The HOV lanes on the 403 slash my commute to downtown Toronto by about 20-30 minutes every day depending on traffic. The thought of the Gardiner Expy having them gives me tingles.. ![Grin ;D](https://www.autos.ca/forum/Smileys/CarTalk/grin.gif)
And so it should give you tingles as the Gardiner will become totally stationary when 1/2 the capacity of one lane is removed. I don't know about the 403 but when they added HOV to the 404 they spent some time widening the road to make room for it. Widening the Gardiner would be somewhat difficult and expensive ( and the thought of it would give Mayor Miller a heart attack)
i was one of those people who had to commute and i couldn't believe how silly it was to look around seeing tens of thousands of fellow commuters, one per car, drive into town everyday on the gardiner, so i moved downtown closer to where i work. yes my house costs more but it takes me 10 min to get to work instead of 60. less pollution, less headache, less wear and tear on my car and the road system. sorry tpl but the hov lanes would force people to use car pooling, the go train or move closer to their work place and this is a good thing. its either that or turn the highways into toll roads.
Go trains
![Thumbs up :thumbup:](https://www.autos.ca/forum/Smileys/CarTalk/thumbsup.gif)
Move closer
![Thumbs up :thumbup:](https://www.autos.ca/forum/Smileys/CarTalk/thumbsup.gif)
Car pooling works for some but not enough. Works well for 2 seasons but less well in winter ( weather) and summer( vacations) Also you'll need many car pool car parks.
Highways into toll roads.
![Thumbs up :thumbup:](https://www.autos.ca/forum/Smileys/CarTalk/thumbsup.gif)
IMHO But it would be unfair to many people to do that before a massive increase in Go trains and buses and other middle distance public transit.
Also note that you'll need better GO trains, yes, railways not buses, to other parts of the GTA not just downtown.
Just a note for fun. According to the Times and the BBC the UK housing market is in quite a steep decline, price wise... obviously this is annoying lots of people but it is also giving hope to many others than they could possibly afford to live in a city. I wonder if the same might happen in TO so that the live close to work becomes easier. As well what about working closer to home? Perhaps a good idea if more companies moved out of downtown TO. CGI did when I was working for them.... increased my commute 'cos I lived downtown but brought much happiness to many others.