“I commute from Whitby,” said Jennifer Pearson, a second-year student. “It takes me an hour and a half, on average…that is only as long as the Go train doesn’t stall. Which it has done five or six times already.
“It always happens to break down or something on the days that I really need to get to Toronto on time.”
Rob Chan, who commutes from Richmond Hill has a unique way of bypassing transit problems. When asked how long it takes him to get to campus he said, “Usually takes 70 to 90 minutes. The lower end of the scale being cycling.”
His dissatisfaction with bus service is why he rides his bike to school.
“I do it at least to avoid the bus trip to Finch station. It takes forty five plus minutes it’s noisy, somewhat unreliable.” On the upside, “I can then use [my bike] around campus and pretty much visit anywhere in the downtown core area whenever I feel like it.”
Lisa Rodrigues uses a combination of methods to arrive from her home in Nobleton. “I drive for approximately 45 minutes to one hour, which gets me to Jane station, and then it’s about 30 minutes on the subway.”
She spends her commute reading, listening to music or just chatting with her sister, but she wishes that “sleeping was an option!”
Liz Venning has a choice between the Go train, Go bus, Brampton Transit, and TTC to get to St. George campus from Georgetown. “If I take a bus it takes an hour and a half. The train is best and takes about an hour.”
Venning moved back home for the same reason as most other commuters-to save money. She plans on using that money to travel abroad and hopefully move back downtown for her final year.
Commuters in Metropolitan Toronto, like Chan, Rodrigues, and Venning, face the longest commute times in Canada, spending an average 340 hours-or two solid weeks-per year on trains and buses. Though the three would, like many students, like to live in Toronto, the expense is too high.
“It would cost me more to move out, and I didn’t want to take a loan for my undergrad. Paying for tuition I could manage, paying rent and expenses I’d have to take a loan,” said Rodrigues. Chan agreed saying, “If I were to move out, I’d have to nearly work full-time just to pay for rent.”
What do they have to deal with on their commute? Chan listed the “rules” of transit: “Things like, no conversing with strangers, pretending that you are entirely engrossed in your reading materials and especially the one where you have to actively avoid looking at anyone on the same car.”
Pearson likes the solitude of the commute. “I can get some reading done for my courses,” he said. Venning sees it as an opportunity to enrich life. “The commute from G-town to Toronto on the Go transit always leads to encounters from old friends commuting to work or school. It provides a relatively comfortable and climate-controlled mode to randomly chat with people.”
And of course, according to her, there’s always that weird guy on the subway who provides entertainment. “I’ve seen a guy with a really weird nervous twitch who would punch anyone that got close.”
Despite the excessive cost of rent and tuition, Chan maintains that “If I had to do this all over again, I probably would find some way to live on residence.” Though unsure that it would make much difference, He says “The only thing that keeps me sane now is hanging out at Bikechain and riding my bike.”
Venning manages to see the positive side.
“Commuting provides a balance…a chaotic and adventurous day in the concrete jungle, followed by cow-watching from the train as I approach my home town.”
