U-W study finds commute times up 12 per cent
Posted Apr 29, 2014 06:42:42 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Drivers in Ontario are facing longer commute times, especially in Toronto, according to a University of Waterloo study conducted for the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
The How are Ontarians Really Doing? report is the first one in Ontario that evaluates the quality of life factors in the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) index.
Details of the report, found Torontonians deal with the longest commute times in the province — 65.6 minutes, compared with 63.6 minutes in Oshawa and 59.2 in Barrie.
The average commute time in Ontario is 47 minutes, faster than the low-sixty averages in Montreal and Vancouver.
Overall, the study found Ontarians’ commute times have increased on average 12 per cent from 1994 to 2010.
Motorists are spending 6.4 minutes more getting to and from work every day. That adds up to 27 hours in a year.
The CIW evaluates the country’s health and lifestyle using measures such as education, environment, community vitality, culture, and use of time, among others.
Bryan Smale, UW Professor and CIW Director, joined “570 News Mid-day with Eric Drozd” Tuesday morning to discuss the study.
Smale says it’s not just the time that affects our well being, but the perception of that commute as well.
“If there’s a lot of congestion on the road, people are more stressed as a consequence. Certainly a thirty-minute commute in and around Toronto is probably not at all similar to what it might be near Haliburton.”
Smale encourages the implementation of public transit in municipalities to not only cut down on drive time, but to also increase access to goods, services, leisure and cultural activities.
He would also like to see more transit geared towards the upwards of 17, 000 people who live in Toronto, but work in Waterloo Region.
