Transportation - Public Transit

Strategies To Promote Ground Passenger Transportation

June 2004

To build a cohesive national and regional transportation system, the following strategies should be considered and acted upon collaboratively by the Federal, Provincial and Municipal levels of government:

• Increase fuel tax and transfer revenue to public transit yearly by both the Federal and Provincial governments.
• Introduce special sales tax for automobiles that are fuel-inefficient and transfer the fees to consumers who purchase high-efficiency cars (gasoline/electric hybrid).
• Increase registration fees for passenger vehicles and trucks and transfer the revenue to public transit. (In Toronto the $1 billion funding of TTC promised split by all three levels of government over a 5 year period, $66.7 million per level per year, will not cover the $386 million per year operating cost needed to keep the system in good state of repair, especially when the budget this year is short $48 million).
• Assign congestion and pollution taxes to automobile owners and users and transfer revenue to public transit; so far it has been the taxpayers, not the polluters, who have paid pollution costs in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
• Invest a high percentage of Gross Domestic Product (both Federal and Provincial levels) to national and regional rapid rail transportation system. European rapid rail commuting has been successful in economic efficiency and sustainability; the GTV in France is the system to consider.

Note the following:

The Municipal government in Toronto has never considered imposing restrictions on driving. A continuous support of automobile transportation has been facilitated by road expansion and widening.

• Road tolls: A strategy implemented in cities worldwide to discourage driving into the city core and improve public transit.
• Land use space and priority over automobile traffic: The cost effective mode of transit of Curitiba, Brazil has increased transit ridership and alleviated congestion by squeezing out cars.
• Car-free Zones: Alternative modes of transportation such as bicycling and walking in 105 cities around the world, the most famous being Copenhagen, have transformed their infrastructure into liveable, uncongested and people-friendly environment without limiting mobility.

Canadian cities have sacrificed liveability and equity the past two decades by prioritizing economic development alone. Uncontrolled auto/truck transport and diminishing public space by unrelenting condo-development has dehumanized our streets and alienated our communities.

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ecopolitics@ecopolitics.ca