Toronto and commuting times...

As a Torontonian, I am embarrassed to say that my city has an egregious commuting problem. A new study by the Toronto Board of Trade reported that the average commute time (round trip) for a Torontonian is 84 minutes. That is horrendous in comparison to cities like Los Angeles which is at 56 minutes, or New York City at 68.1. When I think of LA I think of highway congestion and commuting problems. Well, apparently Toronto is worse.

Of the 19 cities that were surveyed for the study, we take the gold for worse commuting times. Toronto is a vast metropolis in the heart of the Greater Golden Horseshoe. There are over 6 million people in the GTA alone and many commute from GTA municipalities to Toronto's downtown or even commute great distances within the GTA. One of my geography profs tells me that 86% of the commutes in the GTA are from the automobile, only 14% are on the GO train and other non-automobile forms of transit. Toronto itself desperately needs public transit renewal. Alas, the province is delaying the $4 billion in planned transit spending.

The transit plan is going to bring about several Light-Rail Transit routes which will make the city more sustainable and diverse in terms of transit choice. The city is going to have to think of several policy tools that it could use to bring in some money. It is understood that the province has a massive deficit, however, the city need not be completely dependent on the province for transit funding.

There are a number of tools that can be used (although many are controversial). Electronic road pricing or highway tolls would certainly have merit. Considering how congested the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) is, it can use some sort of toll to reduce congestion and raise revenue for public transit expansion.

Key message: Toronto is a growing city. While most of the population growth is occurring in the GTA, such growth (and high automobility) puts tremendous pressure on the city's transportation networks. As a result, commuting gets worse. I think Toronto should consider a highway toll (as a kick start initiative to sustainable transport) and apply this toll to the DVP.

More to follow about this DVP highway toll recommendation including potential revenue and how revenue could be spent.