Traffic at the Ontario Food Terminal

Here are a couple of graphs that I whipped up this morning to indicate traffic coming through the Ontario Food Terminal, the largest wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Canada (and one of the largest in North America), which is located in Toronto.

Buyer Entries are the amount of number of registered buyers who operate stores selling fruits and vegetables, as well as restaurants, caterers, florists (yes, there is a section of flowers), and corporate buyers. these people must be registered and prove they are not the end consumer of the products they buy (i.e. you and I can not go there and buy a bushel of tomatoes, no matter how much we really, really want to).

Truck Entries are independent truckers who are bringing in produce to sell to the wholesalers at the market. These trucks can come from as far away as Florida, California and Mexico. It is interesting to note that though the OFT is located directly beside a rail line, there is essentially no rail transported goods at the terminal.

The data shows exactly what I want it to (a decline in buyer traffic), so now the task is to figure out why. I love problem solving in the morning!