Image via the Toronto Star
The Toronto Star recently reported that the GTA’s prosperity is slipping, as “Toronto’s economic success remains hampered by low productivity and long commute times compared with cities around the world.” The GTA ranked 8 out of the 24 cities studied, slipping down from 4th place just last year.
Gridlock remains one of the GTA’s top concerns, as all of us commuters can easily attest. Toronto came last among all the cities: our average round-trip commute time is 80 minutes, “worse than Los Angeles (56 minutes), Tokyo (69 minutes) and London (74 minutes).” This time is an average taken from all commuters, both drivers and transit users. Toronto has more drivers than other cities, in part because our transit system doesn’t easily link up with places outside the downtown core.
So what does this mean if you live in the GTA, whether it’s in downtown Toronto, North York, Pickering, Burlington, Brampton or Mississauga? It means that while the appeal of moving out of Toronto proper is still strong because of housing prices and spacing issues, moving out of Toronto is only becoming less appealing if you work in the GTA.
Do you live close to your place of work? What’s your commute time like?
JohnAmardeil.com 