Between standstill traffic and TTC route disruptions, travelling by road through downtown Toronto can be a truly brutal experience — one that often leaves us wondering, "should I just get out and walk?"

It's a thought that almost every transit user has either considered or acted upon, begging the question, can you actually save time by ditching the TTC and travelling on foot instead?

blogTO has already put this question to the test with races pitting walkers against Liberty Village traffic, riding the subway loop around Union and versus the notoriously gridlock-limited King streetcar route.

Our latest challenge has two racers duking it out in a battle to see who can make it from Union Station to Dragon City Mall in Chinatown first, with one contestant travelling on foot and the other via TTC during a weekday lunch rush.

@blogto Looks like someone did in fact eat their words🤪 Let us know what our next race should be!👀👇#tiktoktoronto #spadinabus#torontotiktok #toronto #torontoontario #torontocanada #torontosubway #ttc #torontotraffic #torontochinatown #spadina #yyz #racevideo #challenge #racechallenge #challengerace #fyp #foryou #torontotransit #torontotransitcommission ♬ original sound - blogTO

Of course, walking clearly has its benefits beyond just getting your steps in. You can marvel at a Spirit Halloween being open in August, or bask in the cultural glow of the famous Queen and Spadina McDonald's.

In the end, walking easily defeated the TTC with a time of just over 26 minutes, compared to at least 39 minutes via the combined streetcar and bus commute.

However, there's a caveat in the fact that the TTC route selected for this challenge was not the most direct route without walking (Line 1 north to Dundas and a 505 streetcar west), which the transit agency's trip planner says it is a 26-minute trip — seconds less than the time taken on foot.

In fact, all three of the top routes recommended by the TTC would have outpaced walking in this challenge, but were hampered by the ongoing Spadina streetcar route's bus replacement amid overhead power supply upgrades scheduled to last until the end of the year.

So, in this case, it really comes down to your route of choice and the time of day you travel.