Preville on Politics
Urbanism 101
Posted on January 23, 2008 by Philip Preville
A StatsCan report confirms the obvious this morning: the lower your neighbourhood’s population density, the more likely you are to travel by car. This does not come as news to the suburbs, which were invented by cars. The real burning question left behind in the report’s wake is this: who are the 43% of Torontonians who live within five kilometers of the city centre yet who drive their cars for all their daily trips? And, more to the point, what do they have to say for themselves? They could be reverse commuters; they could also be Rosedale residents who, despite having a subway line to shuttle them to and from work in minutes, drive anyway. Either way, they got some ’splainin’ to do.
Philip Preville
Veteran freelance writer Philip Preville lived much of his life in Montreal and Edmonton before he was lured, like so many Torontonians before him, by the promise of more work and a better living. A National Magazine Award winner and former Canadian Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, Preville writes Toronto Life’s politics column. He lives with his wife and one-year-old son in Riverdale, just close enough to the Don Valley Parkway that he can hear it when he steps outside his house—but just far enough away that it doesn’t keep him awake at night. On his office wall hangs a 1938–39 press pass belonging to his grandfather, Elias Gannon, who wrote for the Montreal Star.
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Comments
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Raymond February 12, 2008 at 4:56 p.m.
Hi Philip -
You're assuming that Rosedale residents work downtown... most of them might not.
I live in South Hill (ok... not Rosedale but demographically similar) near the new St-Clair right-of-way and contrary to most anti streetcar reactionaries, I love it. That being said... I work in Liberty Village. My average commute (streetcar / subway / streetcar or streetcar / Dufferin bus / streetcar) takes AT BEST 42 minutes and usually 50 minutes. On snow days, 1 hour. And that's not counting the frequent service disruptions.
7.5 kms
TTC: 50 minutes.
Car: 20 minutes.
And that is the crux of the matter. The TTC was designed as a 'home to office' system when most of us worked downtown and works best if your home / place of work are within walking distance of the subway... transfers only increase the impracticality of the system.
Nor does it doesn't take into account the "counter-commuter"... work patterns have shifted - the TTC hasn't.
So I take the streetcar when I'm not in a hurry or know I won't have to scoot out midday for a meeting. The rest of the time, I take my car.
Lastly - I can't speak for all of my neighbours... but those who work downtown - or directly on a subway station - almost all take the TTC and love it.