299 bloor call control

Public transit over free cars, always.

In Peter Shawn Taylor’s opinion piece (“Public transit or a free car? The choice should be obvious”, The Record, March 4, 2010), an interesting and controversial assertion was made that it may be a better use of public money earmarked for a rapid transit line in Waterloo Region to purchase Priuses for the poor. This opinion is founded on common misconceptions and misunderstanding of the role of public transit in our communities and our cities.

First, Waterloo Region’s rapid transit initiative was conceived not only to provide faster and more reliable public transit to the residents of a rapidly growing region, but to help shape the region so this growth does not continue to expand outward in sprawling subdivisions. The Central Transit Corridor was identified by the Region in its growth plan as a logical place to concentrate future job and population growth. There are few, if any, other examples in North America where so many distinct nodes of existing and potential growth are located in such a linear fashion. The proposed rapid transit line will connect a lot more than “a shopping mall in Waterloo to a transit station in Cambridge”. It will connect three world-class post secondary institutions, the University of Waterloo, Wilfred Laurier University, and Conestoga College. It will connect to the University of Waterloo’s Research and Technology Park, the incubator of ideas that will shape the future global economy. It will support the revitalization of Uptown Waterloo and Downtown Kitchener, two areas that were ignored so long but are now the heart of a great urban renaissance. And finally, it will provide a reliable and fast transit connection to Cambridge, which despite being a part of Waterloo Region, is disconnected and split from it by Highway 401 and the constant traffic jams on Highway 8.

Second, in his argument that free cars are better than public transit, Mr. Taylor completely ignores the fact that the private car, regardless of whether or not it is a hybrid, is the most costly and inefficient means of transportation to both the individual and society. The continuous cost of licensing, insurance, fuel, depreciation, parking, and maintenance negates any benefit of a ‘free’ car to any individual, let alone those with low incomes. Furthermore, he also ignores the cost of automobile dependence on taxpayers and society. The Region subsidizes drivers every year by spending hundreds of millions of dollars on road expansion and rehabilitation. The free cars under Mr. Taylor’s program will lead to thousands more cars, only increasing this burden. Public transit may cause customers to be late for work, but it is no different than a driver stuck in the very same traffic as the bus.  Environmentally, cars are a massive drain on our resources in their production and use and are a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. Finally, we cannot forget the price of collisions, accidents, and fatalities resulting from automobile use on individuals, families, and society.

Third, Mr. Taylor asserts that public transit is nothing more than a social service. I must agree with that assertion, although not in the same intent as Mr. Taylor. While it is true that public transit provides an essential means of mobility for low income families, seniors, students, and the disabled, high-quality public transit provides mobility choice for all people, regardless of demographics or income. This is the truest social service that transit can serve in our communities – providing freedom of choice. Nobody is served by a City or a Region dominated by the car and its dependency on it.

Since the municipal transit services were amalgamated to create Grand River Transit, service improvements, particularly the implementation of the iXpress, have elevated transit in Waterloo Region beyond a social service to a true mobility choice. One only has to see the diversity of people on a full bus – students, mothers with strollers, seniors, and yes, even suited businesspeople, to see that some of these people have made a conscious decision not to own or drive a car. If Waterloo Region is to succeed in attracting the best and brightest in jobs and people, we must continue this path to create a vibrant, diverse, and unique urban community linked by reliable and permanent rapid transit. Otherwise, we could give everyone a free car, but they might end up driving it somewhere else.