We asked five Montreal Gazette employees about their morning commutes by car to our offices at Peel and Ste-Catherine Sts. in downtown Montreal.
Jeff Blond’s commute from Brossard to downtown Montreal.
BROSSARD: 50 MINUTES
JEFF BLOND, ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR
Distance: 15 km
Driving route: Highway 132E, Champlain Bridge, Bonaventure Expressway. Or 132E to Victoria Bridge. With no traffic, the drive would take about 20 minutes.
How long is your usual morning commute? If I leave at 9 a.m., and it’s a normal rush hour, it usually takes 45 or 50 minutes.
How about a year ago? It was five to 10 minutes faster.
Biggest trouble spots? On bad mornings, the 132E exit to reach the Champlain is a mess. There are trucks everywhere due to construction of the new bridge. And this was already a bad spot because you’re delayed by people who just crossed the bridge and want to reach the 132E. Traffic on the bridge is worse now because the Bonaventure Expressway’s Wellington exit is closed and part of the 15N is narrowed to two lanes. As for the Victoria, coming from the 132E you have to get off at the proper exit, then go left under an underpass and double back on the 132W for half a kilometre.
How was your last driving commute? Left my house at 9:07 a.m. Just a bit of traffic crossing the Victoria Bridge, nothing serious. Then, a train slowed me down. Victoria is usually the faster option, but it can be complicated by the CN train that usually passes on Bridge St. near the Costco. This morning, for example, I was about five car lengths from the tracks at 9:27 a.m. I didn’t move another inch until 9:45 a.m. Walked into the office precisely at 10 a.m. Total time: 53 minutes.
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Have you changed your commute? I alternate between Champlain and Victoria Bridge but otherwise no.
Why not take public transit? Because I often work until 9 or 9:30 p.m. I actually really like the bus: It’s efficient and very pleasant to take into town. During rush hour, there is a bus two minutes from my house that is amazing: It runs every 15 minute and take me directly downtown in about 45 minutes. But after a long day, all I want to do is get home fast. At 9:30 p.m., the bus near me runs only once an hour. It’s a five-minute walk to Bonaventure, a 15-minute bus to Panama and about 25 minutes from Panama to my house. So, if I catch all the connections, the absolute best I can do is 45 minutes. But I almost always have to wait a bit at Panama, so I rarely get home in less than an hour. It takes 15 minutes by car. There are not enough hours in the day for me to lose that kind of time.
Brenda O’Farrell’s commute from St-Lazare to downtown Montreal.
ST-LAZARE: 90 MINUTES
BRENDA O’FARRELL, SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
Distance: 60 km.
Driving route: Highway 40 to Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, then Highway 20 and the Ville-Marie Expressway. With no traffic, the drive would take about 45 minutes.
How long is your usual morning commute? 60 to 90 minutes
How about a year ago? 45 to 75 minutes
Biggest trouble spots? 1) Construction on Highway 40’s Île-aux-Tourtes Bridge. Drivers have to slow down as the lanes narrow and to deal with cars merging from the service road. 2) Highway 20 near 32nd Ave. Traffic often comes to a complete stop. 3) Peel St., from St-Jacques St. to Ste-Catherine St., can be frustratingly slow.
How was your last driving commute? Left home at 8:05 a.m. Heavy traffic in St-Lazare, on Highway 40, Highway 20 and on Peel. Arrived at 9:25 a.m. Total time: 80 minutes.
Have you changed your commute? No. I have the best route. And leaving too early is not worth it. If you don’t have to be downtown before 9 a.m., it’s best to leave a little later — after 8:30 a.m. — to make your commute in reasonable time.
Why not take public transit? Are you kidding me? I would rather go to the dentist, really. And who would want to go to the dentist everyday? Transit would take two hours and 15 minutes if there were no traffic, if I made every connection and the train was not delayed. What is the likelihood of that happening everyday? I would have to walk to a bus stop, which, I must admit, is not very far. I could then take a bus to the train station in Vaudreuil. Then, the train to downtown. I would have to leave the house at about 7:15 to attempt to be at work by 9:30. At night, I would leave the office at 6:30 p.m. and make it home by 8:45-ish.
In my car, I have a coffee, I get to choose the radio station, I can make phone calls via Bluetooth. It’s clean. I like my car and the flexibility that comes with it. I can run errands on the way home, change my schedule if needed.
June Thompson’s commute from Chambly to downtown Montreal.
CHAMBLY: 80 MINUTES
JUNE THOMPSON, NEWSROOM ADMINISTRATOR
Distance: 30 km
Driving route: Highway 10, Champlain Bridge, Bonaventure Expressway. With no traffic, the drive would take about 30 minutes.
