WHAT IT TAKES FOR FIVE DRIVERS TO GET DOWNTOWN
Andy Riga asked five Montreal Gazette employees about their morning commutes by car to our offices at Peel and Ste-Catherine Sts. in downtown Montreal.
ST-LAZARE: 90 MINUTES
Brenda O’Farrell, Senior News Editor Distance: 60 km.
Driving route: Highway 40 to Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, then Highway 20 and the Ville-Marie Expressway. With no traffic, the drive would take about 45 minutes. How long is your usual morning commute?: 60 to 90 minutes How about a year ago?: 45 to 75 minutes Biggest trouble spots?: 1) Construction on Highway 40’s Île-aux-Tourtes Bridge. Drivers have to slow down as the lanes narrow and to deal with cars merging from the service road. 2) Highway 20 near 32nd Ave. Traffic often comes to a complete stop. 3) Peel St., from St-Jacques St. to Ste-Catherine St., can be frustratingly slow. How was your last driving commute?: Left home at 8:05 a.m. Heavy traffic in St-Lazare, on Highway 40, Highway 20 and on Peel. Arrived at 9:25 a.m. Total time: 80 minutes. Have you changed your commute?: No. I have the best route. And leaving too early is not worth it. If you don’t have to be downtown before 9 a.m., it’s best to leave a little later — after 8:30 a.m. — to make your commute in reasonable time. Why not take public transit?: Are you kidding me? I would rather go to the dentist, really. And who would want to go to the dentist everyday? Transit would take two hours and 15 minutes if there were no traffic, if I made every connection and the train was not delayed. What is the likelihood of that happening everyday? I would have to walk to a bus stop, which, I must admit, is not very far. I could then take a bus to the train station in Vaudreuil. Then, the train to downtown. I would have to leave the house at about 7:15 to attempt to be at work by 9:30. At night, I would leave the office at 6:30 p.m. and make it home by 8:45-ish. In my car, I have a coffee, I get to choose the radio station, I can make phone calls via Bluetooth. It’s clean. I like my car and the flexibility that comes with it. I can run errands on the way home, change my schedule if needed.