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CP24 Launches the Most Intuitive Online Traffic Report in Toronto

Posted by Dennis Marciniak / September 5, 2009

Toronto TrafficJust in time for the last long weekend of the summer, CP24 has launched a new online traffic report. Users can now view traffic congestion on all of Toronto's main arteries to find the quickest route in, out, or even through the city using a convenient chart that highlights deviations from normal transit times. Although other media outlets provide similar information, to me this seems to be the most accurate and is at your fingertips through the use of a mobile phone.

I can't say how many times I've gone to my phone (yes, before I begin driving) for a traffic report. But unfortunately the data is almost always incorrect as road conditions can change within minutes. My early experience with CP24's system, however, suggests that it doesn't suffer from this problem.

CP24's New Traffic ReportUsers are able to view a list of different sections on various highways and see what an average or ideal travel time would be versus what the actual time will be when you hit the highway. The difference in time is then equated to a percentage and that percentage is used to sort the list. After a quick peak at the top of the page, I was able to figure out immediately what areas to avoid.

In addition to the chart, a traffic map is also available. This serves to provide a one time quick glance at the general level of congestion. Red sections are 0-35 km/h, yellow roads are 36 km/h to 65 km/h, and green areas are 66 km/h and over. In addition, it also shows construction and various accidents and incidents that are slowing traffic. This is the kind of traffic map I'm accustomed to, and luckily enough... it works!

CP24 Toronto Traffic MapNow that I have experienced CP24's traffic accuracy first hand, I've added it as one of my mobile homepages. Knowing where to go to find that open street of road will not only get you home faster, but it will also save you money on fuel that would be wasted sitting on traffic. And not to be forgotten -- the less time idling in traffic, the better when it comes to the environment.

Lead photo by Photosapience.

Discussion

7 Comments

jamesmallon / September 5, 2009 at 09:50 am
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I love traffic reports. I don't drive.
MDM / September 5, 2009 at 11:58 am
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Why is this considered some great leap. How about taking my current location into account or allowing me to pick a start and finish location. This is typical CTV/CP24 Internet policy, take sometimg we do on tv and stick it on the net with no real UI improvements.
jack / September 5, 2009 at 06:19 pm
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sounds like another medium is going to die soon -- radio
Peter / September 7, 2009 at 01:22 am
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Why would radio die now if TV didn't kill it decades ago?

This article seems a bit off-base. CP24's online traffic report doesn't allow us to "view traffic congestion on all of Toronto's main arteries to find the quickest route in, out, or even through the city" ... it really only covers highways and, as such, has more of a superficial cross-GTA breadth, rather than a strong Toronto focus.

Look at that map above; the vast majority of it isn't in Toronto at all!
Ryan / September 11, 2009 at 03:58 pm
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And yet it's not easily accessible on a mobile device... it's great to be able to check before you leave the house but what about when you're on the road and suddenly hit backed up traffic... would be great if a passenger could pull up the report on the phone so you know wtf is up...
Taran / September 11, 2009 at 04:44 pm
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I thought the Torontoist was in cahoots with Bell Globe Media.
What's with the unneccessary BJ for the competition?
Daniel / January 22, 2010 at 03:15 pm
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It has always amazed me that a city as big as Toronto doesn't have a 24 news radio station just for traffic?
I know 680 radio does it every 10-15 minutes but in Toronto that is not quick enough. We need to know immediately of any major traffic problems. Which by the way are always changing minute to minute especially at "RushFour", that's what I call it because it's not a "rushHour" anymore it's four hours home.

Daniel ......... Toronto
http://dandmb50.tumblr.com/

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