SkyscraperCity Forum banner

Traffic Jams Costing Canadian Cities Billions

4K views 34 replies 22 participants last post by  hkskyline 
#1 ·
Traffic jams cost Canada billions: report
Mike Oliveira
Canadian Press
23 March 2006



TORONTO -- Worsening urban congestion is costing Canadians billions of dollars a year and the waste is likely to get worse with a growing population, more cars on the road and the urbanization of towns, according to a new Transport Canada study.

The study is the first national analysis of congestion and estimates the cost of bad traffic in Canada's nine biggest cities -- Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montreal and Quebec City -- is between $2.3 billion and $3.7 billion a year.

More than 90 per cent of the waste is the value of time lost in traffic, seven per cent is the cost of fuel consumption, and three per cent is associated with increased greenhouse gas emissions.

"The results show how costly congestion is, but they also show just how much more we need to do to understand it. And let's be honest, we all contribute to this problem," said federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon. "We drive to the video store when we could walk. We drive to work when we could take public transit. We even drive to the gym when we know we should bike."

Congestion on the roads is especially damaging to the environment and adds to gas bills because a vehicle travelling at 20 km/h operates less efficiently and spews more pollution than when it is moving at 60 km/h, the report states.

And as expensive as today's driving conditions are, they are likely to get worse. With the national population expected to rise by 0.75 per cent annually until 2020, car ownership growing at a greater rate, and urbanization changing the landscape of the country, congestion is projected to get increasingly heavy.
 
See less See more
1
#3 ·
Because the TTC is not adequately funded.

To me it seems as if EVERYONE's GOAL / MEASUREMENT OF SUCCESS is purchasing a motor vehicle. People are infatuated with these things.They have the notion that public transit is for the poor.

Why take PT, when it is necessary to wait 20-40 minutes JUST for a bus to ARRIVE, when I can drive and ARRIVE at my destination in 15 minutes by car?

There is a problem here and it is quite sad. I demand more subway lines and rapid bus service.
 
#11 ·
I-275westcoastfl said:
lol thats actually true, you saying LA drivers are stupid? hahaha :jk: from this pic that isnt no traffic jam a traffic jam is where ur barely moving or stopped completely.
Yes, but that is what the highways would look like during rush hour if there were no stupid drivers. Congested, but moving along just fine.
 
#12 · (Edited)
I think extensive light rail and local high speed rail in U.S. and Canadian cities are essential to reducing traffic congestion on highways. Big cities like Hong Kong, Tokyo, Montreal, Chicago, London and New York thrive on local rail access, they should extensively implement it in cities like Toronto, Houston, Boston, Dallas, Miami, Vancouver. Enough coverage should be implemented to encourage people to move away from their cars to the rail station or at least drive much less than they need to because they can drive to a train station instead of drive all the way to the office.


Also if they say that traffic jams are costing billions of dollars it seems like it would be a real money saving idea to implement a good local rail system.
 
#13 ·
FM 2258 said:
I think extensive light rail and local high speed rail in U.S. and Canadian cities are essential to reducing traffic congestion on highways. Big cities like Hong Kong, Tokyo, Montreal, Chicago, London and New York thrive on local rail access, they should extensively implement it in cities like Toronto, Houston, Boston, Dallas, Miami, Vancouver. Enough coverage should be implemented to encourage people to move away from their cars to the rail station or at least drive much less than they need to because they can drive to a train station instead of drive all the way to the office.
I don't get what you're saying here. Toronto is built exactly the same as Montreal and NY with a subway system for the innercity and heavy rail commuter lines in the burbs.
 
#14 ·
DrJoe said:
I don't get what you're saying here. Toronto is built exactly the same as Montreal and NY with a subway system for the innercity and heavy rail commuter lines in the burbs.

I wasn't aware of the fact that they had a subway system. I need to inform myself better about Toronto. I had the idea they were more set up like Los Angeles or Houston as far as rail transport goes.
 
#16 · (Edited)
FM 2258 said:
I think extensive light rail and local high speed rail in U.S. and Canadian cities are essential to reducing traffic congestion on highways. Big cities like Hong Kong, Tokyo, Montreal, Chicago, London and New York thrive on local rail access, they should extensively implement it in cities like Toronto, Houston, Boston, Dallas, Miami, Vancouver. Enough coverage should be implemented to encourage people to move away from their cars to the rail station or at least drive much less than they need to because they can drive to a train station instead of drive all the way to the office.


