Peace and Environment News* April 1996
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Peace and Environment News * April 1996 |
by Linda Hoad
As funds available for transportation in the Region shrink, a good public transit system will be essential if we are to maintain reasonable levels of service on our roads for all users.
Public transit is important for environmental reasons, as well as to protect our neighbourhoods and quality of life from ever-increasing car traffic. Transit is, furthermore, cost-effective, having a lower cost per capita than other parts of the transportation system.
There is a general perception that transit is heavily subsidized, and that in these difficult economic times, the public cannot afford to maintain and build an adequate transit system. However, this is not the case. The Transportation Master Plan prepared last year for the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton shows that public subsidies to transit are about one-fourth the amount of subsidies to automobile transportation. According to 1993 figures, the total yearly subsidy to transit was about $80 million, while the total yearly subsidy to the automobile system was just over $315 million.
Recent surveys have shown that motorists in Ottawa-Carleton are doing very nicely, but transit riders have not fared so well. An Ekos survey conducted in 1995 found that average travel time to work or school in the National Capital Region is 22 minutes. However, travelling by bus rather than by car added 15 minutes to this average commute.
In the past ten to fifteen years, the cost of owning and operating a car has fallen dramatically in relation to the cost of using public transit. Since 1987, basic cash bus fare has increased by 113 percent, basic ticket fare has increased by 73 percent, and passes have doubled in price.
During the 1996 budget discussions, Regional Council reacted to severe cuts in provincial funding by protecting funding for road projects and increasing the price of transit.
In spite of the Official Plan aim of giving priority to transit, Council in fact priorizes only the transitway. Since most transit service is still provided by routes operating on roads in mixed traffic, improvements to public transit service, as well as cost savings, will depend on ensuring that public transit vehicles move more efficiently in mixed traffic. This can be done through measures such as High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, priority signals, and queue-jumping lanes.
Transit should be recognized as part of a balanced transportation system and should be adequately supported. Regional Council has hidden behind the cuts in provincial funding and the public perception that transit is heavily subsidized to maintain a business as usual approach to transportation in the region. As long as residents and politicians continue to believe that transit is heavily subsidized and automobiles are not, and as long as Regional Council gives priority to public transit only by funding transitways, Ottawa-Carleton will not have an effective, affordable public transit system.
Linda Hoad is a volunteer member of the Steering Committee of the Transit Advocacy Project in Ottawa-Carleton.
Converted April 11, 2000 - Lg
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