69% of people living in Canada's largest cities travel everywhere by car

[Hydrogen]

This is not too surprising, but I suppose when the permanent oil crash comes the suburbs will either be abandoned or spontaneously become multi-family units.

On the other hand, what if gasoline is gradually replaced by other fuel sources or by electric power? Oil won't be running out suddenly any time soon. Moreover, cheap energy sources for automobiles that pollute less may actually enable more car use.

 

[doady]

They compare 1992 statistics with that of 2005 statistics, but is that really a fair comparison? The early-90's was the start of major ridership decline all across Canada but that more due to recession than anything else. However if you look at recent years then you will see transit ridership in most of Canada has increased dramatically.

The TTC is poised to reach an all-time high in ridership, which is amazing considering the struggles it has gone through in terms of funding. Even the suburbs are doing well in terms of transit, especially in Brampton where local transit ridership has increased by over 50% in the past 5 years, much faster than population growth.

 

[junctionist]

The TTC is poised to reach an all-time high in ridership, which is amazing considering the struggles it has gone through in terms of funding. Even the suburbs are doing well in terms of transit, especially in Brampton where local transit ridership has increased by over 50% in the past 5 years, much faster than population growth.

Indeed, according to the Star, ridership is growing by more than 3% annually on the TTC. 1988 was the year of record ridership with 462.5 million riders. Last year, ridership increased by 15 million to 459.8 million riders.

 

[lead82]

I'm always amused to find that North American's love their cars and travel everywhere on them. Well most people do like driving, I believe it has more to do with the time saving aspect of driving versus the inconvenience of taking transit. People will drive if transit takes too long or requires multiple transfers. Does this mean we have to build subways everywhere? No. It means we need to build RAPID transit lines that are actually RAPID. Subways are fast, LRT can also be fast if built with subway like station spacings. In North America our travel distances are much greater on average than older cities in Europe. That is why we need more rapid service and much more express services. If transit is convenient, reliable and fast people will take it.

Until then, people will do what is convenient and fastest, which in North America means driving.

 

[Hydrogen]

I'm always amused to find that North American's love their cars

There is plenty of car-driving beyond North America - not at quite the same proportion - but it is way up there.

 

[JasonParis]

Subways are fast, LRT can also be fast if built with subway like station spacings.

Tell the TTC that.

 

[Archivist]

I always find it interesting that sprawly Ottawa does quite a bit better than sprawly Edmonton or Calgary with their rail systems in these surveys. The transitway is less exciting than rail travel, but I think it has been quite successful.

Whassup with Quebec City? They have awful transit and it doesn't sound like they're planning many improvements. In Quebec, where support for transit from the provincial gov't is greater, that's a bit odd.

CMA comparisons are the only ones that are valid for comparison purposes, by the way. Without doing CMA's, you'd be comparing only the centre of Vancouver with all of Montreal or Toronto.

 

[adma]

Whassup with Quebec City? They have awful transit and it doesn't sound like they're planning many improvements. In Quebec, where support for transit from the provincial gov't is greater, that's a bit odd.

If you're of a certain political persuasion, it's tempting to draw a relationship to the area's being a CPC/ADQ stronghold...

 

[Brandon716]

69% isn't too bad for a North American city, most are above 90% south of the border.

 

[urbanfan89]

On the other hand, what if gasoline is gradually replaced by other fuel sources or by electric power?

It won't be "gradually" replaced since humans are by definition resistant to change unless there is a pressing need to do so. Eventually we'll see fuel prices grow exponentially until most SUV drivers cannot drive for pleasure. As for your second part, there are no clean and cheap fuel sources that can replace gasoline any time soon, and does not require fossil fuel to produce.

Oil won't be running out suddenly any time soon.

Ever heard of Peak Oil? We've either reached it or will be fairly soon.

Moreover, cheap energy sources for automobiles that pollute less may actually enable more car use.

At this rate we'll be putting a human on Mars before then.

 

[TKTKTK]

It won't be "gradually" replaced since humans are by definition resistant to change unless there is a pressing need to do so. Eventually we'll see fuel prices grow exponentially until most SUV drivers cannot drive for pleasure. As for your second part, there are no clean and cheap fuel sources that can replace gasoline any time soon, and does not require fossil fuel to produce.

I'm not sure how true any of that is.

First you're already seeing a gradual shift away from pure gasoline use. The popularity (even despite their false ecological economy) of hybrids is increasing all the time. There is an appetite for change, and there's also a pressing need (most people seem attuned to this).

Nothing will start cheap and plentiful - but that isn't to say today's expensive technology won't become exponentially cheaper in a short time. There is certainly the potential for economies of scale when it comes to the automotive industry.

At the moment virtually everything produced does so with fossil fuels - but that isn't because of some unique quality that fossil fuels possess, it's because our global infrastructure is currently tuned to it. But you're already seeing clean-energy sources pop up (wind for one). As we keep experimenting with this new technology we'll be able to refine, and likely discover, more clean-energy solutions

The future is not bleak, and it's not walking