Hi! I’m going to start my first year at uoft in the fall and I will have to unfortunately commute to uoft everyday [?] I’m about to move to erin mills, mississauga with my parents (they just can’t let me go ugh) and I was wondering if you have any commuting tips? I was thinking that I could drive to union station and then take the ttc to uoft but parking is hella expensive and I’m hella broke. Then again I could just take the bus/train/ttc but that’s like a 1 hour and 40 mins commute which I would looove to avoid if possible. I was hoping you knew of a few places near union station or uoft where parking is free and if not do you have any other advice?
And one more thing…. I don’t know if I want to attend my faculty’s orientation (Daniels) or my college’s orientation (UC). Do you know if one is more fun the the other or where I’ll have a better chance of making friends?
Thanks for your help!!
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hey there,
generally speaking, the city of Toronto is waaaay too greedy to offer free parking. we’re probably only a couple of years away from being charged to walk in front of a business’ storefront or something…or maybe that’s just my inner grump coming out.
this website seems to indicate that there are quite a few free parking options in the downtown core (though none right at Union Station). i’m thinking there’s gonna be a catch – i doubt any of them are free all day, and i wonder how quickly they fill up. however, it’s worth looking into.
this is ultimately gonna be your decision, but i’d like to put in a humble plug for commuting via the train or bus. for one thing, with a train at least, you avoid the horrendous traffic issue. for another, you can read or do work on the train, which becomes harder to do in the car (unless you’re an audio learner, in which case listening to notes on a car radio might be really helpful).
to be honest, most people don’t commute using their cars. the city isn’t very car-friendly. that said, with a rocking car playlist and a mildly masochistic attitude, it can be done.
give it a trial run, if you can. you’ll be able to see how the commute feels, and how parking your car plays out in reality, because those parking websites can say all they want, but the TTC website says lots of things too, and i can count the number of times they’ve been true on one hand.
as for the frosh question, it’s really up to you. it’s hard to make this decision before you get here, because you don’t know for sure how involved you’re going to be with your college community before you’re actually here. i would say that if there are things at UC that you’re very interested in getting involved in, do UC’s orientation. if you think you’re more likely to be involved in the Daniels community, or see things in the Daniels orientation schedule that really pique your interest, then you should go for that one.
either way, you’ll have a great time shouting obscenities at other colleges/faculties, signing people’s T-shirts, and generally being as obnoxious as legally allowable in a public space, for your first week here.
cheers,
aska