Going to try riding to work.... Temperance Parking? DVP a bad idea? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Going to try riding to work.... Temperance Parking? DVP a bad idea?

S

stangn99

Well-known member
I'm going to try to ride to work for the first time tomorrow. The goal is to save the $12 I pay for the GO Train on a daily basis.

I work downtown in the financial district.

Questions:
- I intend to leave my house at about 7am, and basically go from 404s/DVP ->Gardiner->Spadina->Front st. to Bay.

Is this is best route in terms of traffic at 7am? I'm not really sure what to expect. I usually start at 8:30am, but I'm worried if I leave at 7:30 I'll be in traffic for long time.

What are good street parkings to park for free??
I see bikes parked on Temperance, which is where I would prefer to park since I can see it from my office window...but I noticed today a video shoot or something is going on.

Any other places close to Temperance for parking?
 
I started going downtown frm Mississauga. I take the QEW to gardiner express. Takes about an hour. I hate that route cause u only go like 40 most of the way. I am going to go down dundas tomm. It's more scenic and fun.
 
Where do you live? When i used to get off work at 7am, right at the top of DVP, it would take me about an hour to go down DVP and across gardiner to jameson exit, 50 minutes of that getting to about gardiner/spadina. Youd probably have better luck taking surface streets where you can ride the parking lane at least to get through the traffic a bit quicker.

You can park anywhere theres green P street parking, and its free. Check the signs to make sure you are allowed to park there during rush hour if you have to.
 
bobjohnson said:
Where do you live? When i used to get off work at 7am, right at the top of DVP, it would take me about an hour to go down DVP and across gardiner to jameson exit, 50 minutes of that getting to about gardiner/spadina. Youd probably have better luck taking surface streets where you can ride the parking lane at least to get through the traffic a bit quicker.

You can park anywhere theres green P street parking, and its free. Check the signs to make sure you are allowed to park there during rush hour if you have to.
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Thanks for the tip.
I'll get heading downtown from Markham. I've taken Yonge st. all the way before, and while it does get quite busy, I was able to 'share' the parking lane. Mind this, this was at 6pm...so traffic wasn't nearly as bad as I imagine it would be 7:30am.
 
Don Mills Rd has diamond lanes you can use. Just have to squirt around busses when they stop and then it will dump you on to the DVP again but it's probably better than the DVP all the way.

For your first times, just leave stupid early until you get a sense of what you can get away with.
 
fastar1 said:
Don Mills Rd has diamond lanes you can use. Just have to squirt around busses when they stop and then it will dump you on to the DVP again but it's probably better than the DVP all the way.

For your first times, just leave stupid early until you get a sense of what you can get away with.
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If you leave at 6:30 you will be there by 7. If you leave at 7, probably get there at 8 or 8:30. The DVP/Gardiner get incredibly busy in those 30 minutes.
 
It wasn't so bad, but maybe because it's Friday. :confused:
I left my house at 7:15am (woke up late) and parked the bike at 7:50am.

I'm 40 minutes early for work :(
 
stangn99 said:
It wasn't so bad, but maybe because it's Friday. :confused:
I left my house at 7:15am (woke up late) and parked the bike at 7:50am.

I'm 40 minutes early for work :(
Click to expand...

Friday generally = lighter traffic.

Commuting Downtown in the morning's is never that bad, but the ride home is a different story.

What works for me on the way home is Bayview extension to Bloor, head north on DVP then take the Don Mills HOV lanes.
 
Englishj said:
Friday generally = lighter traffic.

Commuting Downtown in the morning's is never that bad, but the ride home is a different story.

What works for me on the way home is Bayview extension to Bloor, head north on DVP then take the Don Mills HOV lanes.
Click to expand...

I'll try this on the way home tonight. hopefully it won't be too bad.
 
stangn99 said:
I'm going to try to ride to work for the first time tomorrow. The goal is to save the $12 I pay for the GO Train on a daily basis.

I work downtown in the financial district.

Questions:
- I intend to leave my house at about 7am, and basically go from 404s/DVP ->Gardiner->Spadina->Front st. to Bay.

Is this is best route in terms of traffic at 7am? I'm not really sure what to expect. I usually start at 8:30am, but I'm worried if I leave at 7:30 I'll be in traffic for long time.

