As I write this post I’m sitting in bumper to bumper traffic going up Bathurst Street on my way to the subway station. “What’s the hold up?!” I can hear one of the elderly passengers towards the front griping abrasively to the bus driver, who seems largely unconcerned by the gridlock. Our bus is moving at a snail’s pace. Oh but thanks to WordPress’ lovely Android app I can blog to my heart’s content while stuck in this transit purgatory.
“It might actually be faster to get out and walk” one of the guys sitting behind me jokes. Yeah, you’re probably right, I say with a cynical undertone. I wonder if I’ll get home before 7:30 pm to eat dinner with my family. Yeah right, who am I kidding, they’ve already finished.
Like many people living in Toronto, I spend what feels like an agonizing amount of time commuting each week. Sure, my carbon footprint is awesome but that gives me little solace when I think about Toronto’s current traffic woes and how difficult it’s becoming to get around the GTA (that’s Greater Toronto Area for all you international readers).
What will Toronto’s transit system look like in 10 years if we continue paying lip service to bolstering subway and LRT lines?
The disheveled man sitting next to me smells like an ashtray. There’s also the palpable scent of a late afternoon fast food lunch, perhaps stale fried chicken grease —or was that hot dog and onions au jus? —I can’t put my finger on it. The man’s stinky third-hand smoke odour reminds me of a scene from the first Matrix movie when Agent Smith tells Morpheus why he wants out of the [Matrix] simulation.