Out of 56,000 who commute to work, 50,000 did so by car, with the overwhelming majority being single occupancy trips.
Over 60% of those 56,000 commute less than 29 minutes (including those who walk, take public transportation, or bike). With around 15,000 out of 56,000 saying that their commute is less than 15 minutes.
It’s infuriating to know that driving has become the default for such short trips, and we still spend millions of dollars to make it easier to settle into this lazy pattern of transportation.
Fun stats from where I live, 25% of households have zero vehicles in my area. Nearer the centre of town it rises to the majority of households. The rich area of town most have multiple and only 2% don’t have one.
So, before you can expect the city to spend money on non-car traffic, you will have to convince a significant amount of people to give up their car.
But in order to convince people to give up their car, you need a viable alternative to driving.
What city?
A city in Durham Region, Ontario. Pop around 185,000.
I grew up in Durham region (Bowmanville specifically). This absolutely checks out. Luckily some of Bowmanville is somewhat walkable-ish (about all you can hope for in Durham), probably because of the sizeable Dutch immigrant population of old Bowmanville I’d guess?
Bowmanville isn’t too bad to cycle in, but mostly because it’s pretty small. Getting to and from Bowmanville is a different story. Nash is the only way in from Oshawa, unless you go out of your way along the waterfront trail, or take a non-cycle road.
The problem with Nash is that while it has bike lanes along most of it, cars exceed the speed limit all the time, and I’ve had some very sketchy encounters with overly aggressive drivers on that road. Being such an isolated road with no lighting and mostly farms surrounding it, it’s really only ideal to ride during the day.
Whitby and Ajax are the best places to cycle in Durham Region, but even they have unconnected routes, especially between neighbouring municipalities. Still, very easy to get around without a car if your commute is only <15 minutes.
