It just seems like a really awful way to live, the worst of both worlds?
Whenever I walk my dogs in my family's suburban neighbourhood, I get a strange, eerie feeling that some guy is hiding some bodies in his basement somewhere. It's just too quiet there—it feels like it's easy for some weird stuff to be going down.
it’s crazy cuz when we visit other countries my parents happily take the transit and say how great it is but the second we’re back home, my parents would never consider taking transit and actively try to prevent me from using it too
For people that start work before 7:30am, the morning commute by driving can save a lot of time (an hour for me) which equates extra sleep.
The afternoon drive (in my scenario) is 75-90min by car, or 80-100min by public transit. Then there is the higher likelihood of even longer commutes due to gotrain delays/cancellations.
Cost difference is only the 200 dollar parking fee for me.
Yup I’m in a similar boat. I get to work at 6am (sometimes 5:30) in the downtown area. Takes me 15-20min. My drive to work is so smooth, cruising peacefully with hardly any other cars around. Getting home from work is a bitch sometimes but it’s 45min tops for me. I don’t regret not taking transit. All the short turns, delays, and crowding, no thank you. I’ve done my share of TTC all my high school, university, and early career/work life so it’s extremely nice to have my own space going to and leaving work.
The one time I was “forced” (car was in the shop) to take the Go Train home, I was looking forward to it. I worked across the street from union so I had this glamorized view of how it was going to be. Walk over, get my ticket, hop on the train and catch up on some websites on my phone in the comfort of a go train.
Instead I was standing the whole way to Mississauga and once I got there I ubered home cuz I was done with my transit experiment :p Like the other poster said, I used transit throughout my school years and I’m glad that it’s behind me.
That being said, I believe in a good public transit system and I’ll gladly pay taxes for subways and more trains… mostly to keep the road clear lol.
I was specifically referring to the TTC. It’s not worth it for me to take the GO where I live and work since I’ll be taking the TTC at some point regardless.
That being said, I have taken the GO previously when I was still living at my parents and there is definite crowding.
Go trains are different in terms of riding experience compared to ttc though… I hate ttc too, I wouldn’t want to rely on ttc, but go transit tries much harder to be punctual and clean. Not to mention that many go terminals have offer big / free parking lots and the fact that now with a go fare ttc is free (if you need to make a quick subway trip to your work after you get to union)
You are correct. But the stoufville line gotrain is especially bad in terms of reliability.
I was late 5min on my first day at the hospital, then had my 5pm gotrain cancelled my first day heading home. So fuck metrolinx.
In comparison, i can leave home early and eat breakfast at work, and i don’t care about delays (15-30min at most) on the drive home.
I drive two to three times a week from Whitby. I have 5 sites in Toronto with poor public transport between these sites. If I had an office job in downtown, I would take Go in a heartbeat
A lot of people view transit as something for poor people. Especially lately in Toronto with all the bad press the TTC is getting about homeless people on transit. Especially people from outside Toronto proper. They mention to their Boomer parents they're going to try the Go Train and their mom starts crying about how dangerous it is and please don't do that you might get stabbed! So they'll sit in traffic for hours while still looking down on any form of public transit.
Some people are absolutely insistent on driving everywhere. I have friends like this, it drives me crazy. When I lived in Vancouver I had a colleague that lived just outside of the city, near a sky train station. Literally $5 a day but he was adamant about not taking transit and instead preferree to fight for parking at over $20 a day downtown. Interesting little critter
I have a friend who does a similar thing, his argument is he’d rather be in traffic for 2-3 hours if he’s in his own car and own space then risk being on public transit, now I will add that he was randomly assaulted on the ttc a couple years ago (it was some homeless guy who was asking for drugs and followed him off the train thinking he was holding out on him for some reason, they never ended up catching him) which he claims doesn’t play a factor in this decision but I feel like it does.
1) not everyone works near union station.
2) not everyone lives on a go transit path.
when i used to have to go to an office, i'd have to transfer 3 times before even getting to work. have you ever lined up for the spadina streetcar during rush hour? no fucking thanks ever again.
Why wouldn’t someone drive to the GO station, park their car there and then take the train into town? Surely still better than driving on the Gardiner at 5 pm
This is literally the answer. And the flexibility being in a car gives you.
Our transit infrastructure isn’t built out yet well enough.
And unfortunately we make the mistake of “not building until we need it”.
After I moved to Scarborough, it was actually a lot faster to drive than take the TTC and Go Train. Getting out of downtown sucked, but it was pretty smooth sailing after that. Plus it was a lot more pleasant than being stuffed into a sardine can with hundreds of other people and I could make other stops on the way home like groceries.
Even living close to a subway station it's just faster for me to drive. I really wish that wasn't the case because it'd be great to have the comparatively cheap TTC also win for time but it loses every chance I give it, moreso with these "slow zones" on the subway and how abysmal the King and Queen streetcars have become.
They got rid of some thankfully in the last week or so but at least on my commute there's still one around Chester. Going home I get a much longer view of the valley when we cross the bridge, lol
I live in Scarborough but very close to a Go Station. Honestly it's a blessing not to deal with traffic and it's usually much faster. My work is in the PATH as well.
If you don't live close to the Go Station and you don't work close to Union, then it's a huge mission. I would have to take the bus or drive to the Go station, take the Go train to union, then take the subway a few stops, and then get on the streetcar for a bit. Too many transfers.
I usually take the Go but on days I drive, it’s either because my wife is leaving at the same time so we drive home together, or I have somewhere else to be.
I think it is 4 transfers
Local bus > train > subway > ttc bus
Once the crosstown opens up it will either be 2 transfers (if the train connects to the LRT) or 5 if it doesn't connect
I bought a car when I worked at the distillery district. The combo of bus, subway, streetcar meant that most days one of the connections would have a delay, and it would both take forever and be an unreliable journey.
That combo meant I couldn’t be sure of making daycare pickups.
Those days I was too tired to bike the 15km each way because of young children.
Oddly enough coming by go train from the suburbs would have been faster than my ttc journey - and more reliable.
If transit was better, people would choose it.
I used to commute by car in Toronto when I lived there. For me it was about the flexibility and the convenience a car can provide. Anyone who had to lug their hockey gear or their musical instruments on the bus/subway will know what I’m talking about. Plus the TTC is pretty much a non-starter if you have your kids (not commute related really but still a valid point I think). The traffic isn’t really that bad. You learn the shortcuts, learn to check the roads before you leave to make sure there isn’t something crazy going on that merits the alternate route and throw on a podcast/audiobook and tune out. And you never have to deal with crazy/annoying people or wait for the bus in like -20 weather.
yeah I'm so confused by this post. I agree if you both work close to union station & live close to a go train but otherwise how would this work out? Even for me, I work 5 km from where I live but its a difference of a 15 min drive vs 45-50 min of transit. It's only 10 mins more for me to walk it
I liked Go. I used to take Go more often, but they made it worse instead of developing it.
I live walking distance from the Go station. The Milton branch Go Train runs only during rush hours in the morning and in the evening, so you have only specific time frames to get to/from work. While this was somewhat upsetting, it was still fine, because if I decide to take a walk after work or hang out with colleagues, I could always take the Go bus 21 any time, which was running every 30min and would take me straight home.
In 2023, they reduced the bus service and killed my bus route, so if I ever want to do anything after work in Toronto, or I’m working late and missed the train, I’m fucked. My only option in this case would be taking the Lakeshore branch Go train, then take the Mississauga bus or Uber. It’s just not worth it.
I would gladly switch to Go trains if it was something I can always rely on, like some others world class cities. I’m not even asking for a bus/train every 10 mins like in Japan (in any direction), but at least every half an hour to all suburbs. Why not only we don’t have it but with exploding population growth the service gets reduced is beyond me.
Until then, I’m taking the car and have a choice when to leave.
I actually like driving. I'd rather sit in the comfort of my car, alone, without having to cram in next to hundreds of other people, fight for seats, smell the BO, only to end up somewhere vaguely near my home where I then have to either walk a long way or take some other form of public transit to get home.
I park in my driveway. I park underneath my office building when I go in. Convenience is worth sitting in traffic.
