My commute, let me tell you it.
So I've griped about my commute before. But I want to record it here, so that people understand just how it can take an hour and a half, door-to-door, and why cycling is less than ideally feasible.
If I drove, according to Google maps, this would be a 22-minute trip. On traffic-free roads. Of course, to get to work in 22 minutes, I would have to 1) know how to drive, 2) own a car, and 3) leave home before 07h00. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to decide which of these requirements I am least likely to fulfill.
So I leave the house at roughly 07h45. I walk 5 minutes to Harbord St. where a bus goes by at 07h49. Said bus gets me to Wellesley St. subway station at roughly 08h13. Traffic along Harbord is already busy, of course. Lots of people trying to get to work for 08h00, or 08h30, or 09h00.
If I miss the 07h49 bus, I walk another few blocks to Bathurst St., where the Bathurst streetcar passes, allegedly every 5 minutes. If I can see a streetcar from the stop, I wait for it; if not, I walk another 7 or so minutes to Bathurst subway station, arriving at roughly 08h05.
I prefer taking the Wellesley bus, because by the time the Bloor subway eastbound reaches Bathurst, it's not just standing room only. It's packed, and fitting any more people into a car is like a game of human Tetrus, except that people don't go where their put, and often won't make way. Also trains lurch more than Tetrus boards. The Yonge subway northbound from Wellesley generally has a few seats left by 08h05; by the time it reaches Bloor St., seats may be a hot commodity.
Emerging from the packed westbound train a Bloor & Yonge, I join the throng of humanity as we're funneled up the stairs to the northbound Yonge-line platform. Pass the busker. The people at the north end of the platform are packed several deep, so I wander down to the south end, where there's a little more elbow room. By now, it's usually about 08h15, perhaps later.
On the Yonge train, I generally manage to find a seat, so that's okay. I sit on the Yonge train until it reaches Sheppard, way up north of the 401, in the centre of what used to be an entirely separate city. Only the die-hard commuters remain in the train at this point; most of us are bound for the "almost unused"* Sheppard line. We funnel up the escalators. If I need anything to get me through the work day, I go to the far end of the platform, out of the subway station, to the little shopping mall at Yonge & Sheppard, and purchase whatever I need (tissue, coloured pens, chocolate, granola bars) from the little grocery or the mega-drugstore there. Then I head back down to the subway. More often, I simply ascend the stairs to the terminus of the Sheppard line, where approximately 1/2-trains'rth of people wait for the Sheppard train.
Today, there was a rare delay on the Sheppard line; I waited 10 minutes. Often there's a train waiting, doors open, as I emerge from the lower Yonge platform. If I have to wait, it's usually no longer than five minutes until a train arrives and disgorges its downtown-bound passengers.
From one end of the Sheppard line to the other, it's about 10 minutes. At the Don Mills terminus, once again the stairs are too narrow to accommodate all the passengers emerging from the trains, headed for the bus platforms, the mall, or, like me, just out to the street. Up to the concourse, then out of the station, and up again to ground level, blinking into the daylight. Adjust clothing to deal with the weather, then walk along Sheppard Avenue, past the behemoth of Fairview mall on the other side of the street, past the apartment towers, over the bridge over the Don Valley Parkway, to the street leading into the industrial park that houses the Tower in the Wasteland.
Note the progress of the demolition of the insurance building as I turn down that street, and walk past faceless office buildings and spindly trees. Cross at one of two crosswalks, then arrive at the Tower, about 15 minutes after I reached ground level.
Do it all again, in reverse, to get home at night.
That crossing over the DVP? Impossible to avoid if I want to get to work. Also, at some point, the subway runs under the 401. On a bike, there is, AFAIK, no safe or pleasant way to cross the 401, and the only way to avoid the DVP is to do so at the waterfront-a 15 minute ride south of where I live. Cycling home from Thursday's house, (a half-hour walk away from the Tower in the Waste), takes me an hour and a half, usually; he's on the other side of the DVP (meaning, I don't have to cross the DVP to get from his place to mine), and I usually just take my life into my hands and cross the 401 at Leslie.
Now, of course I'm not the only person in the city with a dire commute. Far from it. Lots of people commute from other cities. Nor am I complaining that I am, by my own choice, limited to public transit or cycling as ways of getting to work. I don't believe in car culture-I think it's damaging to cities, communities, and the environment. This is why I've chosen to pay more money in rent, and live stacked on top of some jazz musicians, in an area where I can walk to get most of what I need or want. Nor am I dissing the TTC.
I'm more complaining about the fact that my employer doesn't share my priorities, and so chose a location in the wasteland-one that is easily accessible by car, for those driving in from outside the city, but rather remote from most parts of the city in which one can easily live without a car. You might say that our location privileges suburban living.
I'm also detailing the tedium of my commute by way of noting that if I'm less available for escapades, shenanigans, dinner, coffee, tea, hanging out, working out, or any other form of social interaction, it's not because I don't love you, or because I don't want to be doing all of these things, but because there are three hours out of every work day that are lost to me. Everyone, that's 1/8 of each 24-hour period spent in transit between home and work. So yeah, I haven't posted on LJ a lot lately.
Yes, I read in transit, and listen to music. Sometimes, if it's not crowded and I have a seat, I mark. But those three hours a day displace other activities, such as exercise, errands, and chores, and these, in turn, replace more negotiable activities, such as socializing. TTC time is also not prime reading or marking time-others may be able When I was at the Little Shop of Textbooks, and cycled 40 minutes each way, I was multi-tasking much more effectively, combining transportation, exercise, and self-care. I can't do that here.
Because, as I said to neeuqdrazil, today, time is finite. In order to commute for three hours a day, I must accept that those hours are lost to non-commuting activities. This trade-off pleases me not, but unemployment pleased me less.
