The Chu Forums

IN NORTH AMERICA. that's a load of crap if you asked me. no way we're worse than new york or l.a.
but i guess if you think about all the construction on number 1 and all the accidents those darn asians cause, then maybe it makes more sense.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Vancouver+ ... story.html

Yeah I know right? Vancouver got this title early this year, and after going to LA and San Francisco, it makes Vancouver traffic seem like nothing. Even Portland seemed worse than Vancouver.

I'm guessing that they base this rating on the number of complaints from people about traffic. Like, in a survey or something, the most people complain about traffic in Vancouver. Then that would just mean that we have a lot more complainers in Vancouver than anywhere else.

As I understand it, the last few studies were mostly based on GPS data from Telatlas and Tom Tom, so the numbers are quite factual. I think that most of us are sheltered from the bad traffic though as we are all pretty much isolated to the Vancouver proper area and not the far suburbs. When we travel through Rush Hour traffic in Seattle / Portland / LA, we are most likely going through the main thouroughfares to and from the suburbs. If you ever actually take a look at the city centre <-> Maple Ridge or Surrey or Langley etc etc. Traffic is pretty bad. Alex Fraser / George Massey / and especially Port Mann have been nightmares for the past 5 years or so.

Aren't Alex Fraser, Massey Tunnel and Port Mann considered major thoroughfares? They all link to our major highways, similar to how the I-5 works in Portland.

It's not my regular route, but I've driven through Alex Fraser, Massey Tunnel and Port Mann on more than one occassion during the heavy traffic times, and yes they are pretty bad, but it's not any worse than what I saw in the US... and I haven't even been to New York yet. I thought it's pretty bad there too.

I don't have much experience with many of the bottlenecks in Vancouver, and I really haven't been anywhere else, but yeah... Port Mann was rather brutal. Stop and go doesn't cut it. More like stop, eat a burger or two, then go.

Maybe it just seems worse in other places 'cause they have so many lanes and you feel like you're stuck in a sea of cars?

Massey is a nightmare when they have the counter flow lanes in effect. Lions gate must be the same.

BULLOCKS.

When I first heard this stat I was also skeptical. Did some research. The stats are accurate, but they are also misleading. Basically, the percentage congestion increase during rush hour is not a good measure of absolute traffic congestion in a city. In other words, people probably spend much less time in cars and on the road during congestion in Vancouver than the average person in NY, LA, etc. But the PERCENTAGE of time increases the most in Vancouver. E.g. say you normally spend 10 extra minutes on a 20 minute commute during rush hour for a total of 30 mins. That's a 50% increase. Someone in another city might spend an extra 20 mins on a 40 min commute for a total of 1 hour commute -- that's also a 50% increase. But the distance and time driven in congestion in absolute terms is much more significant. For large sprawling cities like TO or LA etc I think they fall more in the latter category whereas a city like Vancouver which is quite compact falls in the former.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.2417288

yeah, i had a feeling that the information processing method would be skewed in some way.

my commute to work is under 10 minutes regardless of conditions. taking small streets ftw.