I am so with you. I am a pretty confident driver and have zero anxiety on the road so it's no big deal I can maneuver my way around quite well. For me I thought Id save money and time but honestly the lunatics, smells, TTC closures (ppl jumping etc) I have said my peace and quiet mean so much more.
To add to the other person's comment, in many cases, it's a lot faster too.
For me, it's 30 minutes by car vs. 1h15 by ttc.
It's 20 minutes to get onto the Gardiner and then 10 minutes to get home. Whereas with the ttc, it's slow, crammed, smelly, dirty, I'm standing for over an hour at a time with people pushing me and that's on the days where there aren't any delays. Those delays occur at least once a week.
I work from home now and it's awesome but before I did, driving was way more comfortable and was much faster.
THIS. I'd happily take TTC if it was at all convenient. I've been privileged enough to travel to all kinds of 1st world cities(for work) and will happily take public transit in Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Boston, etc. The two major cities that stick out as just being AWFUL from a public transit POV are Toronto and LA. Unless you're very lucky with where you live AND work in relation to the transit system, it makes almost no sense.
Op, Toronto is a big place and a lot of people are coming from the GTA. If you live in Toronto it’s faster sure, if you don’t you’re at the mercy of quite a few things.
When I lived in Ancaster I could drive to Toronto in an hour, taking the go would take me close to two hours. And I still had to drive 20 mins.
Because public transit here is very meh and sometimes super unreliable. Train goes down?? There sure as hell ain’t going to be any shuttle busses
Also sitting in your car after getting off work is an unreal feeling compared to taking transit. And the prework Jam to whatever stupid song goes so hard man
I asked one of my coworkers this a couple weeks ago, and his answer was "wouldn't you pay more to stay in a hotel than a hostel dorm?" - basically if you have to commute an hour each way every day, 10 hours a week, 480 hours or 20 full days a year, why wouldn't you pay more to do it in your own space even if it's not any faster? I'm glad I don't have that commute, but I kind of see the point.
Also I didn't realize this until I wrote it out, but if you have an hour commute (pretty normal), you're literally spending 12 work-weeks a year commuting, assuming you work 9-5. Throwing away the equivalent of an entire vacation allowance at a good job, several times over. If you lived across the street from work, you're basically getting four or five times as many vacation days. That seems crazy regardless of how you do the commute.
Just think of how much more enjoyable those vacation days are going to be when you actually have the money to do something that YOU would like to do. When you're owned by a car, oops, when you are a car owner, and spending a huge chunk of everything you make to support a car, you can't even afford a vacation. Maybe the car can, not you. But wait, there's more!
Can I offer you a bit of insurance? No? Well fuck that idea, your buying it anyways. Perfect abstract, no points etc. seems to have little difference for insurance costs. If you drive here, in and out, or a 2hr journey its still a massive insurance bill.
It's all in the past for me, as well not needing a car for work anymore, I don't need a car at all. I have switched completely to an e-bike that I use all year round. Is the best money I've ever spent, and it wasn't very much in comparison. I've gone over two years straight not even being a passenger in car at one point. And let me tell you, it's faster than TTC and faster than driving would be for the traveling that I do. Big deep waterproof saddle bags for cargo. I've put almost my own weight in groceries back there and the bike was only bending a little bit, or maybe it's medium bit but it's not permanent. Don't even get me started on the cost savings. Wearing the right gear makes cold and rainy days not be as bad. Besides myself, there's no smelly rude people, same goes for crazy. I'm the first one waiting at every stoplight, I always get a seat, I never get stuck in traffic and people will only try to kill me once in a while. My theory is, and it seems to work so far is, if they can't catch me, they can't run me over. I will say this, if it makes you nervous or you're afraid to share the road with full size cars driven by angry lunatics while you're on a bike, you probably shouldn't do it. It's by no means safe, but it's a safe as you can make it, it's a very keeping unforgiving learning curve. It demands skill and your full attention and, well, just isn't easy. And if you're worried you don't have those skills, you're probably right. But I say the same thing about driving a car as well. Some people just shouldn't do it. You know who you are!
And for you bike hating drivers out there consider the huge huge amount of land in Toronto alone paved over and fenced off, dedicated solely for the use of motor vehicles. I don't want to hear a word about how you're the ones that are paying for the roads and your taxes pay for blah blah blah blah blah. If you don't like it, stop paying taxes and tear up the road. Please. But we live in a society and this is the society we live in so we have to coexist. So next time you get angry because you you made nervous by a innocent cyclist who has done nothing to you remember every one of those site people on a bike, every one of them got out of a car. And if they were in a car, some point they'd be in front of you. Feeling a little hard done by because your road now has a bike lane on it? And it's full of bikes, damn them! Just pay attention when you drive how many there are and how easy it is just zip by them one after the other after the, no matter how much they piss you off. If it wasn't for those people on bikes, those people would be in a car. Not in their separated lane, but in yours. People still have to get to work, and they'd be in front of you in their own car. Every bike that you pass every bike that you see out there and all the ones that you don't see, or the reason that your commute is not twice as long. Every bike you see makes your trip quicker. So have mercy out there.
The environment? LED evolves were supposed to be a big thing and they are, so people just use 10 times as many light bulbs now. Fail. E-bikes are demonstrably cleaner. Where many other products have failed to deliver emission reductions, e-bikes are overperforming.
Ditching the ice transport and going for an e-bike is the most effective action a person can take to lower emissions on an individual level. If you're powering it with renewable energy, so much the better. It's fun and it's healthy, and it will save you a shitton of money, almost right away! What else can I say?
Dont understand how we all collectively agreed that the majority of people should be arriving and leaving from work at the same time. When I had to commute downtown for training and probationary period I was fortunate enough to have 8 to 4 as my hours so I could usually get a seat like 99% of the time.
Yeah. Totally. We should totally have 7am, 8am, and 9am starts for "9-5" people. Heck, add a 10am one too. People can opt for whatever suits their body clock.
Exactly! It improves employees quality of life and there is no immediate extra costs that I am aware of and it helps thin out the main 9 to 5 crunch on traffic.
Even within the same office... Means you could possibly "get" someone from 7am to 6pm. Helps when working with different time zones too.
Or let everyone WFH again. They only brought people back to sell more transit fares, gas, lunches.... Etc
Having lived in both Australia and Europe, I can't blame \*most\* Canadians for wanting to drive for commuting. The public transit is one of the worst I've experienced, but for me personally, the road, pedestrian, and cycling infrastructure are all equally sh\*t.
I don’t live in Toronto anymore but when I did I was often driving at rush hour. I’m a midwife and babies come when they come, sometimes I gotta get places fast and I’ve got several suitcases worth of medical equipment in my car, can’t take all that on the TTC
I have been left in the cold, in the dark, dozens of times by the ttc when subways shut down, buses go missing etc.
I am in constant fear of being attacked on public transit.
I would rather sit for 30 minutes on the highway, knowing I am safe, have heat and will get where I need to go, rather than sit at a bus stop for 2+ hours.
I depended on the ttc for nearly 3 years, and I learned my lesson. It is not reliable enough.
Yup! A coworker just got her hair pulled by some random psycho. I am a Torontonian through and through and riding the TTC was no big deal "back in the day" but now it's super risky not to mention the TTC can be so unreliable.
Not to mention the people openly doing crack on the subways now?? I've heard like 6 or 7 seperate stories about this, this year alone.
I HATE driving, I would LOVE to rely on public transit but in Canada it is simply not possible. If the TTC was safer and more reliable I would give up my car in an instant, but that won't be happening anytime soon.
Yeah most people drive because it's a status symbol, or it's masturbatory in some way. There's a great variety of penis enhancing vehicles on the market, in every shape and color one could ask for. If transit wasn't such a hellscape a lot of people that didn't truly need to drive would be off of the road. Saving money and time safely on transit, if one could even for a moment imagine such a thing. Then the gentleman carrying heavy tools may one day find ample space on the road for him to do so. Instead of gridlock.
I think a major factor is unless you reside and work within a quick 5min walk to/from a transit stop and have no more than 1 connection, even sitting in a car gets you to your destination faster. This province just doesn't GAF about anyone who doesn't drive. I work roughly 15km from my home. Driving is 15min on a good day, 45min on a really bad day. Most days it's a 20min trip. Public Transit is 1hr minimum with 1 transfer because buses run only once every 30min. Biking is 40 minutes and that is pretty consistent.
