Toronto Commuters Travelling Longer And Farther

Toronto commuters are taking longer and driving farther to work, while modes of commuting beyond the car are increasing, according to new census data released by Statistics Canada. 

The number of commuters taking public transit grew by 59.5% from 1996 to 2016 in Canada, while those using a car increased by 28.3%, according to the report, which used statistics in the 2016 Canada census.

Canadian commuters spent an average of 26.2 minutes travelling to their workplace in 2016, up 0.8 minutes from 2011, when that average was 25.4 minutes. 

In Toronto, the average commuting time came in at a nation-leading 34 minutes, up one minute from 2011. The distance traveled by Toronto commuters also edged up slightly from 9.3 km to 9.6 km.

Just less than a quarter of Toronto commuters were found to use public transit to get to work, up slightly from 20 years ago. But since 2006, the share of Torontonians driving their own motor vehicles to work decreased by 7%, while the share of people commuting by public transit increased by 7.7%.

Active transportation is also on the rise in Toronto, with more than 10% of commuters reporting they get to work under their own power — 8.6% by walking and 2.7% by cycling. 

Toronto also had the highest Canadian portion of people commuting by sustainable transportation, according to StatsCan. In 2016, 42.5% of commuters in Toronto took sustainable transportation — public transit, carpooling, walking or cycling — to work, compared to 41.6% in Vancouver and 38.1% in Montreal.