Pandemic fallout could boost traffic congestion in Toronto
Experts predict workers worried about transit risk will use their cars instead
Adrienne Middlebrook grew up in Toronto, raised a faithful TTC rider, who has always enjoyed the “me time” her commute allowed her.
And now as she thinks about how she’ll get to her job near Dufferin and Sheppard from her home near Jane and Bloor dduring the pandemic, she won- ders if it’s time to buy a car.
“Now might be the time,” said Middlebrook, who is able to work from home for the time being. But she expects by fall to be back at her desk in marketing and communications for the Greater Toronto Hockey League.
“I always have enjoyed my commute, like a little bit of metime, but now, it’s like: ‘Hmm, do I really want to sit in a packed subway, and be anxious for an hour as I make my way to work?’ ” she said. “It’s both ways. Coming home, too. Some- times there are delays, and you’re in a crowded car, which is a awful.”
Local transportation officials and experts believe Middlebrook is not alone, and fear plenty of commuters will drop the TTC and GO Transit as a means to get to work as long as the coronavirus remains a danger.
So, into their cars — where they can keep a safe social dis- tance — they will go. And if you thought Toronto had a conges- tion problem before the pandemic, things might be even worse after.
“We were strangled by congestion before the pandemic and if we now have even more people, seeing their automobiles as a way to get around and safely physically distance, that’s going to create an even greater traffic nightmare,” said Matti Siemiatycki, the interim director of School of Cities and an associate professor of geography and planning at the University of Toronto.
“If we go down the path of a car-oriented future, the city will be overwhelmed with congestion and air pollution, which causes its own set of health risks and public health problems.”
Long-standing issues regarding traffic remain unresolved in the city. Last year, 42 pedestrians were killed on Toronto streets, according to a Toronto Star count, amid calls for reduced speed limits and rede- signed roads with bollards to protect walkers.
Economically, the annual cost of congestion to commuters in the Toronto-Hamilton corridor was $3.3 billion in 2006, rising to an estimated $7 billion by 2036, according to Metrolinx.
The city is continuing to address many of those issues, with a five-year congestion plan expected to be put before council in September.
“It’s not going to be the same as it was before,” said Barbara Gray, general manager of the city’s transportation services division. “(We are) finding alternatives for people, and giving people viable alternatives and well-connected safe routes. To cycle is one way to do that. So we really do have to adapt the city to ensure people can get around.”
Car traffic is down about 50 per cent since the pandemic hit, pedestrian traffic downtown has fallen by about 80 per cent, with a marginal increase in cy- ww cling traffic, said Gray.
A slow return to work, summer vacations and an increase of office workers continuing to work from home is buying the ww city some time. But the demand will be back. Some of Gray’s de- ww partment’s ideas to help commuters:
Encouraging flexible start times and finish for office workers.
The continued expansion of bike lanes, designed to convert commutes of about five kilometres away from cars.
Expanded pedestrian space, to aid curbside retail and give pedestrians an easier walk. And the continued rollout of “traffic agents” who oversee the busiest intersections to prevent gridlock,
and ensure pedestrians can cross those streets safe- aly.
“We’re keeping all the ideas on the table,” said Gray. “People want to be downtown, they want to be in the city, there’s ww lots of development down here, there’s lots of construction.
“So we’re reaching out to employers about working with their employees about the commute, because we know people mm will probably be slow to come ww back to the TTC. It’s going to be a significant issue that we need to manage.”
The issues at play in the downtown core are quite different from suburbs. The car has remained king in areas without subways and streetcars or with only downtown-oriented GO Transit lines.
“In many parts of the city, there continue to be relatively tt few viable options for people to f get around, other than in their cars,” said Siemiatycki.
That doesn’t necessarily mean people can afford cars. Many will still rely on the TTC to a ww certain extent, but more for shorter trips — to the grocery story or doctor — than for trips downtown.
“What the pandemic reveals is that work patterns might be very different, and how people use public transit is going to shift,” said Siemiatycki.
He said now would be a good time to add bus-only lanes in the suburbs.
With increased frequency in bus-only lanes “people can safely keep a physical distance on those vehicles, and the travel times would be much more competitive with the private automobile, and people can make those shorter trips more efficiently,” he said.