How long is your usual morning commute? An hour and 15 or 20 minutes
How about a year ago? 45 minutes
Biggest trouble spots? The 10 is very slow. There’s so much traffic going to and from St-Jean, St-Julie and Chambly, so I sit on the 10 and then when I finally cross the bridge, I’m sitting on the Bonaventure. Once I hit the Five Roses building, it’s often bumper to bumper all the way to downtown. One day, I hit my brakes just under the Victoria Bridge — it was backed up that far. I’ve been doing this commute for 38 years and there used to be nobody on the 10. Now it’s ridiculous. It’s getting worse and worse every year. September is always the worst. Usually things calm down a bit in November.
How was your last driving commute? Not pleasant. I left home at 8:23 a.m. It was slow on the 10 and then I got stuck on Peel St. They used to have police at several corners of Peel, but they’re all gone now. I got to work at 9:40 a.m. Total time: 77 minutes
Have you changed your commute? Sometimes I try to save time by exiting Highway 10 at Chevrier Blvd., then driving through Brossard and jumping on the Champlain. But many people are doing this now.
Why not take public transit? Once they finish the reserved lane on the 10 (between Highways 30 and 35), I’ll consider it. But right now, buses sit in traffic on the 10, too. If I’m going to stuck anyway, I’d rather be in my car. I’m zen, I can listen to my own music. (Google Maps suggests transit during morning rush hour would take somewhere between 35 minutes and one hour and 20 minutes. The AMT trip planner says I’d have to leave my house at 8:11 a.m. to get in for 9:30 a.m. with a travel time of one hour 18 minutes.).
Edwin Biroun’s commute from Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce to downtown Montreal.
CÔTE-DES-NEIGES–NOTRE-DAME-DE-GRÂCE: 60 MINUTES
EDWIN BIROUN, MEDIA STRATEGIST
Distance: 7 km
Driving route: Côte-St-Luc Rd./The Boulevard, Côte-des-Neiges Rd., Docteur-Penfield Ave., Peel St. With no traffic, the drive would take about 15 minutes.
How long is your usual morning commute? When I left at 8 a.m., what used to take me 15 minutes was taking me an hour. In the past, this route was always a streamlined commute. But due to roadwork this summer, I was either cutting it too close to my starting hour for work or showing up late.
How about a year ago? I was working in Île-Perrot a year ago, so a long commute wasn’t unreasonable. I’m glad I don’t have to go there anymore, because I can’t imagine what it would be like getting out there; Turcot work now makes it hard for me to reach Highway 20.
Biggest trouble spots? Décarie Blvd./Côte-St-Luc Rd. is usually a mess, with cars lined up all the way from up the hill due to volume and how traffic lights are configured. Grosvenor Ave./The Boulevard is terrible because of roadwork. Peel St. is awful, and when you hit Sherbrooke St., you have to wait on the cops stationed there to direct traffic.
How was your last driving commute? I started getting up at 5 a.m. so I could be out by 7 a.m. to avoid the anxiety and stress brought on by being stuck in traffic. It’s amazingly clear at 7, and I just glide through the streets and right into the office. Total time: 12 minutes.
Have you changed your commute? I have taken on a new role at work and I no longer get free parking. So I now take public transit. In my previous role as a salesperson, I needed a car to be able to move around and meet clients on short notice.
How’s public transit? I take the métro now, and it only takes me 15 to 20 minutes, including my walk from home and to the office. If I leave at 7 a.m., everything is extremely streamlined. If I wait till 8 a.m. to set up, the commute goes up to 30 minutes. Not bad at all, really. But then I have to deal with being mashed into a sardine can with the rest of the 8 o’clockers. That’s when the métro cars also tend to stay in the station for longer, with their doors staying open for a few minutes at a time after everyone has crammed on.
Eric Tobon’s commute from Mascouche to downtown Montreal.
MASCOUCHE: 90 MINUTES
ERIC TOBON, MANAGER, CONTENT SOLUTIONS
Distance: 50 km
Driving route: Highway 640 to Highway 40 to Highway 25. Then Notre-Dame St. to the Ville-Marie Expressway. With no traffic, the drive would take about 40 minutes.
How long is your usual morning commute? If I leave after 7 a.m., it takes between 75 and 90 minutes.
How about a year ago? Not more than one hour.
Biggest trouble spots? The intersection of the 640 and 40, and Notre-Dame St. Most of the delays are due to construction — everywhere. It’s also worse now because it’s back-to-school time.
How was your last driving commute? I left home around 6:45 a.m. and I made it in one hour. The later you leave, the worse it is.
Have you changed your commute? Not really. The Highway 25 Laval-Montreal bridge would cut my drive by about 10 minutes but it’s a toll bridge, and I don’t think it’s worth it.
Why not take public transit? I have to drive sometimes because I’m going to visit clients or go to the South Shore. When I can, I take the train, which takes about 75 minutes. I sometimes bike and it takes me between an hour and 20 and an hour and 30 minutes – about the same as driving. I have a hard time going slow on a bike (laughs).
Compiled by Andy Riga, Montreal Gazette