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I have lived in both Toronto and LA, and I can testify that Toronto's traffic is probably marginally better than LA's. Both are horrible though.
Both cities are very sprawling. Most people in these cities need to drive due to the lack of convenient rapid transit. Toronto has a relatively dense downtown, but LA's suburbs are much denser. Plus, LA has the advantage of having multiple centers where people go to work and entertain, while Toronto replies a lot more on the facilities downtown (see all those 905ers coming all the way to King west on Saturday nights?)
I have lived in both Toronto and LA, and I can testify that Toronto's traffic is probably marginally better than LA's. Both are horrible though.
Both cities are very sprawling. Most people in these cities need to drive due to the lack of convenient rapid transit. Toronto has a relatively dense downtown, but LA's suburbs are much denser. Plus, LA has the advantage of having multiple centers where people go to work and entertain, while Toronto replies a lot more on the facilities downtown (see all those 905ers coming all the way to King west on Saturday nights?)
Toronto is really not that sprawling. Toronto's suburbs are very dense. Mississauga alone has a higher population density than the city of Atlanta.
Secondly, absolutely nobody needs to drive when commuting downtown. The GO train system is completely able to get people to and from downtown, especially since we're talking about commuting from the suburbs. Mississauga alone has 9 Go train stations. LA's subway system is bare bones and underutilized.
Problem with Toronto is there arent any free east west alternatives to the 401 and north south the 400,
Traffic on these roads is usually heavy and congested,at rush hour going east the bumper to bumper traffic can easily be lined up out to Oshawa or going west from Toronto to Kitchener bumper to bumper.
I try to time my trips through the city to 2-4am. http://www.synergymerchants.com/blog...for-commuters/
Toronto is a busy city, with awful traffic depending which routes you need to take. I would say the 404/DVP and the 401 (between 400 and 404) are the worst. Followed by the Gardiner. The QEW/403/400/410 are not nearly as terrible as the rest IMO. I would say overall, a south - north commute is definitely worse than west - east commute.
That said, I find long drives here very tolerable considering you can usually get to any point of the city using a pretty direct freeway route. It may be long, but its generally an "easy" drive.
In Vancouver, for example, traffic is more irritating because to get just about anywhere in the city, you have to navigate a series of city streets, single lane roads and left turns with no advanced green lights.
Also, why people in Toronto choose to live so ridiculously far away from their place of employment is puzzling to me. Choosing to drive from Guelph or Barrie to DT Toronto everyday or Oakville to Scarborough is masochistic.
For 5 years my wife and I trucked all over Canada and the USA. We were in all the major cities many times and I have to say that there are many gridlocks but there are none worse than Toronto for consistency. Traffic can be bad in many places but it IS always bad in Toronto. There is no way to bypass it either if your just travelling through. It can take a couple of hours just to get throught the city on the 401 if you hit it at the wrong time. The only other cities we were in often that are near as bad are New York City,it's as bad. LA can be as bad but usually not. Chicago, bad but not as bad. The very worst traffic we ad to deal with was the greater Washington DC area. It can be worse than Toronto because the area is huge and busy.
There is no way to bypass it either if your just travelling through. It can take a couple of hours just to get throught the city on the 401 if you hit it at the wrong time.
407 ETR.
As expensive as it can be, how many cities have the option of a free-flowing (at all times) highway that can bypass the entire city? *crickets*
For this reason alone, Toronto scores much better - because there is always an alternative to the 401.
Last time i did that 407 coming from the east it took me over an hour to get on the thing at McComber Rd.and although it did bypass the city it didnt come cheap as i got a bill in the mail a month later close to $10, did they ever extend that road? where is its eastern starting point now?.
Last time i did that 407 coming from the east it took me over an hour to get on the thing at McComber Rd.and although it did bypass the city it didnt come cheap as i got a bill in the mail a month later close to $10, did they ever extend that road? where is its eastern starting point now?.
McComber? Do mean McCowan Rd?
It now ends at Brock Rd near Brooklin/Ajax. They've already started construction I believe to connect it to 401 somewhere near Whitby/Oshawa.
Is $10 really that much?
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