Over the past few years, I've become a bit of a transit geek. I like reading about new transit projects and yearn for the days when we have proper public transit (and a government that really truly gets the need for it). But I'm not completely 100% focussed on transit. I also like reading about the new construction projects going on around the province in terms of highways and roads. I think this stems from my obsession with maps as a child and enjoying the new ways of getting places faster and more efficiently.
For example: The upcoming bridge over the Grand River at the end of Fairway Road in Kitchener will be awesome because it'll make it faster to get out towards Guelph from this end of town and it will add two new roundabouts to the local grid.
But in my newfound appreciation for long-distance commuting to work, I've realized that construction can have it's downsides too. It can take away lanes, or narrow them, or slow the speed down, which inevitably means that I'm stuck in traffic for much longer than I would be otherwise.
Don't get me wrong, the end goal is most likely going to be more helpful in getting people from point A to point B, but I think there's still the concept of induced demand that some people don't just get. Kevin Costner got it in Field of Dreams: if you build it, they will come.
The highway planners get that they need to do something to help move traffic along. When the reconfigured lanes open, they will help traffic for a time, but more vehicles will inevitably come to fill in the new space.
That's why we need high speed rail along the 401 corridor from Windsor to Montreal with stops at major junctions with cities along the route, connecting to local transit. A dream: yes. No chance of becoming reality? Most likely. One can hope: hope is always good to have... no matter how faint it is.
Maybe I should move to Europe... they have good transit. Now I just need to learn how to speak Danish. That'll get me far, right?
Oh, and another thing: in the Construction zone, there are lots of bits to damage cars. Like the chunk of stone hurtled at me from underneath a transport truck's tire the other day, causing a nice crack pattern and chip to appear in my windshield.... Sigh.
16.7.12
the four-oh-one diaries: transit
The day I got the interview offer for my job, I immediately started looking into what it would be like to commute to the other side of Toronto for work from Kitchener. Driving was the first option: 1 hr 10 minutes on a Sunday morning. See the previous posts in this series for the actual Monday-Friday results. Second option was moving. See other previous posts for my lack of success in that area so far. Third option that I was really hopeful about in the beginning, but then saw the impracticalities of as I looked a bit further into was by way of public transit.
In December of last year, GO Transit started running two trains a day from Kitchener to Union station. There are a few problems with this:
1. The train is slow due to the government not being very transit-friendly, at least not outside of Toronto. It takes 2 hours to go from Kitchener to Union station, with one hour of that being spent in the "Dark territory" between Kitchener and Georgetown. The tracks are not in great shape, and the pathway to having them upgraded to modern standards is riddled with politics and lots of ill-will.
2. My employment is not downtown. It is very close to the northern boundary of Toronto. I could walk to Thornhill in 10 minutes, if I wanted to. It takes about 55-60 minutes to get from Union station to work, included a subway ride, a bus ride, and a 10 minute walk.
3. Even if I cut off part of the train ride and rode the GO bus across the north end of Toronto, it only cuts off about 30 minutes, meaning it is still 2.5 hours each way (if you time connections perfectly).
So last Friday, circumstances allowed me to try the transit option so I would not have to leave my car in the big city over the weekend. I woke up at 4:45, got picked up at 5:30, dropped off at the train station at 5:45, got on the train, which left at 5:52, got off at Bramlea at 7:14, transferred to a GO bus at 7:20, got off at Finch Subway Station at 7:45, transferred to TTC Bus, got off at 8:10, and walked the last 10 minutes into work. Meaning I got up 30 minutes earlier, and arrived almost 1 hour later than usual.
I was living up to my ambitions of not driving if I don't have to, but the practicality of taking transit for my commute is fleeting. Thankfully, I got a PRESTO card (GO's touchless fare card), meaning I didn't have to carry any cash with me for the entire ride. Tap on in Kitchener, off in Bramlea, on in Bramlea, off in Toronto, tap again for TTC fare.
Just for the record, I had to come back from eastern Ontario via transit today, so I took VIA from Brockville to Toronto, switched to GO bus, took one from Union to Square One, Mississauga, and then another from Square One to about 1 km from home, where I got off and walked the rest of the way in the heat. The whole trip took about 7.5 hours, 8.25 if you include the car ride from South Mountain.
Tomorrow is back to work... and driving. Sigh.
In December of last year, GO Transit started running two trains a day from Kitchener to Union station. There are a few problems with this:
1. The train is slow due to the government not being very transit-friendly, at least not outside of Toronto. It takes 2 hours to go from Kitchener to Union station, with one hour of that being spent in the "Dark territory" between Kitchener and Georgetown. The tracks are not in great shape, and the pathway to having them upgraded to modern standards is riddled with politics and lots of ill-will.
2. My employment is not downtown. It is very close to the northern boundary of Toronto. I could walk to Thornhill in 10 minutes, if I wanted to. It takes about 55-60 minutes to get from Union station to work, included a subway ride, a bus ride, and a 10 minute walk.
3. Even if I cut off part of the train ride and rode the GO bus across the north end of Toronto, it only cuts off about 30 minutes, meaning it is still 2.5 hours each way (if you time connections perfectly).
So last Friday, circumstances allowed me to try the transit option so I would not have to leave my car in the big city over the weekend. I woke up at 4:45, got picked up at 5:30, dropped off at the train station at 5:45, got on the train, which left at 5:52, got off at Bramlea at 7:14, transferred to a GO bus at 7:20, got off at Finch Subway Station at 7:45, transferred to TTC Bus, got off at 8:10, and walked the last 10 minutes into work. Meaning I got up 30 minutes earlier, and arrived almost 1 hour later than usual.
I was living up to my ambitions of not driving if I don't have to, but the practicality of taking transit for my commute is fleeting. Thankfully, I got a PRESTO card (GO's touchless fare card), meaning I didn't have to carry any cash with me for the entire ride. Tap on in Kitchener, off in Bramlea, on in Bramlea, off in Toronto, tap again for TTC fare.
Just for the record, I had to come back from eastern Ontario via transit today, so I took VIA from Brockville to Toronto, switched to GO bus, took one from Union to Square One, Mississauga, and then another from Square One to about 1 km from home, where I got off and walked the rest of the way in the heat. The whole trip took about 7.5 hours, 8.25 if you include the car ride from South Mountain.
Tomorrow is back to work... and driving. Sigh.
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