Toronto transit

Up at 6:45 a.m., she receives a car ride from older sister Aqdas, who drops her off at the corner of Steeles Ave. and Markham Rd., her usual bus stop at 7:45 a.m. A U of T News writer accompanied her on the rest of the way downtown.

7:57 a.m. The Steeles Ave. bus arrives, half full. Malik is carrying her cell phone, a container of tea and her knapsack. In it she has two school books – The Economy of Cities by Jane Jacobs and Rule by Aesthetics by Asher Ghertner. She also has her lunch, sliced cucumbers and apples and a tuna sandwich, and her dinner, Chinese rice.

Malik, 21, is in her first year of the master’s program in science and urban geography. She’s been interested in public transit since high school, then during her years as an undergrad at U of T Scarborough.

“Going to UTSC was great,” she says. “It really prepared me for St. George. Scarborough was like a small community but its programs were really diverse.”

She is one of five girls in the family, all born in Canada. Her parents are from Pakistan.

8:32 a.m. Steeles and Old English Lane. Standing room only on the bus. Many young people are listening to music on their smart phones but Malik begins working on a class project.

“The bus is sometimes my desk, sometimes my breakfast table, and sometimes my bed,” she says, noting that she occasionally falls asleep both on the bus going to school and going home.

She is working on a project for her methods class, taught by Matti Siemiatycki, associate professor, teaching stream, in the department of geography and planning, and one of the organizers of the transit survey. It is being sent out to thousands of students and the results will be known in the new year.