Pinning down the exact number of commuter students on the University of Toronto’s St. George campus is a little tricky. While there are little to no official, recent figures, the reality can be found right in the university’s own real estate data. Current on-campus housing supply can only accommodate a mere 13.7% of its undergraduate student population. That leaves about roughly 86% of us out and about in the wild.
While a fraction of that block secures nearby campus housing, an overwhelming majority curates U of T’s massive, undeniable commuter culture. According to data from the widespread StudentMoveTO survey in 2019, the average commute time one way is 45.9 minutes. If you do the math, the survey’s findings that about a third of students in the GTA spend more than two hours everyday suspended in transit checks out. No matter the statistic, it is impossible to ignore how deep U of T’s commuter culture goes.
So, what is it that we do in the midst of the daily rush?
Do you perform the mind-numbing act of scrolling on TikTok with your sore thumb until the screen blurs? Do you try (and fail!) to skim that thirty-page reading for your 10AM tutorial while your ribs are being compressed by a stranger’s North Face backpack on a moving subway car? Or do you do what the smartest of us do—slip on your headphones, block out the mechanical hum of the GO train, and just completely disassociate?
If the answer is yes to that last one, I’d like to welcome you to the commuter soundtrack! Here is my carefully curated survival tool that turns the mundane, soul-crushing train ride to campus into the opening credits of my own coming-of-age film. Even if that movie is bordering psychological thriller.
1. Double Negative (Skeleton Milkshake), Dominic Fike
The ultimate track for the first ten minutes of your ride. The sort of sun-drenched indie-pop transitions in and out of this song keep the outside world feeling like a blur, coaxing your brain into transit mode in the nicest way possible. The bounciness of this song wakes even the drowsiest commuters—the perfect daytime dopamine.
2. Writing’s On the Wall, ROLE MODEL
This is the perfect accompaniment to judging and warping the ads in subway cars when the morning novelty is wearing right off. (There sure are some questionable ones out there.) ROLE MODEL’S dry, bedroom-pop cynicism matches the internal monologue of someone running on academic spite and their second iced coffee of the day.
3. we fell in love in october, girl in red
I am fully convinced this song is a masterclass in how to slow down time. It captures the exact shift in Toronto weather when the air starts to turn violent and the sun sets incredibly early as if it’s trying to prove a point—turning the freezing platforms into hazy daydreams. You’re not being miserable; you’re absorbing the vibes. Happy October!
4. Duvet, bôa
This song is very intentionally included; it serves as the cinematic backdrop to the classic, disassociating, glassy-eyed stare. Your body is wedged between two people on Line 1, but your soul escaped your material body about ten minutes ago. The acapella start is an absolute experience in a moving vehicle, and it feels so fitting to lean your head on the cold glass window with this playing in your ear.
🎵 Fun Music Fact!
Both we fell in love in October and Duvet are written in the same musical scale base (G major/B minor), meaning they blend into each other like literal butter without any jarring drops.
5. 505, Arctic Monkeys
The slow building of the song is perfect for navigating and waiting for the crowd, letting the minor frantic-ness of it all simmer subtly, under the skin. By the time the guitars come violently crashing, it’s just a manifestation of commuter rage. How therapeutic!
6. Immature, EVAN
This song switches between lulling siren vocals to an aggressive rock wake-up call, making it the perfect thing to snap you out of post-two hour lecture fatigue. Yes, you are in fact artfully walking in slow motion through a crowded terminal, while everyone else zooms past. And you still make the train! Plot armour.
7. Washing Machine Heart, Mitski
No train ride is complete without a little bit of yearning to pass the time, and quite frankly, I am offended you doubted me. The thumping of the beat fits perfectly with all the background noise around you. One serving of existential dread, coming right up!
8. Talking Body, Tove Lo
As an ultimate palette cleanser, Talking Body is the ultimate, high-energy pop beat you need for your official victory lap in escaping the horrors of public transportation yet another day. It shocks your brain enough that you won’t fall asleep on a stranger’s shoulder, at least.
At the end of the day, commuting is a test of endurance, and we are but conditioned to pass through. It might be exhausting and unpredictable, but with the right sequence of tracks hammering into your skull, I’d argue for the brief, beautiful delusion it gives. Tomorrow, the sun will set all too early all over again, the transit system will find yet another way to be delayed, and your queued-up playlist will be waiting right there to turn the collective ordinary back into art.
Safe travels, U of T! Don’t forget to charge your headphones.