‘It feels like I stop at the same places every day’
We’re asking Star readers to tell us about their commute: the good, the bad and the ugly. Is it a chance to meet new and interesting people? Is it a daily exercise in tedium? Here’s one reader’s response, send us yours by using the form at thestar.com/gta
“Every once in a while you can hit all the lights just right and make it downtown in 15 minutes, but not frequently enough, and rarely after 7:30 a.m. While it does give me an hour every day to talk to my kids (and my wife, if they let her), it also means I can’t escape when they fight!” —Matthew Vienneau
How often do you travel from home to work?
Daily
How long is your average commute?
30 minutes
What mode(s) of transportation do you use?
Private vehicle (as driver)
Where do you live?
Yonge/Lawrence
Where do you work?
City Hall
Rate your morning commute (out of 5)
3
Rate your evening commute (out of 5)
2
What is the best part of your trip?
When we leave early enough (7:30), the lights are synchronized on Yonge and there aren’t any delivery trucks blocking lanes and you can get downtown in 15 minutes.
What are the worst “pinch points” of your trip?
Delivery trucks blocking Yonge during morning rush hour.
Random people and delivery trucks blocking a lane on Avenue Rd. during evening rush hour. Wherever the construction is happening.
What would make your trip better?
A parking enforcement officer floats outside my house all day to catch people on my side street going to Starbucks.
If those resources could be redirected to travelling the major routes in the morning and clearing out the problem vehicles, that would help a lot.
When construction is planned, especially major construction, adjust the turning rules for side streets to allow traffic to overflow around the construction without risking a ticket.
Synchronize the traffic lights better. Or get rid of some lights altogether when a bunch are close together. Yonge and Eglinton is messy. The lights south of Bloor on Yonge aren’t in sync at all.
It feels like I stop at the same places every day, suggesting that traffic flow is predictable and could be adjusted for.
On Avenue Rd., just north of Bloor, the road shrinks from three lanes to two, then back to three. Fix that. It causes incredible backlog down University around Queen’s Park.
Speaking of Queen’s Park, they added three new pedestrian lights around the circle in the past year. It’s killed traffic flow.