• ⇤
• ⇽
• ≡
• ⇾
• ⇥

the TTC strikes again

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

It was raining pretty heavily tonight after work, and rain seems to cause delays with the streetcar.

I'm not sure how water slows Toronto's streetcars, but through a series of absent streetcars, short-turns, and at least one major delay with four streetcars piled up waiting for some technical glitch, it took me 90 minutes to get home to the Beaches tonight.

That's three times as long as it takes me to cycle the trip, and twice as long as it took to get to the house in Oakville where I was staying in January.

I started chatting with fellow riders (or 'standers around') about the situation. One woman told me that she's now paying $140 a month for a pass and a surcharge to use the express bus that connects the Beaches to Downtown in twenty minutes. Sadly, I'll be considering the same myself this Winter, but note the woman's warning that that bus stops running prior to 18:30 which of course means if you stay "late", you're throwing yourself back on the mercy of the streetcar despite having paid a premium.

It's getting to be such a hassle to get in and out of the Beaches that I'm considering a move. Something my wife is extremely resistant to unless we do it this Summer after our child is born. In fact, she'd like to buy a home. But in a city where $800,000 buys you an eight meter wide property with a house only worth tearing down, I don't see that happening. What to do!