05-10-2022, 09:21 AM
(05-10-2022, 08:20 AM)ac3r Wrote: I think a lot of "lower income people" actually rely on cars actually. It's often a misconception that those without a lot of money take the bus or whatever. Yes, transit works for a lot of them but the transit system in Waterloo Region is also pretty constricting. It can take over an hour or more to commute through this city if you need to take various transfers. I grew up working class and my parents didn't have a lot of money, but they also couldn't take the bus because it took so long. They had to rely on a cheap car.
If you're living in Kitchener and working in Cambridge in a factory or working in a store at Conestoga Mall, you can't waste 2 hours of your day taking various buses/the LRT as it's a huge time sink. It can be much easier to buy a junky used car that can get them around the city in 20 minutes. We can't forget that affordable does not always mean pinching every cent you can, it also means using your time economically which is especially true if you're not only working, but have second jobs, are educating yourself, have children to take care of etc.
I feel this... I commuted from DTK to cambridge on the iXpress for about 5-6 years before I got my brand new (15 year old) commuter car. On a good day my commute would take 60-70 minutes each way. At worst it could take nearly 2 hours if I missed a connection, or memorably during black friday when the bus took half an hour to navigate through the parking lot at fairview mall. If I ever buy a place to live, which I probably wont ever be able to afford, I would only look at places with parking.