Metro Vancouver has longest transit trip times in North America, plus other congestion problems

 Written by Douglas Todd, December 14, 2024 https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/metro-vancouver-has-longest-transit-trip-times-in-north-america-plus-other-congestion-problems

Citizens of vancouver have noticed the travel times in Vancouver have doubled in the recent decades. Many residents are seriously considering leaving Metro Vancouver, and moving to a small town somewhere on Vancouver island. Many media outlets coming directly from the government have failed to provide meaningful numbers on the changing transit commuting times over the past 10 years. A private company called Movie, a commuter app, says that Greater Vancouver has the longest transit trips in North America. The average time spent on one transit journey is 60 minutes. The calculated time the typical     Vancouver passenger will spend riding buses and skytrains in their entire life is one year and 8 months. Also in Canada, Toronto has the second worst travel time in North America with 55 minutes. An environmental lawyer named Mark Haddock recalls in the 1980s how he and colleagues in the B.C would set aside just 45 minutes to drive on the Trans-Canada from downtown Vancouver to their Chilliwack branch office. Now it takes almost two hours. While provincial and local governments are trying to focus on adding more rapid transit or expanding highways, the readers of Vancouver Sun shared some different recommendations. They recommend to implement  “congestion pricing,” which charges drivers to travel on certain high-demand routes. Metro Vancouver’s former regional district chief planner, Christina DeMarco, says that the city is building to many high-rises and taking to many jobs.“Not only has the population doubled in Metro Vancouver,” since 1986, said proponent Lee Lockwood, “the rush to Squamish and the eastern Fraser Valley in the futile search for affordable housing and the hope of a home with a few square feet of lawn has led to major chaos on roadways in and out of Metro.” 

My thoughts on Vancouvers traffic problem lie with my problems with the government Trudeau left us with. Trudeau's policies around immigration aloud for many to reside in Vancouver, more than our roads allow. This leads to congestion, even when it's not peak hours. The only way we can fix this is to either create more roads, or implement the "congestion pricing", or else we will continue to grow in population, resulting in transit and roads being impossible to commute in. Public transit itself is often overcrowded and delayed, making it an unreliable alternative. Without immediate action, this issue will only intensify, affecting everything from commute times to economic productivity. Vancouver will need strategic investment in infrastructure that will aid in the growing community. Otherwise, daily traffic will remain a defining frustration for years to come. Currently, we have nothing in place to fix this issue, and it will only become more and more of a prominent issue in our lives.