* If you believe the Toronto Star.
If I drove, according to Google maps, this would be a 22-minute trip. On traffic-free roads. Of course, to get to work in 22 minutes, I would have to 1) know how to drive, 2) own a car, and 3) leave home before 07h00. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to decide which of these requirements I am least likely to fulfill.
So I leave the house at roughly 07h45. I walk 5 minutes to Harbord St. where a bus goes by at 07h49. Said bus gets me to Wellesley St. subway station at roughly 08h13. Traffic along Harbord is already busy, of course. Lots of people trying to get to work for 08h00, or 08h30, or 09h00.
If I miss the 07h49 bus, I walk another few blocks to Bathurst St., where the Bathurst streetcar passes, allegedly every 5 minutes. If I can see a streetcar from the stop, I wait for it; if not, I walk another 7 or so minutes to Bathurst subway station, arriving at roughly 08h05.
I prefer taking the Wellesley bus, because by the time the Bloor subway eastbound reaches Bathurst, it's not just standing room only. It's packed, and fitting any more people into a car is like a game of human Tetrus, except that people don't go where their put, and often won't make way. Also trains lurch more than Tetrus boards. The Yonge subway northbound from Wellesley generally has a few seats left by 08h05; by the time it reaches Bloor St., seats may be a hot commodity.
Emerging from the packed westbound train a Bloor & Yonge, I join the throng of humanity as we're funneled up the stairs to the northbound Yonge-line platform. Pass the busker. The people at the north end of the platform are packed several deep, so I wander down to the south end, where there's a little more elbow room. By now, it's usually about 08h15, perhaps later.
On the Yonge train, I generally manage to find a seat, so that's okay. I sit on the Yonge train until it reaches Sheppard, way up north of the 401, in the centre of what used to be an entirely separate city. Only the die-hard commuters remain in the train at this point; most of us are bound for the "almost unused"* Sheppard line. We funnel up the escalators. If I need anything to get me through the work day, I go to the far end of the platform, out of the subway station, to the little shopping mall at Yonge & Sheppard, and purchase whatever I need (tissue, coloured pens, chocolate, granola bars) from the little grocery or the mega-drugstore there. Then I head back down to the subway. More often, I simply ascend the stairs to the terminus of the Sheppard line, where approximately 1/2-trains'rth of people wait for the Sheppard train.
Today, there was a rare delay on the Sheppard line; I waited 10 minutes. Often there's a train waiting, doors open, as I emerge from the lower Yonge platform. If I have to wait, it's usually no longer than five minutes until a train arrives and disgorges its downtown-bound passengers.
From one end of the Sheppard line to the other, it's about 10 minutes. At the Don Mills terminus, once again the stairs are too narrow to accommodate all the passengers emerging from the trains, headed for the bus platforms, the mall, or, like me, just out to the street. Up to the concourse, then out of the station, and up again to ground level, blinking into the daylight. Adjust clothing to deal with the weather, then walk along Sheppard Avenue, past the behemoth of Fairview mall on the other side of the street, past the apartment towers, over the bridge over the Don Valley Parkway, to the street leading into the industrial park that houses the Tower in the Wasteland.
Note the progress of the demolition of the insurance building as I turn down that street, and walk past faceless office buildings and spindly trees. Cross at one of two crosswalks, then arrive at the Tower, about 15 minutes after I reached ground level.
Do it all again, in reverse, to get home at night.
That crossing over the DVP? Impossible to avoid if I want to get to work. Also, at some point, the subway runs under the 401. On a bike, there is, AFAIK, no safe or pleasant way to cross the 401, and the only way to avoid the DVP is to do so at the waterfront-a 15 minute ride south of where I live. Cycling home from Thursday's house, (a half-hour walk away from the Tower in the Waste), takes me an hour and a half, usually; he's on the other side of the DVP (meaning, I don't have to cross the DVP to get from his place to mine), and I usually just take my life into my hands and cross the 401 at Leslie.
Now, of course I'm not the only person in the city with a dire commute. Far from it. Lots of people commute from other cities. Nor am I complaining that I am, by my own choice, limited to public transit or cycling as ways of getting to work. I don't believe in car culture-I think it's damaging to cities, communities, and the environment. This is why I've chosen to pay more money in rent, and live stacked on top of some jazz musicians, in an area where I can walk to get most of what I need or want. Nor am I dissing the TTC.
I'm more complaining about the fact that my employer doesn't share my priorities, and so chose a location in the wasteland-one that is easily accessible by car, for those driving in from outside the city, but rather remote from most parts of the city in which one can easily live without a car. You might say that our location privileges suburban living.
I'm also detailing the tedium of my commute by way of noting that if I'm less available for escapades, shenanigans, dinner, coffee, tea, hanging out, working out, or any other form of social interaction, it's not because I don't love you, or because I don't want to be doing all of these things, but because there are three hours out of every work day that are lost to me. Everyone, that's 1/8 of each 24-hour period spent in transit between home and work. So yeah, I haven't posted on LJ a lot lately.
Yes, I read in transit, and listen to music. Sometimes, if it's not crowded and I have a seat, I mark. But those three hours a day displace other activities, such as exercise, errands, and chores, and these, in turn, replace more negotiable activities, such as socializing. TTC time is also not prime reading or marking time-others may be able When I was at the Little Shop of Textbooks, and cycled 40 minutes each way, I was multi-tasking much more effectively, combining transportation, exercise, and self-care. I can't do that here.
Because, as I said to neeuqdrazil, today, time is finite. In order to commute for three hours a day, I must accept that those hours are lost to non-commuting activities. This trade-off pleases me not, but unemployment pleased me less.
* If you believe the Toronto Star.