What are good street parkings to park for free??
I see bikes parked on Temperance, which is where I would prefer to park since I can see it from my office window...but I noticed today a video shoot or something is going on.

Any other places close to Temperance for parking?
Click to expand...
You might work in my building. Which bike is yours? I can see temprance from my office window too.

They shoot on Temprance CONSTANTLY! ANd even if they don't some of the people that parallel park there have me scared for life about parking there. You're better off parking in the alley off richmond just west of Bay. Been parking there for 3+ years with no problems.

Dundas takes about the same amount of time as 427-Gardiner-Young in the morning and takes LONGER in the afternoon. I take dudas sometimes if I notice on tv that there was an accident/more traffic on Gardiner than usual.

On the way back I usually go down Richmond till I hit Bathurst (You do NOT want to be stuck on spadina....), go south, than turn right on lakeshore and take lakeshore till it merges with gardiner around where etobicoke starts.
 
stangn99 said:
I'm going to try to ride to work for the first time tomorrow. The goal is to save the $12 I pay for the GO Train on a daily basis.

I work downtown in the financial district.

Questions:
- I intend to leave my house at about 7am, and basically go from 404s/DVP ->Gardiner->Spadina->Front st. to Bay.

Is this is best route in terms of traffic at 7am? I'm not really sure what to expect. I usually start at 8:30am, but I'm worried if I leave at 7:30 I'll be in traffic for long time.

What are good street parkings to park for free??
I see bikes parked on Temperance, which is where I would prefer to park since I can see it from my office window...but I noticed today a video shoot or something is going on.

Any other places close to Temperance for parking?
Click to expand...

I rode in today for the first time, parked on the south side of Front just east of Bay.
 
I live in Markham and Work DT (Simcoe and Wellington)

407 -> 404 -> off at either finch/sheppard depending on traffic -> Don mills -> DVP -> Yonge -> Work

Takes me about 40 mins...

going home is crap... Still need to find something better...but yet to find something :(
 
LOL yea getting out in the afternoon is the real problem. God help you if there's some kind of sporting event going on.
 
Flashmonkey said:
LOL yea getting out in the afternoon is the real problem.
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Agreed! Depending on the exact time, the DVP is fast to Don Mills, fast only to Bloor, or stopped dead. My routes home are:

1) Dundas -> DVP -> Don Mills -> Sheppard
2) Dundas or Gerrard -> River St. -> Bayview -> McCrae -> ... -> Eglinton -> Leslie -> Sheppard (although the stretch of Leslie south of York Mills is usually a lot of standing)
3) Dundas -> Logan -> one of many east-west streets -> Pape -> Overlea -> Don Mills. Often no slower than Bayview / Eglinton, and more HOV lanes.

(Gerrard is horrible to ride on - pothole city, lots of standing - but it's still faster than getting to Dundas on some days...)
 
If you're heading out east to Scarbs, Queen's Quay to Lakeshore to Kingston isn't bad most days.

LOL whatever you do, though, never...EVER...go west of University at 5:00. Especially if you're on Front street.
 
stangn99 said:
I'm going to try to ride to work for the first time tomorrow. The goal is to save the $12 I pay for the GO Train on a daily basis.

I work downtown in the financial district.

Questions:
- I intend to leave my house at about 7am, and basically go from 404s/DVP ->Gardiner->Spadina->Front st. to Bay.

Is this is best route in terms of traffic at 7am? I'm not really sure what to expect. I usually start at 8:30am, but I'm worried if I leave at 7:30 I'll be in traffic for long time.

What are good street parkings to park for free??
I see bikes parked on Temperance, which is where I would prefer to park since I can see it from my office window...but I noticed today a video shoot or something is going on.

Any other places close to Temperance for parking?
Click to expand...

You're at Scotia Plaza, why the F would you go to Spadina? Just get off at Richmond, west to Yonge then Temperance.
 
vkhamphi said:
You're at Scotia Plaza, why the F would you go to Spadina? Just get off at Richmond, west to Yonge then Temperance.
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Agreed. While Richmond from DVP to Yonge can take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes randomly, the alternatives (either Gardiner to Yonge/Bay, or west on Eastern, King, Queen, Shuter, or Dundas) all seem to be worse...

And whatever you do, don't get off the Gardiner at Spadina. There's often a traffic jam that you can't get out of - once you're in it, you're stuck...
 
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