BROSSARD: 50 MINUTES
Jeff Associate Blond, Managing Editor Distance: 15 km
Driving route: Highway 132E, Champlain Bridge, Bonaventure Expressway. Or 132E to Victoria Bridge. With no traffic, the drive would take about 20 minutes. How long is your usual morning commute?: If I leave at 9 a.m., and it’s a normal rush hour, it usually takes 45 or 50 minutes.
How about a year ago?: It was five to 10 minutes faster.
Biggest trouble spots?: On bad mornings, the 132E exit to reach the Champlain is a mess. There are trucks everywhere due to construction of the new bridge. And this was already a bad spot because you’re delayed by people who just crossed the bridge and want to reach the 132E. Traffic on the bridge is worse now because the Wellington exit on the 15N is closed and it narrows to two lanes immediately afterward. As for the Victoria, coming from the 132E you have to get off at the proper exit, then go left under an underpass and double back on the 132W for half a kilometre. How was your last driving commute?: Left my house at 9:07 a.m. Just a bit of traffic crossing the Victoria Bridge, nothing serious. Then, a train slowed me down. Victoria is usually the faster option, but it can be complicated by the CN train that usually passes on Bridge St. near the Costco. This morning, for example, I was about five car lengths from the tracks at 9:27 a.m. I didn’t move another inch until 9:45 a.m. Walked into the office precisely at 10 a.m. Total time: 53 minutes. Have you changed your commute?: I alternate between Champlain and Victoria Bridge but otherwise no.
Why not take public transit?: Because I often work until 9 or 9:30 p.m. I actually really like the bus: It’s efficient and very pleasant to take into town. During rush hour, there is a bus two minutes from my house that is amazing: It runs every 15 minutes and takes me directly downtown in about 45 minutes. But after a long day, all I want to do is get home fast. At 9:30 p.m., the bus near me runs only once an hour. It’s a fiveminute walk to Bonaventure, a 15-minute bus to Panama and about 25 minutes from Panama to my house. So, if I catch all the connections, the absolute best I can do is 45 minutes. But I almost always have to wait a bit at Panama, so I rarely get home in less than an hour. It takes 15 minutes by car. There are not enough hours in the day for me to lose that kind of time.