So from about April -Sep it's biking, the rest of the year it's the car. Transit is only if my car has to be in the shop for repairs. However, once this car reaches the end of its life, it will be transit and bike. New(and new used) cars are too expensive and I don't want a car loan.
I live and work in the suburbs. I'm always commuting against traffic, so it's always a fast 15 minute drive each way. Public transit would take a rough 90 minutes vs an easy drive in a luxurious car.
I remember those days, worked straight midnights and my commute was always against the traffic, they were all going the other way. Need groceries? I just go straight there after work and I'll be totally alone. Did a lot of good fishing getting off work at 7:00 a.m. too. I'm 90% of your bike and 10% transit these days. But I see the attraction for sure. I loved it myself. Something most people don't consider, nobody is saying that everybody must take transit, or everybody must ride a bike. Nobody anywhere is advocating anything like that. However, If you can take transit or you can ride a bike, and you do so, you're part of the solution to the problem, the problem being numbers. Cars aren't the problem, vehicles are necessary. Vital. They're key ingredient in the lifestyle that we all enjoy. And we all want to keep enjoying it too. And cars and bikes and buses, we need each other. By giving up a little bit of space the car makes room for many bikes and buses. Those bikes and buses in turn free up capacity on existing roadways. If that capacity is used wisely, a great deal of efficiencies can be realized. Driving gas brake gas brake gas brake, or in full-on traffic jam is a gas thief. But that's asking a lot of people, asking them to see further than thetip of their own nose, which is one of the hardest things that a person can do.
Because a lot of time it's still faster then driving. When I lived in the West End and worked in North York driving would be around 40 minutes, taking the TTC would have been like 1 hour 15 minutes. This really only applies if you are commuting into/out of Union.
Because I have a car & a drivers license, and being stuffed in a train car with 500 other people at 5pm is a miserable way to travel in my opinion. I get to be on my own in a car, on my own schedule, and not deal with union station? Seems pretty obvious.
Because those ppl aren’t Toronto originals.
They grew up in Suburbs or smaller towns and are turned off by sharing public space with strangers plus Mom and Dad drove them around until they got their G1 and by 17 they drove.
I am disabled and until now haven't had a mobility device sufficient to make things work. I'm getting a mobility scooter through my work benefits next week though and will begin taking transit to my new home I'm moving to April 1st, much closer to work than my current one.
1. I go in one to two times per month max.
2. I live 15-30min drive away in Etobicoke, but it is 1 hour by streetcar with 1 transfer being needed. It is still 40 minutes drive max even in the worst rush hour conditions, whereas some days I have spent up to 2 hours trying to get home by streetcar due to overcapacity (soaking wet in the rain).
3. I drive a PHEV and pay $17/day in parking. To get to the go station is a 20-30 minute walk, and there is no proper parking there, it would cost me apmost $20/day to be taking the GO. Plus I'd have to either walk 15 minutes from Union or transit.
4. I usually do it with my partner but sometimes I commute alone if our in office days don't line up.
I love having a car…. Don’t get me wrong but when I lived in the burbs and worked downtown I took the train. It ended up being cheaper. I also saved time and frustration because I didn’t have to deal with heavy traffic snarl ups. What took 2 hours by car to get home, took 1 hour when I took the train. That worked out to two extra hours per day I had to get things done and spend on other things. What it comes down to is how much is your time worth? I used my time on the train to catch up on reading etc.
For a lot of people, you're only seeing a glimpse of their journey.
If you wonder why not take the train, transit doesn't serve everyone equally. For some people they doont' have that option.
Long time ago I going from airport to finch/Don mills with ttc, it takes 4 hours.
People who use highway most likely will exit at Islington the nearest, but most likely in area where they will travel lots of hours by public transit.
I use TTC only when drunk.
At one point I worked in Brampton while living downtown. Though transit was technically an option, it would have had me doing some awkward transfers and the whole journey would have taken me 2.5 hours just one way. Driving in the morning was about 40min, then another 50-90mins (depending on the day) on the way home, averaged out to 2 hours there and back.
I knew other people who worked in other suburbs who did the same, basically because of the same situation.
Driving wasn't great, but the alternative was worse. An extra 3 hours/day spent just on your commute adds up real fast.
EDIT: Before anyone asks, I probably would have taken transit but only if it added an extra hour tops to my total commute.
I have a car, meaning even if I don’t drive at all I’d still have to pay for insurance and lease. If I start to take transit, I’ll be paying for the transit cost on top of the insurance and lease.
So, yeah
Today at the evening news on CityTV, the story about the repairs on the Gardiner for three years, every car that was stopped to be interviewed had only the driver in it.
I am idiot sometimes because I live in DT and decided to make plans around 6ish.
It was pouring rain couple weeks back and needed to be at a work event, and public transit - street car would take the same time, in both situations I would be miserable but at least not soaking wet.
You are *far* more likely to die or be injured in a car accident or car highjacking than you are to be injured on public transit. I understand you may FEEL more safe in your car, but statistically its much more dangerous.
Some people don't live close to a go train / subway stop.. which means they'd need a lot of transfers to get home.
Also, most people prefer to be stuck in traffic in their own space vs. crammed in a train with crackheads.
just one more lane bro. i promise bro just one more lane and it'll fix everything bro. bro... just one more lane. please just one more. one more lane and we can fix this whole problem bro. bro c'mon just give me one more lane i promise bro. bro bro please i just need one more lane
Picking up my pregnant wife from work. She doesn’t want to take the queen or dundas streetcars.
Other times I am commuting by car because it’s 25-45 mins vs. 1.5hrs TTC.
Unless you live right next to train station and work right next to another train station and have zero wait time at both ends of the journey, it's still generally still quicker to drive, plus you have your own space that won't be invaded with your own environment, be it climate, audible, being able to make phone calls, etc etc.
Yep you do but for some it feels different to not be directly in a confined space together. The control to detour, the control to pull over and take a breather etc. Whatever one needs that they can't do when on public transit is what I'm getting at. Different coping strategies for different folks.
I live in the east end and work DT. Used to take TTC but after having a baby who’s now a toddler in daycare, i need to drive to drop him off/pick him up on time. But in addition to that, despite the rush hour traffic it’s actually half the time to get home/to work, and I can’t make pick up or drop off times by taking the ttc. For example, pre-baby, I would walk to the bus, wait for the bus, take the bus to broadview (about 20 mins), then go on line 2, transfer to line 1 and get off at king, walk to my office. The entire commute to work would take 45 mins on a good day without delays, and even longer (about an hour) to go home. It’s a 20 mins drive to get my office at Yonge and king, and I’m at home in 20 mins. Parking is more expensive than taking the TTC each day but I’m lucky I can work remote 3/5 days of the week since COVID. But I guess it depends on where you live and what commitments you have after work. For some it might make sense to drive (like in my case) and others not at all.
If you've ever ridden on public transit you would know why people choose this in spite of how miserable it is.
Gross people cough on you, invade your personal space, smell like they haven't bathed in weeks and that's a GOOD day ----- I've watched a dude smoke crack on a streetcar and had a addict inject himself into open sores on the subway both in front of my 11 year old daughter.
I'll deal with traffic rather than subject my child to that ever again.
When im by myself I take transit but im just more wary of my surroundings and I've shoved a few people back when then touch me or cough on me.
I’m not sure how I ended up with the sub but holy cow I’m not going to complain about driving to work anymore. Takes me 10 minutes and it feels like forever to get there and back. Wow, no more complaining for me.
For me, I not only need to get to work but at times need to grab groceries, drop something off, pick something up. The thought of not having my car to leave early or do something doesn’t sit right with me.
I work shift work and there is no go train running that will get me to work for 5am/6am. Also, I hate sitting on the go train and having some guy sit down beside me and try to have “polite conversation” for an hour. Further, it’s 2hr15min door to door for me to take go train and subway so the driving commute has to be pretty bad for the train to be worth it. It is inconceivable to me that it takes 55 minutes for the train to go a distance that I can drive 30 minutes when there is no traffic AND at the end of the 55 minutes…I still have to take a subway to get to my job. The transit system is horrible.
