Moving around the initial round, we're going to have a Canadian showdown today, between two of my very favorite cities in the world: Vancouver vs Toronto. I've probably visited Vancouver more than any city I've not actually lived in (probably more even than the cities my family lives in and I don't) and my wife and I honeymooned in Toronto and have kept visiting it ever since. A tough matchup, especially for round 1; let's see if it's a bit closer than our first wipeout.
a) How can you get to the city?
Both Vancouver and Toronto are places I have visited without a car, via multiple transportation modes, so I can speak from some experience here. Vancouver's SkyTrain goes to the airport; Toronto's Union Pearson Express does too, and the City airport is so close to transit that you don't even need a spur line: just walk up Bathhurst to the streetcars and buses.
Both have train links as well, in Toronto's case towards Windsor/Detroit, Ottawa/Montreal/Quebec, and the Northeast US, and in Vancouver's towards Seattle/Portland. And both have intercity bus service as well, to similar destinations. The Amtrak Cascades is the nicest of these rail links, and coming into Pacific Central is a core memory for me, but Union Station in Toronto is a much more convenient place to be dropped by both train and air-train links, as the core of the transit network, plus City airport is the best. But in the end, Pearson is just so far out there (and the SkyTrain link to YVR is a bit more frequent too), so:
VERDICT: Toronto 0, Vancouver 1
Sadly neither too fast nor too frequent.
b) How do you get around?
Toronto has a thick network of streetcars, buses, and subway, and a regional GO train network that's slated to get an upgrade (though who knows how much of one) soon. It has ferries to the harbor islands as well, though no further afield (RIP Rochester Fast Ferry).
It even has some nice bike lanes.
Vancouver has SkyTrain, which is excellent, and a robust bus network including some very high frequency routes. It also has a personal favorite, the SeaBus to North Vancouver, and a very strong ferry system around False Creek and even around the nearby parts of the province thanks to BC Ferries.
Frankly you can get around both of these cities very well as a visitor without a car. I have never wished I had a car while visiting either. However, I have notably found myself lamenting the slow speed of Toronto transit more often than Vancouver transit, so once again:
VERDICT: Toronto 0, Vancouver 2
c) What are the limits on a visitor without a car?
For some godforsaken reason, both these cities' zoos are pretty hard to get to by transit. Toronto wins though, because it is doable; Google would love to sell you a Lyft from a random bus stop to the Greater Vancouver Zoo, and the Zoo doesn't even have a transit suggestion on its website. The Toronto Zoo is slow to get to (I lied--that is the one place I've wished I had a car to get to) but is accessible without a car.
Again, I honestly think this is a pretty close one, since I don't feel limited as a visitor in either, but this objective comparison of the zoos shows why I'm tipping it towards Toronto.
VERDICT: Toronto 1, Vancouver 2
Category 2: Living Without A Car
a) Can you expect to get to work?
Now obviously I have not lived in either of these, but: Vancouver metro does have a higher percentage of residents not using a car to get to work than anywhere else in Canada. More anecdotally: yes, in both cities you can expect to get to work, but Toronto's network of higher-speed and higher-frequency lines is more concentrated on the single downtown of Toronto (which is admittedly a big hub), while Vancouver's is marginally more diverse in terms of city centers that it hits. This could change a lot if that aggressive GO train expansion hits, but it hasn't yet, so:
VERDICT: Toronto 1, Vancouver 3
b) Can you live the rest of your life?
Vancouver is the least affordable place to live in Canada. Toronto is not far behind. They do have a lot of amenities close by: while neither is a fifteen-minute city, you can expect to be able to do your shopping, find a doctor (if you can find one with an opening), etc. within a reasonable radius of walking, biking, or transit. But while you can probably commute more easily (by a small margin) in Vancouver, I'd say it's marginally easier to live in Toronto.
VERDICT: Toronto 2, Vancouver 3
c) How are the basic amenities?
Again, both of these cities are equipped with sidewalks, parks, accessible bathrooms in public areas, etc. This is going to be a tie a lot (but when it's not, it matters).
A lovely little park.
VERDICT: Toronto 3, Vancouver 4
Category 3: Miscellaneous
a) Are there people on the street?
Yes, very much so, at least in the main urban areas.
I wouldn't say either is completely crowded (I do try to avoid taking pictures of other people in public, so I don't have crowded street scene photos), but I do think in my experience Toronto has this even more consistently than Vancouver; I might be biased by when and where I've walked, but I find more people out and about in Toronto.
VERDICT: Toronto 4, Vancouver 4
b) Where is the city's urbanism going?
Both cities do seem to acknowledge the need to expand, and to include both more people and more transit/more bike lanes/more everything to support those people. But while Toronto is doing a good job expanding transit, I tend to see more acknowledgement of the value of transit-oriented development alongside transit (even bus transit!) in BC, and the Vancouver metro specifically. So while both are clearly on an upward trajectory in terms of urbanism (expensiveness aside--which is a big aside!) I have to give the edge to Metro Vancouver here.
VERDICT: Toronto 4, Vancouver 5
c) Is it functionally diverse?
Both of these cities are highly diverse; both are also significantly less segregated than comparable US cities, and while the two cities have different minority groups that are more prevalent there, it is difficult statistically to distinguish their overall diversity. Anecdotally, the main thing I notice coming to both cities is simply that they are diverse, and while there are definitely issues of racial segregation in Canada sufficient for its own Wikipedia page (both historically and today), these two major cities are not significantly distinguishable on this metric.
VERDICT: Toronto 5, Vancouver 6
d) How do people there react to knowing you're not using a car?
Honestly, in both cities, I tend to get more of a confused look when I do bring a car than when I don't.
You want to drive in this?
But Toronto is in Ontario, home of the Fords, or more generally home of a certain kind of Conservative voter that very much does want to drive in Toronto traffic and resents the idea that others don't use cars to get around. Vancouver certainly has those folks (everywhere does, as far as I can tell) but they aren't the premier.
VERDICT: Toronto 5, Vancouver 7
e) How do people react to people living close together?
Here both of the cities shine again. Vancouverism, while criticized justifiably in some ways (particularly in terms of how urban renewal was historically handled, and the way certain historic districts reflect that) is a real commitment to density. Toronto's waterfront likewise has a profusion of tall towers that bring large numbers of people together.
So both of these places are cities where density is valued, rather than rejected.
But Toronto's density is more confined: there are fewer regional centers with high density, and less overall density. Again, this is another very close matchup, but I'm going Vancouver again here.
FINAL VERDICT: Toronto 5, Vancouver 8
This feels a bit unfair to Toronto, which is a perfectly lovely city that I want to visit and re-visit. But Vancouver moves on, and Toronto (and my great stash of images, alas) falls by the wayside in tight contest that broke just slightly one way too often.
No comments:
Post a Comment