VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Back to work. Back to school. Back to gridlock.

Drivers have to deal with their first post-Labour Day commute today. It’s also the first day speed limits for school zones are in effect from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“We are encouraging drivers to exercise greater caution, and obey the school zone speed limits,” says Denis Boucher, Officer in Charge, E Division Traffic Services. “It only takes a second for a child to run out onto the road.”

If you want to avoid the congestion on roads in the Lower Mainland by taking transit, you can expect to get cozy with some strangers.

“We’re using the same amount of resources and in the past year or so, we’ve been moving more people with the same amount of resources,” says Drew Snider with TransLink. “If it looks like it’s more crowded than usual, that’s because it is.”

Snider says people should try and avoid taking transit between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. to avoid crowds until university students schedules start to spread out in a few weeks.

Transit Police are warning people you won’t be able to hide in those big crowds if you don’t buy a ticket.

“The plan is something we’re calling ‘inspired compliance’ and it’s sort of like when the police let you know about a radar trap for speeders,” says spokesperson Anne Drennan. “We are going to let people know via Twitter and through the media where are officers will specifically be targeting fare evaders during specific days.”

Officers are doing a blitz on fare evaders at Commercial-Broadway Station today.