Usually! Sometimes I work 8 hour shifts like 5pm to 1am. But it’s the same issue, there’s no go train or bus back at 2am but I can jet directly home in only 30 minutes and much more safely at that time if I suffer at 5pm. Keeping in mind also that I have to wait up to 30 minutes for a train for whatever time or direction of my commute is not aligned with the 9-5pm crowd which REALLY prolongs the commute time. One time GO randomly selected me in the mail to do an online survey on why I don’t use transit and one of the questions was what days of the week I commute…the only options available to click were Monday to Friday haha it could not be more obvious they have no plans to attract shift workers .
I also like the flexibility of doing what I want in my car.
Need to pick up groceries? No prob
Gotta stop to pick up the kid? No problem
Wanna stop by a relatives to say hi? No problem
Thirsty? Let’s stop somewhere to get a drink
No, I definitely envy car owners for those reasons. I would love to see my nieces and nephews randomly and load my grocery cart without a care in the world.
Unfortunately cars in the country are not cheap, and neither is public transit! And now both medium have the potential to be life threatening 😩blame canadaaaaaaaa
Time.
Taking calls while commuting.
Going straight to pickup kids or other evening activities.
Not fighting the clock to get a parking spot at a station.
Lingering Post Covid germaphobia.
Not being walking distance to your work from the go station. So you’d need to take other transit.
Most of all comfort.
I’m sure they aren’t just dumb. They are trading off the costs and benefits based on what’s most important to them.
We all see it . Why does the government not get it ? If we can do $10 a day on weekends experiment it for a couple of months esp now with the gardiner construction. I drive Uber and I curse under my breath everytime I get a passenger heading into Toronto
If I have to be involved in the rat race I would rather have my person space. Seriously the last thing I want is to be shoulder to shoulder with the other peons after a hard day
I need to work to GO station for 20 minutes and then to my job for another 20, which is awesome during the warm season but miserable during winter. To be fair, this winter has been awesome! I’m just someone with a bad immune system, so I’m waiting for the weather to get a bit better so I can start using GO.
1. 10-15 mins shorter commute to work by car
2. Gas cost is usually cheaper than Presto fare
Oh and thats from Toronto to Toronto.
If you want to include vehicle depreciation, sure. But as a hybrid worker, I'm only in the office twice a week.
My parents are car people. They don’t like the idea of having their schedule impacted by bus/ train schedules, they like to go from point A to B directly with no stops in between. They also don’t want to be on a crowded bus/ train pushed up against a bunch of other people. And most importantly, the time to get downtown from north York where they live is 1 hour 10 mins via transit and driving is 45 typically. To them they’d rather pay to park and sit in traffic than spend longer on the ttc which is less direct, not aligned exactly with their schedule, and takes longer. They’ve watched their kids take the TTC for years growing up and never stopped asking why we didn’t just get cars. It is just the way they’ve lived their whole lives and aren’t going to change it now for something that they see had no benefit to them.
As much as I’m pro-transit, it took about the same amount of time for me to drive all the way home as it did to get the train, with added flexibility.
I’d often get kept at work a couple minutes late and wouldn’t make the 5:20 train. Leaving work at about 5:05-5:10 most days and it being a 90 min drive at most in bad traffic (and usually about 70-80 min) it was just better to drive.
I usually go in at 10am and it takes 13 minutes - which my work allows, but even at 8:30am its still way quicker, around 35mins max. The TTC takes 1hr 20m no matter the time, unless of course there are delays / people on the track. Car just makes a lot more sense
For me, it is nearly impossible to get good connections to get to my work and back home. Plus I would have to get up 30 minutes more than I do now.
Also, I have no one to carpool with. This could quite possibly be the reason for many.
Sometimes people rather be safe in their own car than on the fuzzy bed bug seats on the TTC. Why are the seats not vinyl or plastic? Why that stained carpet material … ew
I have no clue and would also like to know the answer. I have someone on my team that drives from Pickering. He’s got pretty good consistent GO train access but for some reason he chooses to drive in. He literally moans and complains about how traffic will screw his day and sometimes it takes him up to 2.5 hrs to get home from the office, but then the next day he’s still driving in in his car. We have other coworkers that live very close to him and try to tell him to just use the GO train… he says “yes, I should” but then just always drives and complains. I don’t get it at all.
People are very resistant to trying new things. I have taken a few people on the GO to get downtown and they said they didn't even think about that as an option and didn't realize how easy it is. I can guarantee you next time they need to go downtown they will drive.
GO trains are not as frequent as the subway though. I live near the Go line in the east and even Google Maps doesn't show Go trains as public transit options unless you happen to check around when a train will pass through. A lot of non-downtown transit is very slow and intermittent. Takes 1 hour 40 minutes to do something by transit vs 40 minutes by car, and so on.
Yup the connections will kill you.
Peak hour trains on Lakeshore East come every 15-20 minutes. That's more than frequent enough to get downtown for work.
I take the GO train/GO bus sometimes from Markham to downtown. It’s nice to kick back and relax then being 100% alert and driving. You still gotta be aware on the go bus but it’s not taxing like driving is. I also enjoy flying by traffic/gridlock lol
It's literally quicker to take the GO from Markham to DT than driving there and getting stuck at the DVP . Also weekend pass!
*Quicker when you time your departure with the train times. What about when counting the waiting time? I quite enjoy using the GO train, but wish for there to be better frequency, especially in the remote parts.
Yeah frequency has been improving a lot lately. And they announced big changes coming next month including 30 minute frequency on the Kitchener line, which is twice as much as present. The plan is for most lines to have 15 minute frequency by 2030 within the GTA, and hourly or better to the outer cities like Barrie and Kitchener
Vast majority of the time yes. Only maybe quicker to drive at an odd time like 5am/6am on weekends. Yeah you avoid the usual crunch points. We lack highways for our population compared to other large US cities.
Have a bunch of people in my office with the same persona, live on lakeshore east west lines.
As someone who used to drive to Mississauga from Pickering for work and recently got a job around Yonge/Dundas, I am absolutely loving the GO right now, especially the one ride system with the subway combination
It's hubris. I worked for a boss who needed to get to a meeting quickly out in Pickering and was worried the traffic would make him late. I realized the meeting was near the GO station and mentioned the GO train in a meeting and he was like "not a bad idea". I then proceeded to list some times he could catch the train and he goes "I was joking. I wouldn't be caught dead in such dirty disgusting things with all those awful losers. I'd rather be late for the meeting." Some people think if they take mass transit they aren't successful. Only failures take transit.
My boomer father frequently refers to any public transit as "the peasant express". His ability to drive is tied to his self worth. It's insane.
that's pretty much how cars have been marketed though. 'Don't be a sardine, find your own direction'
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hehe yes, it's such a good placement
I haven’t had traditional television for so long when I do go visit my parents, commercials seem so weird to me. But decades of sucking at the marketing teet will 100% brainwash you to think ownership of a product is necessary to your status as a human being.
Notice that all car commercials are pleasantly free of traffic? Most only show one car on a desolate road on a trip to splendour in nature.
This is it. My parents wouldn't be caught dead on public transit even though it's way more convenient. Living in the suburbs with a car is a lifestyle package for living in avoidance of poor people.
I'm originally European and I do not understand the suburban dream *at all.* Town house I totally get, you're in the city, stuff is close, culture everywhere. Completely rural I get too. It's quiet, there's loads of nature etc. Suburbs? There's no culture, you have to drive to any kind of café, restaurant etc, your neighbors are all weirdly sectioned off from you. You still have very little access to nature... It just seems like a really awful way to live, the worst of both worlds?
Whenever I walk my dogs in my family's suburban neighbourhood, I get a strange, eerie feeling that some guy is hiding some bodies in his basement somewhere. It's just too quiet there—it feels like it's easy for some weird stuff to be going down.
I feel like bored people in their homes are watching me through the curtains.
They absolutely are Source: My mom does this. Our neighbours across the street have also said they do this. They exchange stories sometimes haha
it’s crazy cuz when we visit other countries my parents happily take the transit and say how great it is but the second we’re back home, my parents would never consider taking transit and actively try to prevent me from using it too
For people that start work before 7:30am, the morning commute by driving can save a lot of time (an hour for me) which equates extra sleep. The afternoon drive (in my scenario) is 75-90min by car, or 80-100min by public transit. Then there is the higher likelihood of even longer commutes due to gotrain delays/cancellations. Cost difference is only the 200 dollar parking fee for me.
