Transit and the Environment

Vancouver’s Doug Kelsey agreed, “I am struggling with how we can get there to address the magnitude of the issue of optimizing transit to be used more extensively as a tool to support the protection of the environment. We need to be outcome based, not just process based. Part of our leadership challenge as CEOs is actually knowing when to get out of the way.”

In Ottawa, according to Alain Mercier, there is a strong effort to “plan land development and transit at the same time and in the same equation,” but admitted that although OC Transpo has a mandate to provide transit within 400 meters of any new development, costs are skyrocketing and the environmental impact is not positive because development is still sprawling instead of intensifying. “The community growth is still in the suburbs and we’ve got to chase that 400 meters all the time. The service is expanding, costs are rising and we just end up buying more and more and more buses — running on diesel.”

Vicky Sharpe agreed saying that in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), “Urban design gets in the way of transit being able to do what it wants to do. When it comes to land use in the GTA, density of growth, usage and where communities could go, I haven’t seen a single reference to an eco system or corridors between eco systems. Until we begin to overlay that as a business decision, we’re going to be dealing with symptoms.”

The Toronto Transit Commission’s Gary Webster concurred and described the paradox of increasing ridership and decreasing market share that has resulted. “If cities aren’t designed for transit, people don’t use it. Because ridership is going up, we’re spending a lot of our time trying to chase the ridership to put more service on the street, and having a hard time catching up to it, but not really dealing with the issue. This really isn’t a transit city.”

Shelly Jamieson asked, “Doesn’t it come down to transit really informing urban planning and cities making strategic decisions about how they should grow based on transit’s ability to serve them?” “In the Vancouver region, I think that we are a generation behind in our transit infrastructure,” said Doug Kelsey. “We’ve seen transit used as a tool to react to the population growth, not to lead the way. That reactionary state means we’re always just trying to keep up.”

Gary McNeil agreed with an advance build approach, “You open a subway system; you build up the ridership and you gradually change the land use. We shouldn’t be afraid of that approach. Cities are dynamic; they change.”

Financial Issues
Chris Tyrell pointed out that often, the full financial picture isn’t explored in environmental discussions. “We don’t look at the real cost of the impact of automobiles and the benefits of transit on, for example, the health system costs, and promote that to the end user, the consumer. Ultimately humans are motivated by self-interest. So we need to think about what the consumer really wants to get out of transit and get them motivated. We need to explain the decisions factoring all the costs, to make it personal to everyone.” “We need to put the ‘eco’ back in economics,” agreed Doug Kelsey. “There must be a new formula for balancing financial drivers with others. I believe we will look at our needs and the investments and related prizes in a different light.”

Advocacy Partnership
The Roundtable participants went on to discuss how the Canadian transit industry might partner to take a more visible role in advocating the increased use of public transit, and in so doing attract the significant increase in government funding required to support investment in fixed transit infrastructure and rolling stock. As Gary McNeil explained, “Our big struggle with our cities is far beyond each one of us trying to make a difference individually.”

Dr. Suzuki urged the transit leaders to act. “Public interest is high. People are ready. I think they’ll make the switch to transit, if they’re given the proper inducements and the service is there. I want to know how we take advantage of this enormous interest now, to partner to start putting the pressure wherever it will start bringing about some serious commitments.”