Greater Toronto Area Essay

Words: 902
Pages: 4

The Greater Toronto Area consists of Toronto, Durham, York, Peel, and Halton regions. The public transit in the GTA is operated by eight separate transportation agencies including the commuter rail, express or long distance bus route, three subway corridors, and a multitude of local streetcar or light rail transit (LRT lines) and extensive bus routes. The GTA is the busiest and most extensive road network funded provincially. In 2006 the Annual average daily traffic (AADT) is 367,000 vehicles on the 401 highway. The 407 Express Toll Route (ETR) also runs parallel to the 401 and serves the northern suburbs in the GTA operated by electronic system with transponders and video imaging. The tolls on 407 varies by distance travelled, time of the day, and vehicle class. The highway 401 is free and highway 407 ETR is approximately $0.20 per km with high peak hours and shoulder period rates, and …show more content…
There were only 225 surveys respondents and the spatial distribution was applied to the surveys to disperse the data to prevent the geographic bias.
Using the data from figure 3, 4, and 5, it is found that the volume peaks sharp between 6 to 7 AM on highway 401 and highway 407 ETR lags behind by an hour from highway 401. The peak morning on 407 is lower than 401. However, the volume of traffic on 401 and 407 is the same between 6 to 7 pm on weekdays.
On the weekends the traffic increases substantially from 12 pm to 8 pm on 401 and free flow traffic on 407 ETR. The sharp peak on 407 ETR is due to the trip urgency on weekdays as commuters are travelling to and from work for greater mobility. During this time the travellers value the time higher than weekends or off peak hours. Thus, travellers are more likely to use the toll in peak hours for greater