Yup I’m in a similar boat. I get to work at 6am (sometimes 5:30) in the downtown area. Takes me 15-20min. My drive to work is so smooth, cruising peacefully with hardly any other cars around. Getting home from work is a bitch sometimes but it’s 45min tops for me. I don’t regret not taking transit. All the short turns, delays, and crowding, no thank you. I’ve done my share of TTC all my high school, university, and early career/work life so it’s extremely nice to have my own space going to and leaving work.
> the short turns, delays, and crowding, no thank you. None of this is really true for the GO Train though
The one time I was “forced” (car was in the shop) to take the Go Train home, I was looking forward to it. I worked across the street from union so I had this glamorized view of how it was going to be. Walk over, get my ticket, hop on the train and catch up on some websites on my phone in the comfort of a go train. Instead I was standing the whole way to Mississauga and once I got there I ubered home cuz I was done with my transit experiment :p Like the other poster said, I used transit throughout my school years and I’m glad that it’s behind me. That being said, I believe in a good public transit system and I’ll gladly pay taxes for subways and more trains… mostly to keep the road clear lol.
I was specifically referring to the TTC. It’s not worth it for me to take the GO where I live and work since I’ll be taking the TTC at some point regardless. That being said, I have taken the GO previously when I was still living at my parents and there is definite crowding.
Go trains are different in terms of riding experience compared to ttc though… I hate ttc too, I wouldn’t want to rely on ttc, but go transit tries much harder to be punctual and clean. Not to mention that many go terminals have offer big / free parking lots and the fact that now with a go fare ttc is free (if you need to make a quick subway trip to your work after you get to union)
The GO train rarely has delays and cancellations though. You're way more likely to have a traffic delay or shutdown.
You are correct. But the stoufville line gotrain is especially bad in terms of reliability. I was late 5min on my first day at the hospital, then had my 5pm gotrain cancelled my first day heading home. So fuck metrolinx. In comparison, i can leave home early and eat breakfast at work, and i don’t care about delays (15-30min at most) on the drive home.
I drive two to three times a week from Whitby. I have 5 sites in Toronto with poor public transport between these sites. If I had an office job in downtown, I would take Go in a heartbeat
“Yes I should” proceeds to drive - yup I got a coworker like that too. Lol
A lot of people view transit as something for poor people. Especially lately in Toronto with all the bad press the TTC is getting about homeless people on transit. Especially people from outside Toronto proper. They mention to their Boomer parents they're going to try the Go Train and their mom starts crying about how dangerous it is and please don't do that you might get stabbed! So they'll sit in traffic for hours while still looking down on any form of public transit.
Some people are absolutely insistent on driving everywhere. I have friends like this, it drives me crazy. When I lived in Vancouver I had a colleague that lived just outside of the city, near a sky train station. Literally $5 a day but he was adamant about not taking transit and instead preferree to fight for parking at over $20 a day downtown. Interesting little critter
I just dont want to deal with the crowd in the morning !
the go doesnt come very often. i took the lakeshore line for about 2 months when i lived there.
I have a friend who does a similar thing, his argument is he’d rather be in traffic for 2-3 hours if he’s in his own car and own space then risk being on public transit, now I will add that he was randomly assaulted on the ttc a couple years ago (it was some homeless guy who was asking for drugs and followed him off the train thinking he was holding out on him for some reason, they never ended up catching him) which he claims doesn’t play a factor in this decision but I feel like it does.
1) not everyone works near union station. 2) not everyone lives on a go transit path. when i used to have to go to an office, i'd have to transfer 3 times before even getting to work. have you ever lined up for the spadina streetcar during rush hour? no fucking thanks ever again.
“WhY aRe yoU dRIvInG aT 5pm?” As if everyone has the same kind of work and commute as you.
Why are you assuming it's a rhetorical question? Pretty clear to me OP was just curious.
OP followed up by asking why people don’t just take the train… because people work in different industries and commute from various locations…
Some people also start work before the GO train can get them there. I would be late for work every day.
Why wouldn’t someone drive to the GO station, park their car there and then take the train into town? Surely still better than driving on the Gardiner at 5 pm
The GO stations within driving distance of me all have tiny parking lots which are filled by 7:30am.
3. Not everyone likes people
This is literally the answer. And the flexibility being in a car gives you. Our transit infrastructure isn’t built out yet well enough. And unfortunately we make the mistake of “not building until we need it”.
After I moved to Scarborough, it was actually a lot faster to drive than take the TTC and Go Train. Getting out of downtown sucked, but it was pretty smooth sailing after that. Plus it was a lot more pleasant than being stuffed into a sardine can with hundreds of other people and I could make other stops on the way home like groceries.
Even living close to a subway station it's just faster for me to drive. I really wish that wasn't the case because it'd be great to have the comparatively cheap TTC also win for time but it loses every chance I give it, moreso with these "slow zones" on the subway and how abysmal the King and Queen streetcars have become.
Where are the slow zones on subway (I’m a streetcar traveller these days)
They got rid of some thankfully in the last week or so but at least on my commute there's still one around Chester. Going home I get a much longer view of the valley when we cross the bridge, lol
I live in Scarborough but very close to a Go Station. Honestly it's a blessing not to deal with traffic and it's usually much faster. My work is in the PATH as well.
If you don't live close to the Go Station and you don't work close to Union, then it's a huge mission. I would have to take the bus or drive to the Go station, take the Go train to union, then take the subway a few stops, and then get on the streetcar for a bit. Too many transfers.
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Same I live just off the highway and takes me 20 mins to drive to work downtown. But if I take the bus it’ll be an hour so I opted for the former.
I usually take the Go but on days I drive, it’s either because my wife is leaving at the same time so we drive home together, or I have somewhere else to be.
When I was commuting from out of town, driving was 2 hours. Transit was 3 hours.
Same - I’m mostly remote, living in Niagara Falls. When I need to go into office, it’s quicker to drive than take transit. Even factoring in traffic.
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I think it is 4 transfers Local bus > train > subway > ttc bus Once the crosstown opens up it will either be 2 transfers (if the train connects to the LRT) or 5 if it doesn't connect
I bought a car when I worked at the distillery district. The combo of bus, subway, streetcar meant that most days one of the connections would have a delay, and it would both take forever and be an unreliable journey. That combo meant I couldn’t be sure of making daycare pickups. Those days I was too tired to bike the 15km each way because of young children. Oddly enough coming by go train from the suburbs would have been faster than my ttc journey - and more reliable. If transit was better, people would choose it.
I used to commute by car in Toronto when I lived there. For me it was about the flexibility and the convenience a car can provide. Anyone who had to lug their hockey gear or their musical instruments on the bus/subway will know what I’m talking about. Plus the TTC is pretty much a non-starter if you have your kids (not commute related really but still a valid point I think). The traffic isn’t really that bad. You learn the shortcuts, learn to check the roads before you leave to make sure there isn’t something crazy going on that merits the alternate route and throw on a podcast/audiobook and tune out. And you never have to deal with crazy/annoying people or wait for the bus in like -20 weather.
Can you not think of a single reason why people might need to drive a car at 5pm vs taking Go/TTC?
yeah I'm so confused by this post. I agree if you both work close to union station & live close to a go train but otherwise how would this work out? Even for me, I work 5 km from where I live but its a difference of a 15 min drive vs 45-50 min of transit. It's only 10 mins more for me to walk it
I liked Go. I used to take Go more often, but they made it worse instead of developing it. I live walking distance from the Go station. The Milton branch Go Train runs only during rush hours in the morning and in the evening, so you have only specific time frames to get to/from work. While this was somewhat upsetting, it was still fine, because if I decide to take a walk after work or hang out with colleagues, I could always take the Go bus 21 any time, which was running every 30min and would take me straight home. In 2023, they reduced the bus service and killed my bus route, so if I ever want to do anything after work in Toronto, or I’m working late and missed the train, I’m fucked. My only option in this case would be taking the Lakeshore branch Go train, then take the Mississauga bus or Uber. It’s just not worth it. I would gladly switch to Go trains if it was something I can always rely on, like some others world class cities. I’m not even asking for a bus/train every 10 mins like in Japan (in any direction), but at least every half an hour to all suburbs. Why not only we don’t have it but with exploding population growth the service gets reduced is beyond me. Until then, I’m taking the car and have a choice when to leave.
