How Dependent are We on Cars?

The number of vehicles traveling into and out of the city each morning has increased by about 75% over the last two decades.
67% of trips into Toronto were made by single occupant vehicles. About 14% of trips were made by multiple occupant vehicles. Only 20% of trips into the city were made by public transit (including GO bus, GO train, regional bus and TTC).
People living or working close to high-traffic areas experience more adverse effects than people who are further away from traffic sources.
Toronto Public Health has determined that traffic pollution gives rise to about 440 premature deaths and 1,700 hospitalizations each year in Toronto.
The study estimates that children experience more than 1,200 acute bronchitis episodes per year as a result of traffic pollution. Children are also likely to experience the majority of asthma symptom days (estimated to be about 68,000 per year)
Traffic-related pollution… contributes to 67,000 acute respiratory symptom days, and 200,000 restricted activity days during which people spend days in bed or cut down on their usual activities.

Over the past 20 years, the amount of time Americans collectively spent in traffic increased at a rate 12 times that of the growth in population. The total number of trips taken on foot dropped by 50% over the same time period.
One-fourth of all trips are one mile or less, but three-fourths of these short trips are made by car.
Although almost half of all trips were less than three miles in 1990—a convenient distance for a bicycle—less than one percent were actually made by bicycle.

“Toronto’s 80-minute commute ranked last in global study” – was a study in the I-told-you-so kind of obvious

Even gridlocked Los Angeles is a better place for commuters than Toronto and its neighbouring municipalities
- It takes people in Greater Toronto an average of 80 minutes to commute to work, round trip
- That’s 24 minutes slower than Los Angeles, and the worst among 19 cities including New York, London, Chicago and Berlin.

It is of concern that pollution trends in Toronto for some key pollutants of health concern reveal little improvement in air quality over the last two decades. […]It may be that gains in the transportation sector, such as the introduction of less polluting vehicles and improvements in fuel quality, are being off-set by the increased volume and frequency of vehicle use.
Summary: Trend data suggest that progress is slow in improving air quality in Toronto. Gains in cleaner vehicles are being offset by increases in traffic volumes.