News   Mar 28, 2024
 372     0 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 277     0 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 308     0 

North American Transit System Ranking

King of Kensington

Senior Member
Member Bio
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Messages
2,818
Reaction score
596
Comes in third after New York and San Francisco.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...st_in_canada_based_on_new_ranking_system.html

Thirty-four Canadian cities were given a number between 0 and 100 that took into account variety of services (bus, light rail, subway), frequency of routes and number of stops. Toronto scored a 78, Montreal notched a 77, while Vancouver rounded out the top three at 74.

The list was compiled by Walk Score, a Seattle-based company that aims to help people find places to live based on walkability. The online service branched into transit scores for U.S. cities earlier this year, and Tuesday marked the first time such numbers are available north of the border.

“To have a great transit score you usually need to have a mix of rail and bus nearby,†said Walk Score co-founder Matt Lerner.

“Toronto has a lot of neighbourhoods with a great transit score,†he said, noting the city has about 25 neighbourhoods that score more than 90, earning them the title “riders’ paradise.â€

“Being able to walk out your door and be at your destination quickly via transit is beneficial for a number of reasons,†added CEO Josh Herst. “Whether that’s your job, or school or restaurants or friends, it’s good for your wallet and your overall happiness†— nobody likes to be stuck in traffic.

Herst and Lerner were also quick to point out how well Toronto fared compared to the U.S., outscoring every city except New York and San Francisco.

“The city really just has excellent transit,†said Herst.

Some comparisons: New York - 81, San Francisco - 80, Toronto - 78, Montreal - 77, Boston - 75, Washington - 70, Chicago - 65

http://blog.walkscore.com/2014/03/best-canadian-cities-for-public-transit/

http://blog.walkscore.com/2014/01/new-ranking-of-best-u-s-cities-for-public-transit/

Some positive news for a change in a city that elected Rob Ford and where even the left has jumped on the anti-tax bandwagon, which is preventing us from making important future investments.
 
Just like walkscore it's based on a scoring formula rather than subjective experience.

However, I don't think many can really disagree that the top 3 in Canada are Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, although the ordering may be disputed (all three have close scores anyways).

I don't think it's a huge stretch to say that Toronto is better than most American cities, not all obviously, but it is clearly better than many.

Complaining about the TTC seems to be a sport for some in Toronto, however, I find that it's usually from people who immigrated from Asia, and compared to Asian or European systems when people want to disparage it.

I don't think it's extremely controversial that it's pretty good by Canadian or North American standards.
 
The second best in the GTA is - somewhat surprisingly - Brampton. This is probably due to decent coverage, reasonable (by suburban standards) service standards and relative speed of trips - which is likely helped by the switch to a grid system.

I don't understand this:

Mississauga was originally on the list at 16.5, but that score was withdrawn because some of the city’s transit agencies were not accounted for.

There's only one agency - Mississauga Transit (marketing name is Miway), unless you count the 58 Malton and the various Brampton Transit buses that terminate in Mississauga. But excluding BT 18 and 502 isn't going to make much of a difference. Mississauga's rank is still really low, lower than it should be, which makes me think there was a major error calculating Mississauga's value - it should be around Brampton's value.

However, these transit scores are like Walk Scores - they really depend on what neighbourhood you live.
 
I don't understand how San Francisco ranks higher than Toronto.

Neither is the Bay Area well connected nor is the city proper served by much more than buses (where Toronto has much more diversity in modes of transportation).
 
I'm not exactly surprise by this. Every time I hear someone in Toronto claiming how bad the TTC is I have to remind them that most people in major NA cities have it far worse than us.
 
I'm not exactly surprise by this. Every time I hear someone in Toronto claiming how bad the TTC is I have to remind them that most people in major NA cities have it far worse than us.

Interesting that Chicago ranked so poorly, given how there was a lot of bandwith space here on UT about Chicago's "amazing" transit system with 8 lines, where there are never delays and where you can whisk to your destination in 15 minutes.

The grass is always greener, I suppose.
 
Interesting that Chicago ranked so poorly, given how there was a lot of bandwith space here on UT about Chicago's "amazing" transit system with 8 lines, where there are never delays and where you can whisk to your destination in 15 minutes.

The grass is always greener, I suppose.

It may have a lot of subway lines, but I've heard negative things from people who used to live there, and I've heard that the ridership & frequencies on those subway lines are pretty low compared to Toronto.

A lot of people seem to judge transit systems by looking at a transit map and seeing how big/complex it looks, or checking how many subway lines/stations, but that misses a lot obviously.
 
I haven't spent any time in Chicago, so I can't comment on the quality of their system. But I've had people from there visit toronto and say that the TTC is far better than whatever they have there.
 
I'm not exactly surprise by this. Every time I hear someone in Toronto claiming how bad the TTC is I have to remind them that most people in major NA cities have it far worse than us.

I think a lot of it is from immigrants from Asian cities 5-10x our population and much denser, with a brand new (10-20 year old) expansive subway system which is always clean and doesn't have a 60 year old signalling system.

Personally, the transit systems I've used for prolonged periods of time are Toronto, Ottawa, and Waterloo, and I've always lived pretty close to the Yonge subway, so from my experience it's pretty damn good :)

People in Rexdale or north Scarborough probably don't feel as good about it, unfortunately.
 
It may have a lot of subway lines, but I've heard negative things from people who used to live there, and I've heard that the ridership & frequencies on those subway lines are pretty low compared to Toronto.

A lot of people seem to judge transit systems by looking at a transit map and seeing how big/complex it looks, or checking how many subway lines/stations, but that misses a lot obviously.

Bingo.

I'd say that the four biggest strentghts of Toronto's transit system are

1. High frequency
2. Extensive coverage
3. Flat rate travel to anywhere
4. Integration (connectivity) of bus/streetcar/lrt routes.

All are things you won't find on any map.

I've also noticed that there isn't the stigma over taking public transit in toronto that there are in many other NA cities. There appears to be a significant portion of TTC riders who could afford a car and who's commute would be faster with one who forfeit car ownership in favour of public transit. I don't think you'll see this in too many places in NA. However I'm not sure if this a Canada vs USA thing or if its because of the quality of public transit in the cities.
 
Bingo.

I'd say that the four biggest strentghts of Toronto's transit system are

1. High frequency
2. Extensive coverage
3. Flat rate travel to anywhere
4. Integration (connectivity) of bus/streetcar/lrt routes.

All are things you won't find on any map.

I've also noticed that there isn't the stigma over taking public transit in toronto that there are in many other NA cities. There appears to be a significant portion of TTC riders who could afford a car and who's commute would be faster with one who forfeit car ownership in favour of public transit. I don't think you'll see this in too many places in NA. However I'm not sure if this a Canada vs USA thing or if its because of the quality of public transit in the cities.

Yup, those are the things Toronto is known for. Have you read Straphangers by Taras Gresco? He's a Montreal guy and has a chapter on Toronto which highlights frequent bus service in the suburbs connected to subways. He points out the bus bays at our subway stations which allow buses to quickly dump & load everybody at the bus stations without requiring a transfer. Apparently this is a fairly unique thing about our system.

I do remember reading that Toronto has a very high public transit usage share by NA standards.
 
Canadians in general are way more willing to take transit. Americans generally only take it if it is faster than driving, which transit can rarely do. they are more willing to pay that extra money for the car use, while canadians are more willing to weigh in how stupidly cheap commuting by transit is I feel.
 
Owning a car is also far cheaper in the US versus Canada, generally speaking.
 

Back
Top