When I was growing up in Toronto, I very often heard city politicos referring to our town as a "world-class city". I always took that as overcompensation for a perceived lack of recognition of the status and importance of Toronto in the rest of the world. You never hear people from New York City, Tokyo, London, Rome, Paris, Seoul, Rio de Janeiro, or Shanghai stridently insisting that theirs is a World-Class City. It always annoyed me a bit, because I thought Toronto was (and is) a great city, and by hyperventilating about it, we devalued ourselves.

Well, I imagine Toronto's reputation internationally is a bit more secure these days, and if it it isn't, this bit of news should cement its status as a World Leader: a Torontonian's average daily commute is not only the longest in Canada, but is also longer than that for a resident of NYC, LA, or Chicago. Toronto is now a true trailblazer of congestive nightmarish commuting.

This finding doesn't surprise me. I visit Toronto regularly, and each time I go back, traffic seems to get noticeably worse, as the population grows far faster than the transportation infrastructure. And the problem will not be solved overnight:

"We're probably way behind the rest of the planet," said Baher Abdulhai, the Canada Research Chair in intelligent transportation systems. "There's no single solution that you could buy from somewhere, put it on the road today and tomorrow there's no congestion. It's not going to happen."

But ITS is not about magic bullets, it's about incremental improvements that add up:

Abdulhai, also a civil engineering professor at the University of Toronto, said there are other means of easing traffic, such as traffic lights and speed limit signs that adapt to the number of cars on the road, as well as in-vehicle devices that warn drivers of congestion on the roads.

The government appears to be starting to look at investing in some new technologies, as well as in more conventional responses. I sincerely hope that, in a few years, my hometown will be a World_Class leader in innovative solutions to congestion, rather than in ridiculous commute times.

The aqcuisition of the erstwhile PB Farradyne by Spain's Telvent is now complete, as the linked press release notes, and "Telvent Farradyne" has been born. [I'd've liked to include a congratulatory note in Spanish; but my knowledge of the language pretty much comes from watching "Dora the Explorer" with my two-year-old, and somehow "!Rapido, Tico, rapido!" just doesn't seem appropriate...]

It'll be interesting to see how the acquisition affects Farradyne's strategy and operations. Acquisition is a relatively very quick way to gain entry to a market or to avail oneself of a set of tools or competencies; but it is a perilous road to take, with potential fallout in terms of corporate culture clash, partner relationship dynamics, and employee morale. Of course, we at GHS are hardly disineterested observers; we worked closely with PB Farradyne, and anticipate continuing our relationship with Telvent Farradyne, so we wish them all success.