Commuting

Published in HMag: June 2008 Everyone has heard the laundry list of reasons to leave the car in the driveway and use alternative transportation: the frustrations of traffic, the dangers of road rage, the rising cost of gasoline, adverse effects on the environment and our own physical health. Here’s what some of your fellow Hamiltonians are up to when it comes to commuting… The Hardcore Cyclist As the Coordinator of Hamilton’s Commuter Challenge, it’s no surprise that Cheryl de Boer is intensely committed to using her bicycle as her primary mode of transportation. Every morning, de Boer rides 9km from her Dundas home to her downtown Hamilton office. Altogether this commute guarantees her an hour of exercise each day. She arrives at work energized. She saves 100% on gas. She feels good about making a sustainable choice and is hopeful that her presence on the road encourages others to give cycling a shot. “The more of us there are out there, the more we get noticed, the safer we are and the more of an impact we have,” she says. While cyclists don’t make up the majority of commuters at any given workplace just yet, they are starting to influence some major transit decisions. Small but significant indicators include the York Blvd. bike lanes and a second successful year for VIA Rail’s Bike Train —a tourism-based initiative that put bike racks on certain trains running between Toronto and Niagara. GO Transit has also jumped on board with their recent decision to spend $225, 000 on bike racks for buses running the Hamilton/Toronto corridor and a $2.5 million contract that will see covered bike storage at select stations. The Driver Katy Leask had the ultimate in easy commuting experiences when she taught English in Himeji, Japan in 2005. Between biking and the city’s excellent transit system, she could travel between work and home quickly and easily. Sadly, the same has not been true since her return to Hamilton. A French teacher at a Burlington school, Leask spends a total of 50 minutes a day in her car. This is an improvement over last year, when she spent an average of two hours a day commuting to a school in Acton, but it’s still not ideal. Sure, the finances are a source of frustration but what weighs on her most are the hours she loses to driving. “I’m like a 5 year old in the car,” she says. “I’ve got books on CD, I eat sunflower seeds as an activity and, even though I totally disapprove of it due to distraction, I talk on my cell phone to keep from spacing out or getting tired…auto pilot is scary and a pretty common occurrence for commuters.” One of the things that may make it a little easier for people doing the Hamilton-Burlington run in the future is the current provincial plan to create a high occupancy vehicle lane on the QEW between Burlington and Oakville. After HOV lanes opened on sections of the 403 and 404 in 2005, studies found that almost all of the 400-series highways —many of which run through the Golden Horseshoe— have potential for achieving a minimum of 500 vehicles per lane during peak commuting hour. In response, Ontario has committed to more than 450km of HOV lanes in the next two decades. The Telecommuter Of course this won’t work for all jobs, but you could try talking your employer into a telecommute situation. Jon Clark, a mortgage specialist, commuted to an office in downtown Toronto for five years. He caught GO Transit’s sole 7am express for three years before he found a carpool buddy. Carpooling cut costs a bit but it still meant devoting 55 hours to a 40-hour work week. For a while, there was talk of making his position one that could be done by telecommute. After a year of waiting, Clark applied for an internal position where the work-from-home was a guarantee and a huge draw. Today, he takes the GO train into Toronto once every three weeks for monthly meetings with the rest of his telecommuting team. “Saving the commuting money and time is the big one,” Clark says. “There are also less auxiliary costs like coffee, snacks, lunches, group lottery tickets, casual Fridays, people's kid's hockey team fund-raisers, etc.” He does concede this set-up may not be ideal for people who can’t separate home life from work. When his company originally introduced the idea of telecommuting, a few of his colleagues resisted but all are now happily working from home offices. The Little Bit O’ Bike, Little Bit O’ Bus Rob Berger is a PhD candidate at McMaster University. He has relied on a bike/bus combo to get to Mac since he started his undergrad in 1999. From his house in Durand, McMaster is a 10-15 minute bike ride, not much longer than it would take in a car and, he emphasizes, much cheaper in terms of parking. When you count on your car to get around town you pay for it even after you’re done with the drive. Nowhere is this more true than at McMaster’s high-priced lots, where it’s cheaper to park on side streets and risk getting ticketed than it is to pay parking fees. So Berger bikes. When bad weather forces him off the road he takes transit, albeit grudgingly. “During the school year, the schedules seem to be a bit all over the place,” he says. “I’ll be standing at the King/Queen bus stop, late for work, and two or three buses will go by, full…In the evening, when night classes are done, it can also be tough to get a bus….if you miss one, it's another 30 minutes until the next.” Berger would not only like to see a more reliable and comfortable service, but increased service to areas off the Main/King corridor including Ancaster, Dundas and Stoney Creek. It may not happen before Berger graduates but solutions to this problem are already being talked about if not immediately taken care of. In 2007 MetroLinx promised $300 million for upgrades to Hamilton’s transit system. Feasibility studies are currently underway to decide whether light rail transit or bus rapid transit would best serve the corridors from Eastgate Mall to McMaster and the airport to the waterfront. Tips & Suggestions - Ask your employer about the possibility of installing bike racks –if it’s not in the budget, organize fundraising - If you’d like to run, cycle or walk to work, but don’t relish the idea of spending the day soaked in sweat, ask your employer about the possibility of onsite showers - Once you win that battle, push for a change room so you don’t have to get dressed in a tiny bathroom stall - Carpool! Benefits of increased carpooling include a shorter, less stressful commute, fuel conservation and increased air quality - If you can’t find a carpool buddy at your own workplace search the classifieds for people in a similar situation - If you’re nervous about being the lone cyclist on your morning route, ask around the workplace and see if anyone else is interested in starting a bike, run or walk “pool.” There’s safety in numbers and you’ll motivate each other to stick with it - Ask your employer if he/she is willing to subsidize a portion of bus passes for interested employees - As an employer, get rid of incentives like paid parking spots. Encourage alternative commuting by passing the cost of parking lot maintenance on those who choose to drive - Find out more about light rail and bus rapid transit –voice your opinion to city politicians - If you work in an office where most of your work is done via the internet and telephone talk to your employer about telecommute options - Do you pay for a pricey gym membership you don’t have the energy to use at the end of the day? Save money on training and transportation by turning your commute into a workout