GETTING AROUND
Is Toronto making strides in facilitating active transportation?
Less than one in ten Torontonians (9%) choose to walk when commuting to work or volunteering:
2.2% commute by bike and half (49%) choose most often to drive. The City plans to construct 495 km of new bike lanes:
At the average rate of construction over the past three years, it will take more than 270 years to get there. 36.5% of Torontonians used transit to get to work in 2011:
Residents earning less than $20,000 annually are much more likely to rely on transit than high-income commuters (earning $80,000 or more), a difference of 42.8% vs. 27.4%. Toronto has one of the lowest transit costs per passenger trip among Ontario municipalities, but TTC fares are costly compared with much of the world:
In 2011, it cost $2.84 per passenger trip to move Torontonians by transit including operating and amortization costs.
Only 10 of 72 global metropolitan regions in a 2012 study were more expensive than Toronto. Paris ($2.16 U.S.) and New York ($2.42 U.S.) were both significantly cheaper than Toronto. Solving gridlock is key to the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area’s (GTHA) future economic prosperity:
There are more than 2 million cars on the roads during morning rush hour, exacting a huge toll in social and health care costs and environmental pollution. With 100,000 people moving into the GTHA every year, the estimated $6 billion annual loss in regional productivity could grow to $15 billion by 2031, if transportation issues aren’t addressed.
Commuting time in the Toronto Region (average 66 minutes roundtrip) is longer than anywhere in North America except in New York City, where it is almost 70 minutes. According to a 2013 survey, 71% of GTA residents are “fed up” with traffic congestion; 43% believe that new money must be raised to fix the problem:
“Improving quality of life” was the most important reason to improve regional transportation for more than one in 4 respondents.