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That lost time can add up to a lot of money when you consider that gross domestic product for GTA-Waterloo is a combined $360 billion, with roughly 20,000 tech companies calling these regions home.

As commercial activity in both urban centres becomes more intertwined, and roads, trains and buses gets more crowded, politicians and businesses are looking to address the need for more reliable transportation — a major contributor to building one of the continent’s most formidable startup hubs.

Joseph D’Cruz, a professor of strategic management at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business, contends the most optimal short-term improvement would be on the tracks, not the roads. Waterloo’s mayor Dave Jaworsky agrees. Better train service is vital to economic growth, he said.

“I always like to draw the analogy: A hundred years ago, there was a one-lane road and you went at the speed of a horse and buggy to get to Toronto. Today, there is one road and during most times it moves at the speed of a horse and buggy,” Jaworksy said. “We need alternative transportation. We need to get people off the 401 as much as we can.”

Better bus service is a possibility, although not a great one, he said. “The reality is that they’re still sitting on the same 401 as they would be in their cars.”

The next best option to better train service is a 401 shuttle, D’Cruz said, although he admitted it wouldn’t alleviate the highway’s chronic bumper-to-bumper traffic along busy stretches. “The problem with that is … arrival times are unreliable. So people will be reluctant to depend too much on that.”