Hopefully that 15 minute all day service comes sooner than later.
I actually like driving. I'd rather sit in the comfort of my car, alone, without having to cram in next to hundreds of other people, fight for seats, smell the BO, only to end up somewhere vaguely near my home where I then have to either walk a long way or take some other form of public transit to get home. I park in my driveway. I park underneath my office building when I go in. Convenience is worth sitting in traffic.
I am so with you. I am a pretty confident driver and have zero anxiety on the road so it's no big deal I can maneuver my way around quite well. For me I thought Id save money and time but honestly the lunatics, smells, TTC closures (ppl jumping etc) I have said my peace and quiet mean so much more.
I thank you for your honesty.
To add to the other person's comment, in many cases, it's a lot faster too. For me, it's 30 minutes by car vs. 1h15 by ttc. It's 20 minutes to get onto the Gardiner and then 10 minutes to get home. Whereas with the ttc, it's slow, crammed, smelly, dirty, I'm standing for over an hour at a time with people pushing me and that's on the days where there aren't any delays. Those delays occur at least once a week. I work from home now and it's awesome but before I did, driving was way more comfortable and was much faster.
THIS. I'd happily take TTC if it was at all convenient. I've been privileged enough to travel to all kinds of 1st world cities(for work) and will happily take public transit in Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Boston, etc. The two major cities that stick out as just being AWFUL from a public transit POV are Toronto and LA. Unless you're very lucky with where you live AND work in relation to the transit system, it makes almost no sense.
It’s a shame, people aren’t able to work from home as often as they would like.
No offense, but I'd rather stay in my comfortable car with my music and no smelly, crazy or rude people invading my space.
Op, Toronto is a big place and a lot of people are coming from the GTA. If you live in Toronto it’s faster sure, if you don’t you’re at the mercy of quite a few things. When I lived in Ancaster I could drive to Toronto in an hour, taking the go would take me close to two hours. And I still had to drive 20 mins.
Some people just straight up don't take transit
Because public transit here is very meh and sometimes super unreliable. Train goes down?? There sure as hell ain’t going to be any shuttle busses Also sitting in your car after getting off work is an unreal feeling compared to taking transit. And the prework Jam to whatever stupid song goes so hard man
I’m lazy and I get cold.
Blanket question looking for blanket answer to a reality that is different for everybody
Driving and having a car is part of my job.
15 minutes by car or 45-60 minutes by bus
I asked one of my coworkers this a couple weeks ago, and his answer was "wouldn't you pay more to stay in a hotel than a hostel dorm?" - basically if you have to commute an hour each way every day, 10 hours a week, 480 hours or 20 full days a year, why wouldn't you pay more to do it in your own space even if it's not any faster? I'm glad I don't have that commute, but I kind of see the point.
Can’t say I agree with it, but the logic is there!
Also I didn't realize this until I wrote it out, but if you have an hour commute (pretty normal), you're literally spending 12 work-weeks a year commuting, assuming you work 9-5. Throwing away the equivalent of an entire vacation allowance at a good job, several times over. If you lived across the street from work, you're basically getting four or five times as many vacation days. That seems crazy regardless of how you do the commute.
Just think of how much more enjoyable those vacation days are going to be when you actually have the money to do something that YOU would like to do. When you're owned by a car, oops, when you are a car owner, and spending a huge chunk of everything you make to support a car, you can't even afford a vacation. Maybe the car can, not you. But wait, there's more! Can I offer you a bit of insurance? No? Well fuck that idea, your buying it anyways. Perfect abstract, no points etc. seems to have little difference for insurance costs. If you drive here, in and out, or a 2hr journey its still a massive insurance bill. It's all in the past for me, as well not needing a car for work anymore, I don't need a car at all. I have switched completely to an e-bike that I use all year round. Is the best money I've ever spent, and it wasn't very much in comparison. I've gone over two years straight not even being a passenger in car at one point. And let me tell you, it's faster than TTC and faster than driving would be for the traveling that I do. Big deep waterproof saddle bags for cargo. I've put almost my own weight in groceries back there and the bike was only bending a little bit, or maybe it's medium bit but it's not permanent. Don't even get me started on the cost savings. Wearing the right gear makes cold and rainy days not be as bad. Besides myself, there's no smelly rude people, same goes for crazy. I'm the first one waiting at every stoplight, I always get a seat, I never get stuck in traffic and people will only try to kill me once in a while. My theory is, and it seems to work so far is, if they can't catch me, they can't run me over. I will say this, if it makes you nervous or you're afraid to share the road with full size cars driven by angry lunatics while you're on a bike, you probably shouldn't do it. It's by no means safe, but it's a safe as you can make it, it's a very keeping unforgiving learning curve. It demands skill and your full attention and, well, just isn't easy. And if you're worried you don't have those skills, you're probably right. But I say the same thing about driving a car as well. Some people just shouldn't do it. You know who you are! And for you bike hating drivers out there consider the huge huge amount of land in Toronto alone paved over and fenced off, dedicated solely for the use of motor vehicles. I don't want to hear a word about how you're the ones that are paying for the roads and your taxes pay for blah blah blah blah blah. If you don't like it, stop paying taxes and tear up the road. Please. But we live in a society and this is the society we live in so we have to coexist. So next time you get angry because you you made nervous by a innocent cyclist who has done nothing to you remember every one of those site people on a bike, every one of them got out of a car. And if they were in a car, some point they'd be in front of you. Feeling a little hard done by because your road now has a bike lane on it? And it's full of bikes, damn them! Just pay attention when you drive how many there are and how easy it is just zip by them one after the other after the, no matter how much they piss you off. If it wasn't for those people on bikes, those people would be in a car. Not in their separated lane, but in yours. People still have to get to work, and they'd be in front of you in their own car. Every bike that you pass every bike that you see out there and all the ones that you don't see, or the reason that your commute is not twice as long. Every bike you see makes your trip quicker. So have mercy out there. The environment? LED evolves were supposed to be a big thing and they are, so people just use 10 times as many light bulbs now. Fail. E-bikes are demonstrably cleaner. Where many other products have failed to deliver emission reductions, e-bikes are overperforming. Ditching the ice transport and going for an e-bike is the most effective action a person can take to lower emissions on an individual level. If you're powering it with renewable energy, so much the better. It's fun and it's healthy, and it will save you a shitton of money, almost right away! What else can I say?
Dont understand how we all collectively agreed that the majority of people should be arriving and leaving from work at the same time. When I had to commute downtown for training and probationary period I was fortunate enough to have 8 to 4 as my hours so I could usually get a seat like 99% of the time.
Yeah. Totally. We should totally have 7am, 8am, and 9am starts for "9-5" people. Heck, add a 10am one too. People can opt for whatever suits their body clock.
Exactly! It improves employees quality of life and there is no immediate extra costs that I am aware of and it helps thin out the main 9 to 5 crunch on traffic.
Even within the same office... Means you could possibly "get" someone from 7am to 6pm. Helps when working with different time zones too. Or let everyone WFH again. They only brought people back to sell more transit fares, gas, lunches.... Etc
Let’s be glad they’re not all using the GO (or TTC for that matter) the infrastructure couldn’t handle more people especially an influx of riders.
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Having lived in both Australia and Europe, I can't blame \*most\* Canadians for wanting to drive for commuting. The public transit is one of the worst I've experienced, but for me personally, the road, pedestrian, and cycling infrastructure are all equally sh\*t.
I don’t live in Toronto anymore but when I did I was often driving at rush hour. I’m a midwife and babies come when they come, sometimes I gotta get places fast and I’ve got several suitcases worth of medical equipment in my car, can’t take all that on the TTC
Very cool and very valid.
I have been left in the cold, in the dark, dozens of times by the ttc when subways shut down, buses go missing etc. I am in constant fear of being attacked on public transit. I would rather sit for 30 minutes on the highway, knowing I am safe, have heat and will get where I need to go, rather than sit at a bus stop for 2+ hours. I depended on the ttc for nearly 3 years, and I learned my lesson. It is not reliable enough.
Yup! A coworker just got her hair pulled by some random psycho. I am a Torontonian through and through and riding the TTC was no big deal "back in the day" but now it's super risky not to mention the TTC can be so unreliable.
