Office commutes in Hamilton jump by 161 per cent over 10 months: Waze

If your morning commute in Hamilton feels more crowded and frantic than usual, you're not imagining things.

A recent report from mobile navigation app Waze has found that Hamilton saw the fourth-largest increase in office" commutes in Canada between January and October of this year.

In Steeltown, trips to the workplace surged by 161 per cent over the span of 10 months, just behind Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo which saw a 173-per-cent increase and ahead of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) which saw a 111-per-cent rise, according to the report.

Travelling back and forth to the office wasn't the only reason for more cars on the road in the city this past year.

Dining out was a significant driver of traffic, with trips to restaurants in the city in October increasing by 23 per cent compared to October 2021.

Parents and guardians dropping their kids off at school jumped this year, with 22 per cent more trips in the first week of school in September compared to the same time last year.

However, long weekends proved to be quieter times on the city's roads, according to the report.

Traffic on the first long weekend of summer - July 1 to 4 - fell by 16 per cent when compared to the previous week (June 24 to 27) while traffic on Labour Day weekend (Sept. 2 to 5) fell off by 21 per cent when compared to the week prior.

Overall, Hamilton ranked as the ninth-busiest city when it came to traffic levels between June and December 2022. Toronto ranked as the busiest city overall and nearby Mississauga came in third.

Fallon Hewitt is a reporter at The Spectator. fhewitt@thespec.com