Also if they say that traffic jams are costing billions of dollars it seems like it would be a real money saving idea to implement a good local rail system.
Yeah, Toronto has like 300km (305.8km to be exact) of inner-city light rail and another 70km of subway. The system does need to be expanded but it is still one of the most successful in north America.

Montreal, NYC, and Toronto have the most utilized PT last time I checked. Why you would rank Toronto and Houston in the same sentence boogles my mind.

Here is a better pic of the inner-city network:
 
#18 ·
FM 2258 said:
I wasn't aware of the fact that they had a subway system. I need to inform myself better about Toronto. I had the idea they were more set up like Los Angeles or Houston as far as rail transport goes.
It's understandable why people would think that, considering the monster highway pic in the beginning of the thread. I'm not aware of any other traditional "transit cities" with highways like that. :lol:
 
#19 ·
Vancouver has to have the worst traffic, because it is congested on every street you go every day, vancouver also lacks a major highway system, cities like las vegas, and little rock have better freeways and they are half the size. getting stuck in traffic in vancouver is an everyday occurance, and most of us just get used to it, but whatever just turn up the radio and relax
 
#20 ·
Toronto does not have too many major highways.. thus we go with 16-lane monsters, which surprisingly still get traffic jams.

Innercity transport is good. The further away you go, the worse it gets. Buses on certain routes take far too long to arrive as I have said earlier.

GO Trains are pretty good though in terms of getting commuters from the suburbs to downtown. Very high capacity trains. But they do not have frequent service and are rather slow.

Per capita ridership is up there, and the service is OKAY for the most part, but there are many areas for improvement.
 
#21 ·
Gordon Freeman said:
Vancouver has to have the worst traffic, because it is congested on every street you go every day, vancouver also lacks a major highway system, cities like las vegas, and little rock have better freeways and they are half the size. getting stuck in traffic in vancouver is an everyday occurance, and most of us just get used to it, but whatever just turn up the radio and relax
Try driving in Montreal. It's an even bigger headache, especially with its antiquated autoroute system.

Anyone who has been on Decarie would know what I mean.
 
#22 ·
Skybean said:
Toronto does not have too many major highways.. thus we go with 16-lane monsters, which surprisingly still get traffic jams.

Innercity transport is good. The further away you go, the worse it gets. Buses on certain routes take far too long to arrive as I have said earlier.

GO Trains are pretty good though in terms of getting commuters from the suburbs to downtown. Very high capacity trains. But they do not have frequent service and are rather slow.

Per capita ridership is up there, and the service is OKAY for the most part, but there are many areas for improvement.
GO train is pretty frequent, but only on the lakeshore line and during rush hour. The other stations see no service after rush hour and busses take their place. The bus isnt all that bad though, I find it to be quite fast.
 
#23 ·
GO is not frequent outside of rush hour. Even during rush it's like 2 trains 15 minutes apart for the entire day, else 30-45 min and nothing on weekends. Bus service (TTC) is not good on many routes. Depends on your route - is it a heavy use route? If so, you may get decent service. Else, it really is lacking.

20-40 minutes is not considered good IMO.
 
#24 ·
Skybean said:
GO is not frequent outside of rush hour. Even during rush it's like 2 trains 15 minutes apart for the entire day, else 30-45 min and nothing on weekends. Bus service (TTC) is not good on many routes. Depends on your route - is it a heavy use route? If so, you may get decent service. Else, it really is lacking.

20-40 minutes is not considered good IMO.
I said the same thing you just said... maybe you should re-read it? Anyways... GO busses are about 15 minutes apart here in Mississauga, so it is pretty good for going downtown. I have never had to wait long for a bus at all. It would be nice to see the trains running all day, even if it is 40 minutes apart after rush hour.
 
#26 ·
Tuscani01 said:
I said the same thing you just said... maybe you should re-read it? Anyways... GO busses are about 15 minutes apart here in Mississauga, so it is pretty good for going downtown. I have never had to wait long for a bus at all. It would be nice to see the trains running all day, even if it is 40 minutes apart after rush hour.
It's unfortunate that you seem to think I'm arguing with you because I really am not.

15 minutes is the most ideal situation for me, usually it's longer than that. The posted time is one thing and the actual time is really different. Sometimes the scheduled bus doesn't come. It's also unfortunate that some inner-city routes have this wait time. Compared to many cities this is quite a long time to wait. Clearly there is room for improvement.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top