Not to mention the people openly doing crack on the subways now?? I've heard like 6 or 7 seperate stories about this, this year alone. I HATE driving, I would LOVE to rely on public transit but in Canada it is simply not possible. If the TTC was safer and more reliable I would give up my car in an instant, but that won't be happening anytime soon.
It’s hard to carry 2,000lbs of tools and equipment on GO/ TTC to different jobsites all over the GTA, many of them nowhere near transit.
That's fair for you. But the vast majority of these drivers aren't even carrying any passengers, never mind tools or equipment.
Yeah most people drive because it's a status symbol, or it's masturbatory in some way. There's a great variety of penis enhancing vehicles on the market, in every shape and color one could ask for. If transit wasn't such a hellscape a lot of people that didn't truly need to drive would be off of the road. Saving money and time safely on transit, if one could even for a moment imagine such a thing. Then the gentleman carrying heavy tools may one day find ample space on the road for him to do so. Instead of gridlock.
Didn’t realize the guy dressed in a dress shirt and slacks in a sedan was carrying 2000 lbs of tools.
Wasn’t me.
Thank you for being one of the few people with trucks who carry stuff and not just driving with an empty trunk for social hubris.
Van. Pickup truck has way less capacity and easier to steal from.
I think a major factor is unless you reside and work within a quick 5min walk to/from a transit stop and have no more than 1 connection, even sitting in a car gets you to your destination faster. This province just doesn't GAF about anyone who doesn't drive. I work roughly 15km from my home. Driving is 15min on a good day, 45min on a really bad day. Most days it's a 20min trip. Public Transit is 1hr minimum with 1 transfer because buses run only once every 30min. Biking is 40 minutes and that is pretty consistent. So from about April -Sep it's biking, the rest of the year it's the car. Transit is only if my car has to be in the shop for repairs. However, once this car reaches the end of its life, it will be transit and bike. New(and new used) cars are too expensive and I don't want a car loan.
I live and work in the suburbs. I'm always commuting against traffic, so it's always a fast 15 minute drive each way. Public transit would take a rough 90 minutes vs an easy drive in a luxurious car.
I remember those days, worked straight midnights and my commute was always against the traffic, they were all going the other way. Need groceries? I just go straight there after work and I'll be totally alone. Did a lot of good fishing getting off work at 7:00 a.m. too. I'm 90% of your bike and 10% transit these days. But I see the attraction for sure. I loved it myself. Something most people don't consider, nobody is saying that everybody must take transit, or everybody must ride a bike. Nobody anywhere is advocating anything like that. However, If you can take transit or you can ride a bike, and you do so, you're part of the solution to the problem, the problem being numbers. Cars aren't the problem, vehicles are necessary. Vital. They're key ingredient in the lifestyle that we all enjoy. And we all want to keep enjoying it too. And cars and bikes and buses, we need each other. By giving up a little bit of space the car makes room for many bikes and buses. Those bikes and buses in turn free up capacity on existing roadways. If that capacity is used wisely, a great deal of efficiencies can be realized. Driving gas brake gas brake gas brake, or in full-on traffic jam is a gas thief. But that's asking a lot of people, asking them to see further than thetip of their own nose, which is one of the hardest things that a person can do.
Because a lot of time it's still faster then driving. When I lived in the West End and worked in North York driving would be around 40 minutes, taking the TTC would have been like 1 hour 15 minutes. This really only applies if you are commuting into/out of Union.
100 percent agree, in this instance I’m watching cars come out of underground lots at union and battle to get on the Gardiner west bound.
Because I have a car & a drivers license, and being stuffed in a train car with 500 other people at 5pm is a miserable way to travel in my opinion. I get to be on my own in a car, on my own schedule, and not deal with union station? Seems pretty obvious.
Because those ppl aren’t Toronto originals. They grew up in Suburbs or smaller towns and are turned off by sharing public space with strangers plus Mom and Dad drove them around until they got their G1 and by 17 they drove.
I am disabled and until now haven't had a mobility device sufficient to make things work. I'm getting a mobility scooter through my work benefits next week though and will begin taking transit to my new home I'm moving to April 1st, much closer to work than my current one.
1. I go in one to two times per month max. 2. I live 15-30min drive away in Etobicoke, but it is 1 hour by streetcar with 1 transfer being needed. It is still 40 minutes drive max even in the worst rush hour conditions, whereas some days I have spent up to 2 hours trying to get home by streetcar due to overcapacity (soaking wet in the rain). 3. I drive a PHEV and pay $17/day in parking. To get to the go station is a 20-30 minute walk, and there is no proper parking there, it would cost me apmost $20/day to be taking the GO. Plus I'd have to either walk 15 minutes from Union or transit. 4. I usually do it with my partner but sometimes I commute alone if our in office days don't line up.
I love having a car…. Don’t get me wrong but when I lived in the burbs and worked downtown I took the train. It ended up being cheaper. I also saved time and frustration because I didn’t have to deal with heavy traffic snarl ups. What took 2 hours by car to get home, took 1 hour when I took the train. That worked out to two extra hours per day I had to get things done and spend on other things. What it comes down to is how much is your time worth? I used my time on the train to catch up on reading etc.
For a lot of people, you're only seeing a glimpse of their journey. If you wonder why not take the train, transit doesn't serve everyone equally. For some people they doont' have that option.
I would love to know as well. If these drivers are anything like my mom then they drive because they absolutely hate walking.
Gives me a chance to chill and listen to some podcasts while driving slowly
People who have to go out of their way to drop off/pick up kids from daycare may not have the option to subway.
Long time ago I going from airport to finch/Don mills with ttc, it takes 4 hours. People who use highway most likely will exit at Islington the nearest, but most likely in area where they will travel lots of hours by public transit. I use TTC only when drunk.
At one point I worked in Brampton while living downtown. Though transit was technically an option, it would have had me doing some awkward transfers and the whole journey would have taken me 2.5 hours just one way. Driving in the morning was about 40min, then another 50-90mins (depending on the day) on the way home, averaged out to 2 hours there and back. I knew other people who worked in other suburbs who did the same, basically because of the same situation. Driving wasn't great, but the alternative was worse. An extra 3 hours/day spent just on your commute adds up real fast. EDIT: Before anyone asks, I probably would have taken transit but only if it added an extra hour tops to my total commute.
That’s a no brainer decision when the time equation is that out of balance.
I have a car, meaning even if I don’t drive at all I’d still have to pay for insurance and lease. If I start to take transit, I’ll be paying for the transit cost on top of the insurance and lease. So, yeah
I would move to another city if I had to drive this commute. What a miserable way to spend my time.
Tend to agree, but evidently (from replies) people seem unbothered by it.
Today at the evening news on CityTV, the story about the repairs on the Gardiner for three years, every car that was stopped to be interviewed had only the driver in it.
I am idiot sometimes because I live in DT and decided to make plans around 6ish. It was pouring rain couple weeks back and needed to be at a work event, and public transit - street car would take the same time, in both situations I would be miserable but at least not soaking wet.
I go to work at 6 am so I can go home at 2 pm. Takes some getting used to but I barely deal with traffic.
That’s a pretty sweet schedule that allows you to miss rush hour. I don’t blame you for taking the car.
My car is less stabby
You are *far* more likely to die or be injured in a car accident or car highjacking than you are to be injured on public transit. I understand you may FEEL more safe in your car, but statistically its much more dangerous.
Some people don't live close to a go train / subway stop.. which means they'd need a lot of transfers to get home. Also, most people prefer to be stuck in traffic in their own space vs. crammed in a train with crackheads.
just one more lane bro. i promise bro just one more lane and it'll fix everything bro. bro... just one more lane. please just one more. one more lane and we can fix this whole problem bro. bro c'mon just give me one more lane i promise bro. bro bro please i just need one more lane
Picking up my pregnant wife from work. She doesn’t want to take the queen or dundas streetcars. Other times I am commuting by car because it’s 25-45 mins vs. 1.5hrs TTC.
Interesting, and Valid!
Unless you live right next to train station and work right next to another train station and have zero wait time at both ends of the journey, it's still generally still quicker to drive, plus you have your own space that won't be invaded with your own environment, be it climate, audible, being able to make phone calls, etc etc.
