Better scheduling to help people get to work would be appreciated (and good for the economy, too)

Heading into the downtown core to work and participate as a productive member of society? 

Below is GO Transit's morning rush schedule for the westbound Lakeshore East GO Train, with my scribbles highlighting what I think is an issue.

6x less service to 416 commuters than to 905ers? (and it's actually more than 6x less, because 5 of those 6 rides available from Pickering are express).

C'mon, GO Transit, you can't do better than that?

Modal split across GTA

There's plenty of data showing that urban living can be healthier for very non-mysterious reasons. Recently I saw this image:

While the numbers are hard to see on this image, what does jump out quite clearly is the balanced use of transportation modes in downtown Toronto, and the gross imbalance outside downtown.

If subways are not going to lace across the entire GTA (as a real transit system should), then the bus and light rail system and service, in lieu of subways, must be competitively good at moving lots of people quickly, in order to reduce dependence on cars - and the problems created by that dependence (pollution, poorer health, etc.) - outside the downtown area.

The graph above illustrates clearly that there’s no fooling people – buses and light rail in Toronto have thus far failed to provide an equivalent degree of service beyond subways, beyond downtown, which is a primary contributor to Toronto having the longest average commute (yes, longer than Los Angeles, longer than New York City) and choking gridlock that costs the region upwards of $5 billion each year in lost productivity.

Health and the City

There is plenty of research documenting the fact that urban living can be more healthy than suburban living. In answering the question "Are the suburbs a health hazard?", cardiologist Dr. Kim Connelly finds:

"The suburbs are a nightmare — a total planning disaster. People move in because they're affordable, and then they can't do anything.

"They're in the car all the time. You get this big house, but studies show that the rate of heart attack increases with the length of time you are stuck in traffic." (emphasis supplied).

Choking on Congestion Talk

Incredulous bemusement is the most generous manner by which I might describe my reaction to comments by Council members according to the Toronto Sun article Our highways to hell. 

According to the article, Councillor Gord Perks is quoted as saying "I don't view congestion as a problem." 

Hang on to your hat, because it is a problem. A big one.