Daily insights for city builders, delivered every morning at 6 AM ET. I’m Brandon Donnelly — a Toronto-based real estate developer and founder of Globizen. I’ve been writing here since 2013.

Line 1 to dinner

On most days, I walk to the office. That is going to be changing later this summer, but what I’m about to say will still apply.

Because I walk more often than I drive, whenever I have to go somewhere that necessitates a car and that obligates me to leave during the evening rush, the first thing I usually think to myself is “shit, it’s going to really suck getting out of downtown.”

I have very little patience when it comes to sitting in traffic. So when I’m faced with this kind of situation, my mind immediately goes to: “okay Brandon, what are your other options here?”

And this is exactly what happened this past Friday. I had a dinner up in Vaughan after work and I opted to take the subway to VMC station (the northern terminus of one of Toronto’s lines).

It was actually my first time riding this new line extension and it was cool to see the area around the station. It’s not yet a 15-minute community, but I believe it can get there with some narrow streets and the right kind of ground floors.

The entire trip took about 45 minutes, and I can tell you that on more than one occasion I thought to myself, “this is way better than sitting in traffic.”

3 responses to “Line 1 to dinner”

  1. Paul Ching Lee, PEng. Avatar
    Paul Ching Lee, PEng.

    Great to hear your dinner travel to Vaugh. I’m a transport engineer based in Metro Vancouver and creating choices in one’s travel/commute is the holy grail in our industry. I was the Technical Director of one of the first long range plans in this region: Transport 2021 and the strategy revolved on 4 “levers”: control land use; apply demand management (mostly pricing); supply the right kind of transport capacities (transit and active modes) and let vehicular congestion worsen on the road network. This was back in 1991 and we’re still chasing those ideals.
    (BTW, those new TTC stations on Line 1 are sumptuous- maybe a bit overboard on the capex but they’re shiny temples of public travel.)
    Paul Ching Lee, PEng.

    1. john hartley Avatar
      john hartley

      and perhaps all your planning over 30 years might be informed by folks actual choices – or is that too much to ask?

  2. john hartley Avatar
    john hartley

    it is better than sitting in traffic – but if it takes a great deal more time – then most will still opt for the auto. That our entire building planning and political industry has bought into creating gridlock in order to justify ever increasing density is incredibly sad and even more dysfunctional. Vaughan like so many municipalities has been dominated by developers. The results speak for themself.

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