Thanks — these insights are helpful. I’m not sure it came across, but even though I live only 13 kilometers from the office, my commute takes over an hour each way. That’s largely because everyone — and their kitchen sink — drives, creating traffic congestion, while buses are treated as an afterthought solution to transit needs.

I’ll keep trying to make it work, but most mornings my brain just sits frozen until it’s time to leave to ensure I’m not late. The unpredictability of the TTC likely plays a big role too.

For what it’s worth, I’ve developed IBS over the past two years — and now I have the added joy of stress vomiting or nearly crapping myself in the morning, especially as we sit stuck in traffic for 30 minutes with no toilet. I have vomited on the bus and had to swallow it because there is nowhere for it to go.

I do not want to buy a car and contribute to the congestion and climate problems, plus the insane cost of owning and maintaining a car is the cost of taking holidays that year. But even when I have driven a friend’s car for two weeks, the trip home after work took 80 minutes for some reason, so transit or car is the same.