Cars popular with West Island workforce

BY ALBERT KRAMBERGER

editor@transcontinental.ca

It seems working West Islanders like their cars.

Statistics Canada reported last week that about 72 per cent of people in eight West Island municipalities and two local Montreal boroughs drove a car, truck, or van to work. On top of that, another six per cent of workers were passengers in these vehicles.

Only 16.9 per cent of 106,195 workers in the West Island used public transit to get to work. Another four per cent either walked or bicycled to work.

The stats are based on the 2006 census and includes people 15 years and older in the labour force.

In comparison, workers living in the City of Montreal (which also includes the Pierrefonds/Roxboro and Ile Bizard/Ste. Geneviève boroughs) were more likely to use public transit. In Montreal, about 49 per cent of 729,230 people in the labour force drove a car to work and about 35 per cent used public transit.

In the Greater Montreal area, which includes Laval and the South Shore, about 65 per cent of people drove to work and 21 per cent used public transit.

As for public transit usage in the eight West Island municipalities, more women (55.4 per cent) use it to head to work than men (44.6 per cent). Dorval residents, at about 24 per cent, led West Island municipalities in using public transit to get to work. Kirkland and Baie d'Urfé workers had the lowest public transit usage rate at about 12 per cent.