Hating the TTC is Toronto's most popular sport...people on my FB feed are claiming this report is crap because it doesn't take into account "all the delays" (which never happen anywhere else apparently).
On the surface at least, many delays might be because many roads are clogged... with folks in their cars.
Some may have concluded the 20th-century private "horseless carriage" is a victim of its own success, for urban travels at least.
About 100 years ago, one estimate said there were less than one thousand "cars" in the whole of North America. Of course today we have "urban sprawl", but many more folks living and working in our city downtowns.
We might build tall buildings full of offices and residences, but perhaps do not factor in higher traffic levels caused using the large private "automobile" (often empty with only the driver) to get from "A" to "B" (and "C", "D", etc).
Hourly Fine Particulate Matter Concentrations commonly "skyrocket" during the day as vehicles/drivers get on our roads operating gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles:
http://www.airqualityontario.com/history/pollutant.php?stationid=34020&pol_code=124
And daily levels of ground-level ozone at least partly due to vehicle exhausts is a given most days:
http://www.airqualityontario.com/re...nid=34020&startmonth=all&this_date=2014-12-31
(Some folks may have "delays" just trying to walk.)
Seen here:
http://www.airqualityontario.com/science/pollutants/nitrogen.php
In part:
NO2 is a reddish-brown gas with a pungent and irritating odour. It transforms in the air to form gaseous nitric acid and toxic organic nitrates. NO2 also plays a major role in atmospheric reactions that produce ground-level ozone, a major component of smog. It is also a precursor to nitrates, which contribute to increased respirable particle levels in the atmosphere.
And:
Approximately two-thirds or 68 per cent of NOx emitted in Ontario in 2006 came from the transportation sectors.
Currently, at the time of this writing, "ppb" (parts per billion) in Toronto are the highest anywhere in Ontario, often twice as higher than other Ontario cities, or higher.
Ontario "Air Quality" doesn't generally paint a very pretty picture.
Of course, with fewer private vehicles there would be far less idling and engine exhausts in stop-and-go traffic, waiting in line at food takeouts, etc..