Stuck in traffic? It's not so bad

 Winnipeg commute ranks 9th in Canada  By  NEXT time you're sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Portage Avenue, try this on for size: Winnipeggers spend an average of 11 full days commuting to work and back each year. 

But before the whining begins, that's less than the national average of nearly 12 full days.

A Statistics Canada survey released yesterday indicates Canadians are spending more time commuting to their jobs over the last decade -- an average of 63 minutes per work day driving or taking public transit to their workplaces.

Winnipeg ranked ninth among 15 Canadian cities for the length of travel time to work, tied with Kitchener, Ont. Residents of both cities reported they had an average 61-minute commute each day.

"(The commuting time) is increasing in the Prairies," said Martin Turcotte, author of the Statistics Canada study, who noted prairie cities like Edmonton and Calgary have recently posted dramatic jumps in commuting time.

In 1992, about 71 per cent of workers in the Prairies spent less than one hour commuting to and from work. By 2005, only 56 per cent did so.

"There's less people taking less time, and more people taking more time," Turcotte said.

The survey included both vehicle drivers and public transit users, with those who had their own ride boasting much lower commuting times.

In 2005, about 55 per cent of drivers in Canada completed their round trip to work and back in under an hour. Only 13 per cent of subway or bus riders could boast travelling in the same time frame.

"There are more people in Canada, so the population is increasing, and there are more people on the road," Turcotte said. "The unemployment rate has decreased significantly...so there are more people working, and most people work within the same hours. Nine to five hour is still the dominant pattern."

The survey stated for Canadian workers traveling by car, the average commuting time went from 51 to 59 minutes between 1992 and 2005. For public transit users, it rose from 94 minutes to 106 minutes.

"There's few alternatives to driving your car in Winnipeg," said Jim Jaworski, webmaster for an unofficial website (www.uwto.org) on Winnipeg public transit that receives roughly 2,000 visitors each month. Jaworski said the top lament by users of his website is about poor transfer connections for city bus riders, who he said must sometimes wait for long stretches of time to switch routes, particularly in suburban areas.

"If it takes people a lot longer to take transit or to walk, they'll take a car," he said. "Commuters will be spending the same amount of time on the road until we have a real rapid transit system." 

According to a major study released by the city's transit authority in 2000, roughly 20 per cent of the city's workers and post-secondary students use public transit to commute to their jobs or schools. 

This number declined from roughly 28 per cent in 1962, which the report attributes to demographic shifts.

"The city doesn't have the same types of problems with congestion as Calgary or Toronto," said Michael Dudley, a research associate at University of Winnipeg's Institute for Urban Studies.

Dudley described Winnipeg as a radial city, with main streets extending like wheel spokes from the city centre to the Perimeter Highway. He said while Winnipeg's vehicle commuters benefit, it's not the best for bus passengers.

Strong public transit on main routes would cut down on vehicle congestion, Dudley said, but until gas prices go up further, he doesn't expect people to give up their vehicles. "It doesn't make sense for Winnipeg to be dawdling on (implementing rapid transit) while every other city in North America has long since had it," he said.

"(Commuting) here shouldn't take as long as it does."