In what is widely seen as a strategic blunder, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pausing the carbon price on home heating oil has kicked off backlash from coast to coast, with new polling revealing collapsing support for his signature climate policy.
Viable is subjective. If you have enough money, public transit is never viable. Poor people already can’t afford to drive so we’re trying to change the minds of people who can afford to drive but don’t want to take public transit. The ‘me first mentality’ is what got us into this mess to start with so the solution needs to speak to those people and money does that.
My buddy at work just changed his driving habits due to increasing costs so he’s going from a 25m drive to 1h15m taking public transit. Hardly ideal but that’s the point as no city government has the money to spend on new public transit infrastructure until enough voters want it to happen.
Using your own example, you’ll continue to drive despite the negative impact to the environment unless the city magically makes your 5 hour commute as quick as your 2 hour drive or the cost of driving forces your hand. Speaking of ‘me first mentality’…
Public transit is viable if it means you’re commute is faster. There will always be people with an excess amount of money but why do we give a shit what they want, they are a demographic who doesn’t need support. Better public transit for those who can’t afford to drive means less cars on the road for those who need to or choose to drive which means faster commutes for everyone. It’s a win win situation but people are too short sighted to see that.
Cities, provinces, and the feds have the money to build out our public transit infrastructure they just don’t want to because it means more work and a chance they will lose votes. Much like parent of the child who wants to eat candy for dinner, the gov’t needs to step up and act like the leaders they claim they are, and not roll over like some weak ass parent who is scared of their kids. Vancouver Island, where I live, has a rail corridor going from Courtenay to Victoria that could realistically serve the majority of the islands population yet the municipalities refuse to look at it because the people who vote (seniors) think it’s a waste of money, don’t want change at the end of their lives, and have all the free time in the world to organize, to write letters to politicians, to go on media campaigns, etc.
Also, I find it laughable that you think I have a me first mentality for not wanting to waste 5 hours of my day commuting when my government refuses to give me a real alternative. If the rail corridor was open and I still chose to drive then sure, that’s valid criticism. Until I can move closer to my job (doubtful with $2000+/month for a 2 br) or there’s a viable alternative that doesn’t mean I lose all agency in my life to save $20 a month then I’m going to continue to drive and if the govt wants me to stop because they “care about the environmental impact” then they can do their job and uphold the public interests and give me and everyone else on the island a real, practical, and economic alternative to driving. This is no different than blaming the consumer about all the plastic bottle waste instead of regulating the industry that produces them.
I am also on Vancouver Island and I completely agree with you. I work at 2 different locations and either one my commute to work is about 45 minutes by car, by bus it is actually impossible. One location has the nearest bus stop 6km away (all 90km/h highway with narrow shoulders) while the other would drop me off at the front door, the schedules don’t line up though and I’d have to leave my house for work before I got home the day before. It’s theoretically possible to do in about 2 hours, but only with perfect connections and they only line up right in the middle of the day. Not to mention it would require tickets for 2 separate transit systems which add up to almost the same as gas. Housing prices are so insane here too, that moving anywhere (whether it’s one house over, right beside work, or anywhere in-between) would cost me more in monthly rent than I’d pay in gas if I drove a Hummer to work.
Viable is subjective. If you have enough money, public transit is never viable. Poor people already can’t afford to drive so we’re trying to change the minds of people who can afford to drive but don’t want to take public transit. The ‘me first mentality’ is what got us into this mess to start with so the solution needs to speak to those people and money does that.
My buddy at work just changed his driving habits due to increasing costs so he’s going from a 25m drive to 1h15m taking public transit. Hardly ideal but that’s the point as no city government has the money to spend on new public transit infrastructure until enough voters want it to happen.
Using your own example, you’ll continue to drive despite the negative impact to the environment unless the city magically makes your 5 hour commute as quick as your 2 hour drive or the cost of driving forces your hand. Speaking of ‘me first mentality’…
Public transit is viable if it means you’re commute is faster. There will always be people with an excess amount of money but why do we give a shit what they want, they are a demographic who doesn’t need support. Better public transit for those who can’t afford to drive means less cars on the road for those who need to or choose to drive which means faster commutes for everyone. It’s a win win situation but people are too short sighted to see that.
Cities, provinces, and the feds have the money to build out our public transit infrastructure they just don’t want to because it means more work and a chance they will lose votes. Much like parent of the child who wants to eat candy for dinner, the gov’t needs to step up and act like the leaders they claim they are, and not roll over like some weak ass parent who is scared of their kids. Vancouver Island, where I live, has a rail corridor going from Courtenay to Victoria that could realistically serve the majority of the islands population yet the municipalities refuse to look at it because the people who vote (seniors) think it’s a waste of money, don’t want change at the end of their lives, and have all the free time in the world to organize, to write letters to politicians, to go on media campaigns, etc.
Also, I find it laughable that you think I have a me first mentality for not wanting to waste 5 hours of my day commuting when my government refuses to give me a real alternative. If the rail corridor was open and I still chose to drive then sure, that’s valid criticism. Until I can move closer to my job (doubtful with $2000+/month for a 2 br) or there’s a viable alternative that doesn’t mean I lose all agency in my life to save $20 a month then I’m going to continue to drive and if the govt wants me to stop because they “care about the environmental impact” then they can do their job and uphold the public interests and give me and everyone else on the island a real, practical, and economic alternative to driving. This is no different than blaming the consumer about all the plastic bottle waste instead of regulating the industry that produces them.
I am also on Vancouver Island and I completely agree with you. I work at 2 different locations and either one my commute to work is about 45 minutes by car, by bus it is actually impossible. One location has the nearest bus stop 6km away (all 90km/h highway with narrow shoulders) while the other would drop me off at the front door, the schedules don’t line up though and I’d have to leave my house for work before I got home the day before. It’s theoretically possible to do in about 2 hours, but only with perfect connections and they only line up right in the middle of the day. Not to mention it would require tickets for 2 separate transit systems which add up to almost the same as gas. Housing prices are so insane here too, that moving anywhere (whether it’s one house over, right beside work, or anywhere in-between) would cost me more in monthly rent than I’d pay in gas if I drove a Hummer to work.