Think You Have It Bad? Try a 240-km Commute

December 8, 2007 - Most of the people I know that live in the suburbs complain about their commute to school and to work. Whether you take transit or drive, we all acknowledge that congestion in Toronto has gotten much worse over the past couple of years. But is the commute in Toronto THAT bad? The Star hopes to answer that question by examining the commute in other parts of the world - staring with Washington D.C.

Here some of the points made in the article that I found interesting:

70 per cent of McDonald's restaurants now open at 5 a.m. and the company has suggested the rest of its franchisees follow suit. Fast-food lunch meals grew less than one per cent in this country between 2001 and 2006, but the country's $40 billion (U.S.) fast-food breakfast market is expected to jump as much as 5 per cent this year alone.

Why do otherwise sane people put up with this every day? "When I drive back and look over the mountains, I literally breathe a sigh of relief,'' says Forrester. "That is why I do this. Everyday.''
When he and colleague studied why Americans are sleeping less they found, to their surprise, that the extra waking hours were not spent on leisure, in front of the television or with family, but sitting in the car.

To give you some perspective, a 240 km roundtrip commute is like driving to and from Queen's Park in downtown Toronto to Waterloo. To most of us, that would be a crazy commute, though I do know people who does that everyday as well. To give you further perspective, my commute from my Markham house to work is about 60 km round-trip. But that's on transit though (that's YRT bus, Viva, Subway, walk/streetcar), and I complain about it already.

My opinion is that for many people, moving to the suburbs and exburbs is a lifestyle choice. Like most decisions, it comes with pros and cons. If you decide to move far away from your workplace, you should know it would take you a long time to commute each day (and also, it would cost you more in terms of gas/transit). So why bitch about it? If you don't want to commute so far, then suck it up and move back to the city (or get a new job closer to home like that lady interviewed in the article). Of course, there's also that argument that some people cannot afford to live in the city - but that's an entirely different story. It appears this series on commuting that the Star is doing focuses on people who commute by choice.

This article on Washington DC also doesn't mention the role of commuter trains, which I believe is a much bigger phenomenon in the States than here in Southern Ontario. The article portrays driving as the only way to commute in the States, which I know is not entirely true, even in car-friendly places like Los Angeles. Would be interesting if they have a follow-up article on people who commute on transit to work.

And that fast food breakfast industry sounds like a money-making venture eh? does anyone want to open a Timmy's with me?