A couple weeks ago there was a report about long commute times in Canada. Royson James of the Star wrote a funny little article about it which I particularly liked because of this quote:

How many of us have visited a house in Mississauga or Oshawa, only to find it every bit like one in Scarborough or North York? And we won't mention that many a neighbourhood, directly off an arterial road in the city of Toronto, has much more of a "country feel" than most of the subdivisions springing up around the region.

Yes, affordability is a factor for many. But so is stupidity. How many refuse to buy a house closer to work, citing price, only to opt for a similarly priced — but bigger — house further away.

He followed up this article with one on Friday about how to cut commute times, but forgot about cycling (probably because the commuting report didn't mention it... I'm pretty sure cyclists have the most enjoyable commutes of anyone!).

Good thing we have awesome people in Toronto like who will remind the journalists of the truly better way:

Thank you to Royson James for addressing the issue of urban commuting infrastructure. However, he forgot to mention that safe, designated bicycle lanes are also badly needed and would greatly help congestion in downtown Toronto.

I have always found it incredible that the Netherlands and Japan, both densely populated countries immensely pressed for urban road space, seem to have found room for designated bike paths on all their major urban thoroughfares, whereas we here in Toronto can't seem to get it together to create the safe spaces needed to encourage cycling.

Having more cyclists eases congestion, and also has public health benefits — it is not a coincidence that Japan and the Netherlands have some of the highest life expectancies in the developed world.

Many Torontonians are discouraged from cycling because they are terrified at the prospect of having to share lanes with enormous transport trucks and obese SUVs, not to mention the danger of parked car doors suddenly opening.

Beatrice van Dijk, Toronto

Great letter, Beatrice.