I'd rather sit in my car and wait for it to warm up than freeze standing and waiting for a train.
1.Dealing with people on public transit. 2. Multiple transfers. 3. No control (which I believe is a big reason for those who prefer to drive)
You deal with as much people even in the cocoon of your car. You just don't hear/see them.
Yep you do but for some it feels different to not be directly in a confined space together. The control to detour, the control to pull over and take a breather etc. Whatever one needs that they can't do when on public transit is what I'm getting at. Different coping strategies for different folks.
I live in the east end and work DT. Used to take TTC but after having a baby who’s now a toddler in daycare, i need to drive to drop him off/pick him up on time. But in addition to that, despite the rush hour traffic it’s actually half the time to get home/to work, and I can’t make pick up or drop off times by taking the ttc. For example, pre-baby, I would walk to the bus, wait for the bus, take the bus to broadview (about 20 mins), then go on line 2, transfer to line 1 and get off at king, walk to my office. The entire commute to work would take 45 mins on a good day without delays, and even longer (about an hour) to go home. It’s a 20 mins drive to get my office at Yonge and king, and I’m at home in 20 mins. Parking is more expensive than taking the TTC each day but I’m lucky I can work remote 3/5 days of the week since COVID. But I guess it depends on where you live and what commitments you have after work. For some it might make sense to drive (like in my case) and others not at all.
The prices of rent are ridiculous in city, there is no infrastructure for public transit to cheaper rental locations outside of city So we drive!🫠
Rent is barely cheaper outside of the city
I ride my bike. The weather can suck, but in every other way it is better than a car or transit for me.
If you've ever ridden on public transit you would know why people choose this in spite of how miserable it is. Gross people cough on you, invade your personal space, smell like they haven't bathed in weeks and that's a GOOD day ----- I've watched a dude smoke crack on a streetcar and had a addict inject himself into open sores on the subway both in front of my 11 year old daughter. I'll deal with traffic rather than subject my child to that ever again. When im by myself I take transit but im just more wary of my surroundings and I've shoved a few people back when then touch me or cough on me.
Tbf….GO passengers are a different breed.. In a better way
I’m not sure how I ended up with the sub but holy cow I’m not going to complain about driving to work anymore. Takes me 10 minutes and it feels like forever to get there and back. Wow, no more complaining for me.
For me, I not only need to get to work but at times need to grab groceries, drop something off, pick something up. The thought of not having my car to leave early or do something doesn’t sit right with me.
I work shift work and there is no go train running that will get me to work for 5am/6am. Also, I hate sitting on the go train and having some guy sit down beside me and try to have “polite conversation” for an hour. Further, it’s 2hr15min door to door for me to take go train and subway so the driving commute has to be pretty bad for the train to be worth it. It is inconceivable to me that it takes 55 minutes for the train to go a distance that I can drive 30 minutes when there is no traffic AND at the end of the 55 minutes…I still have to take a subway to get to my job. The transit system is horrible.
Are you 12 hr shifts? Your morning drive is probably so fast I would also not take transit.
Usually! Sometimes I work 8 hour shifts like 5pm to 1am. But it’s the same issue, there’s no go train or bus back at 2am but I can jet directly home in only 30 minutes and much more safely at that time if I suffer at 5pm. Keeping in mind also that I have to wait up to 30 minutes for a train for whatever time or direction of my commute is not aligned with the 9-5pm crowd which REALLY prolongs the commute time. One time GO randomly selected me in the mail to do an online survey on why I don’t use transit and one of the questions was what days of the week I commute…the only options available to click were Monday to Friday haha it could not be more obvious they have no plans to attract shift workers .
I’m not trying to feel like I’m in a Wes Anderson movie every morning on the way to work. I can’t deal with peoples B.O at 6am.
i always wondered why at 12 pm on a weekday there’s so much traffic… where is everyone going and why aren’t you at work
Less chance of getting stabbed in my own car
Any actuaries out there give us the odds of death driving everyday vs transit? If it favoured driving I would also consider driving.
Chile, apart from car jackings…that likelihood is probably equivalent to taking the train lol
I also like the flexibility of doing what I want in my car. Need to pick up groceries? No prob Gotta stop to pick up the kid? No problem Wanna stop by a relatives to say hi? No problem Thirsty? Let’s stop somewhere to get a drink
No, I definitely envy car owners for those reasons. I would love to see my nieces and nephews randomly and load my grocery cart without a care in the world. Unfortunately cars in the country are not cheap, and neither is public transit! And now both medium have the potential to be life threatening 😩blame canadaaaaaaaa
Time. Taking calls while commuting. Going straight to pickup kids or other evening activities. Not fighting the clock to get a parking spot at a station. Lingering Post Covid germaphobia. Not being walking distance to your work from the go station. So you’d need to take other transit. Most of all comfort. I’m sure they aren’t just dumb. They are trading off the costs and benefits based on what’s most important to them.
It’s the cost ….. if go train was affordable many would do it
This, I wholeheartedly agree with.
We all see it . Why does the government not get it ? If we can do $10 a day on weekends experiment it for a couple of months esp now with the gardiner construction. I drive Uber and I curse under my breath everytime I get a passenger heading into Toronto
Vs daily parking if $20-$40 per day?
If I have to be involved in the rat race I would rather have my person space. Seriously the last thing I want is to be shoulder to shoulder with the other peons after a hard day
I need to work to GO station for 20 minutes and then to my job for another 20, which is awesome during the warm season but miserable during winter. To be fair, this winter has been awesome! I’m just someone with a bad immune system, so I’m waiting for the weather to get a bit better so I can start using GO.
1. 10-15 mins shorter commute to work by car 2. Gas cost is usually cheaper than Presto fare Oh and thats from Toronto to Toronto. If you want to include vehicle depreciation, sure. But as a hybrid worker, I'm only in the office twice a week.
My parents are car people. They don’t like the idea of having their schedule impacted by bus/ train schedules, they like to go from point A to B directly with no stops in between. They also don’t want to be on a crowded bus/ train pushed up against a bunch of other people. And most importantly, the time to get downtown from north York where they live is 1 hour 10 mins via transit and driving is 45 typically. To them they’d rather pay to park and sit in traffic than spend longer on the ttc which is less direct, not aligned exactly with their schedule, and takes longer. They’ve watched their kids take the TTC for years growing up and never stopped asking why we didn’t just get cars. It is just the way they’ve lived their whole lives and aren’t going to change it now for something that they see had no benefit to them.
As much as I’m pro-transit, it took about the same amount of time for me to drive all the way home as it did to get the train, with added flexibility. I’d often get kept at work a couple minutes late and wouldn’t make the 5:20 train. Leaving work at about 5:05-5:10 most days and it being a 90 min drive at most in bad traffic (and usually about 70-80 min) it was just better to drive.
I work in Etobicoke, it takes an 1hr 20mins to get to the office by public transit, and 13 minutes by car. The choice is clear
It SO DOESNT take 13 mins in rush hour traffic, please! Etobicoke-downtown in 13 mins is only done at 3am on a Monday Tuesday Wednesday 😂
Thank you for saying that.
I usually go in at 10am and it takes 13 minutes - which my work allows, but even at 8:30am its still way quicker, around 35mins max. The TTC takes 1hr 20m no matter the time, unless of course there are delays / people on the track. Car just makes a lot more sense
For me, it is nearly impossible to get good connections to get to my work and back home. Plus I would have to get up 30 minutes more than I do now. Also, I have no one to carpool with. This could quite possibly be the reason for many.
Why doesn't everyone have the exact same life and commitments as me???????
It was a genuine question, see lots of similar aged people in office attire and wondered why they are driving.
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Aware that Ubers and Lyft exist downtown. My perspective has been overwhelmingly single occupant vehicles in office attire sitting parked in traffic.
I live in a huge city but the public transportation here sucks
cause it’s cheaper to drive.
Could you explain the math on that?
you belong on a bus champ. enjoy the ride.
Well, i drive the 401 every day, because i dont need to go downtown for work. And theres no transit besides dt transit
Sometimes people rather be safe in their own car than on the fuzzy bed bug seats on the TTC. Why are the seats not vinyl or plastic? Why that stained carpet material … ew
For the people who do this, the drive is still quicker than transit.