Are more Londoners willing to put the single-car commute into park? 3 perspectives

It's been said London, Ont., is a car-centric city — and that getting people out of their single-occupancy vehicles and onto a bike or bus will be harder than an uphill ride in a January blizzard. 

Based on 2019 numbers, only 23 per cent of London trips during the week fall into the category of active transportation: walking, cycling or taking transit. In total, 61 per cent of daily trips are with a single vehicle. 

City staff want to change that. In a report coming to Tuesday's meeting of city council's committee of the whole, staff are recommending council endorse an active transportation mode share target of 35 per cent by the year 2050 with only 50 per cent of those daily trips happening with a car carrying only a driver. 

The targets are more than just numbers. They will feed to the city's Master Mobility Plan which is due to land later this year and will guide how Londoners move around for the next 25 years. 

To learn if the goal is achievable, CBC spoke to a handful of Londoners about their commutes. 

Here's what they had to say. 

Akram Alkassab drives every day from his home in south London to his job in north London. 

Part of his daily 15-minute drive takes him on along Wellington Street, a route where construction crews are busy adding a bus rapid transit (BRT) line. Right now for Alkassab, getting from home to work would be a two-bus affair. So to him, the bus isn't much of an option. 

"It's too much time and I can afford a car, so why not?" he said. 

For now, he'll keep driving while keeping an eye on how the BRT line works once it's in. However, that's not due to happen until 2027. 

"I would consider transit if transit was better," he said. 

Colin Evans cycles every day from his home in north London to his work as an emergency room resident doctor at University Hospital — which is close by, and Victoria Hospital — which is eight kilometres away.

Through his work, Evans sees too many real-life examples of what happens whens bikes and vehicles collide. He said the infrastructure needs to be better to make bike commuting a safer and easier option. 

"The mindset has to be inverted so the vulnerable road users are prioritized," said Evans.