The road to the future...

Toronto's future rests along the roadways of the city.

The boroughs of the GTA continue to expand and more people are choosing to take up residence in the quieter and less hectic suburbs surrounding Toronto.

Compared to 15 years ago, almost 600 000 more people now live in the suburbs, more than 20 kilometres away from Toronto's city centre, according to a Statistics Canada study released last July.

Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Caledon, Brampton and Markham are the fastest growing municipalities in the GTA and they aren't stopping any time soon.

Because many of these residents work in and around Toronto's downtown, this has put tremendous pressure on the city's transportation routes.

The Toronto commuter travels an average of 12 kilometres just to go to work every morning, reports another Stats Can study.

In 2001, 65 per cent of these commuters were drivers and 6 per cent passengers, while 22 per cent relied on public transmit. The few remaining opted to walk or bike.

As it stands right now, driving down Yonge Street and the TO core is a commotion of stopping and going, with a flurry of no lefts and no rights.

The Toronto Alliance website states that the major expressway networks are 70 per cent congested at peak rush hour times. The bumper to bumper lock up costs the GTA $2 billion annually in lost productivity.

The more environmentally-friendly option isn't always the better way either. The subways are jammed full at the beginning and end of every weekday. In 2005 alone, the TTC made over 430 000 000 passenger trips.

And as technology is likely to do, this network of public transit breaks down on occasion, stranding thousands of people with few ways to get from here to there.

And while all these numbers and statistics seem overwhelming, it's these facts that the future of Toronto's transportation depends on.

A crush of city and surburban residents rely on the roadways, subways, streetcars and trains to travel for both professional and social reasons.

Only time will tell if Toronto's transportation troubles are solved or exacerbated. City planners and officials need to cooperate to come up an efficient and effective plan for find the truely better way for city and surburban commuters.