The City of Toronto was just recognized as Canada's very first recipient of the 'Best Workplace for Commuters' award for encouraging City employees to commute to work in sustainable ways and offering hybrid work options.

Just to be clear; we are talking about the same City of Toronto that is constantly choked with gridlock, home to the busiest (and probably one of the most polluted) stretch of highway in North America, witnesses petty resistance to bike lanes, and has a comically underfunded and increasingly lawless transit system.

Yea, that Toronto.

However, Best Workplaces for Commuters (BWC), a North American organization that recognizes and supports workplaces providing exceptional commuter support, seems to think otherwise, and has crowned the City (or at least the municipal government) at the top of the pack for employers.

A group of 16 of the City's largest office workplaces, with over 16,000 combined employees, will now boast the BWC designation.

"The City of Toronto is one of the top employers in the nation supporting sustainable commuting by employees," said Julie Bond, BWC Program Director, Best Workplaces for Commuters.

"They provide the support employees need to get to work in sustainable ways and be at their best before, during, and after their workday."

This distinction for City-run offices comes somewhat ironically as most commuters in the region at large suffer to get to and from work in an orderly fashion.

Among the City programs and services that helped crown the local government as the best workplace for commuters, the Smart Commute program offers an online carpool ride-matching tool, an emergency ride-home program, as well as online tools and resources to help employees access sustainable commuting choices.

Toronto employees' access to hybrid work options and the use of public fleet vehicles to perform job duties were also noted in a press release issued by the City on Wednesday morning.

In addition to the options provided to employees, the City is working towards an ambitious goal of reducing community-wide greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2040.

In its press release, the City acknowledges that 33 per cent of emissions polluting Toronto air are sourced from fuel-burning vehicles, yet this same local government is pouring a double-digit percentage of its infrastructure budget into rebuilding the controversial Gardiner Expressway for the very gasoline and diesel-burning cars it pledges to phase out.

"The City of Toronto is proud to be recognized as the first municipality and workplace in Canada to achieve the designation of Best Workplace for Commuters," said Mayor Olivia Chow.

"Our support of sustainable commuting helps our employees experience a better, less stressful commute and supports our TransformTO Net Zero Strategy by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and congestion from a major source: transportation," Chow continued.