Toronto commuters spend more time getting to work than anyone else in the country, according to a new report released on Wednesday.
The Statistics Canada study suggests the average daily commute for a Toronto resident was 33 minutes in 2010. That's six minutes longer than the national average of 27 minutes.
But the long commute is not unique to Toronto, as the average 3-minute commute times in Canada's six-largest cities were all longer than the national average. At 31 minutes, Montrealers spend the second-longest time headed to work while commuters in Vancouver ranked third at 30 minutes.
Statistics Canada said that more than a quarter of commuters in Toronto and Montreal had to travel 45 minutes or more to get to work, while another quarter had travel times of 30 to 44 minutes.
StatsCan says about 82 per cent of commuters travelled to work by car in 2010, while 12 per cent took public transit and six per cent walked or cycled.
Despite recent campaigns promoting the environmental and financial benefits of public transit, the StatsCan study suggests Canadian commuters are reluctant to rely on public transit for their daily trips.
According to the 2010 General Social Survey, of the 10.6 million Canadians who commuted by car; 7.4 million of them said they thought "public transit would be somewhat or very inconvenient."
According to the study's results, their concerns were justified.
The national average for people who get to work by public transit was 44 minutes, while those traveling by car averaged 24 minutes.
Commuting times are door-to-door, meaning that public transit trips include time walking to and waiting at a transit stop.
It also means that public transit commute times relied more on the efficiency of the system than actual distance travelled.
In Canada's six-largest cities, the average commuting times were:
- 44 minutes for public transit users
- 27 minutes for drivers.
In mid-sized metropolitan areas, the average commuting times were:
- 46 minutes for public transit users
- 23 minutes for drivers.
