One foresees cities in which the car no longer prevails; instead road space is given over to pedestrians and (especially) cyclists. Critics debunk this view as idealistic nonsense, arguing that only the young and fit can travel on bikes and on foot – and that even they won’t be keen to do so during a Canadian winter. The other vision is that of continuing dominance by the car, indeed even greater reliance on the car as people avoid the crowding and close proximity of travel by public transit and as suburban development continues.
Underlying Factors Affecting Transportation
I also believe that transportation options should not be considered in isolation but should be understand as dependent upon, and greatly influenced by, other factors that can be changed in beneficial ways. The most dramatic example, triggered by the COVID pandemic, is the extent to which people can work effectively from home. When the pandemic is over, there is no reason to require everyone to return to their place of work every day. Why not have employees come to work a couple days a week or every other week, on a staggered schedule? Such an arrangement would still allow the face to face contact that is important for team building and creative interaction, while reducing travel congestion and its accompanying pollution.
Another example is the extent to which zoning and land use policies can affect transportation – by permitting compact, more dense development or encouraging sprawl. In a blog last year, I noted that one third of the City of Toronto is zoned for single family homes only, preventing an even modest increase in density and expanded housing supply that would help to hold down housing and rental costs. This, in turn, would reduce the pressure for people to move to the suburbs in search of more affordability.
Consider the impact of even these two changes taken together. If more people could afford to live downtown in their cities, travelling on foot or by bicycle becomes more feasible. If those who live far from their place of employment can work from home at least half the time, commuting by car is reduced accordingly. In combination, these changes would greatly reduce traffic congestion and help with the concerns about climate change and the quality of our environment.
A recent article previewed what is possible by envisaging a series of initiatives that could improve life in our cities:
permitting appropriately scaled multitenant housing, co-housing, laneway housing and other gentle density to flourish; accelerating the decarbonization of our transportation systems by transforming existing roadways for safe, active transportation such as walking and biking; and embracing sustainability in our built and natural environments, by enacting funded, detailed plans to achieve a 40-per-cent urban tree canopy in Canadian cities.
If we should never let a good crisis go to waste, as Winston Churchill (perhaps among others) said, one can only hope that we will resolve to emerge from the COVID pandemic with new policies and approaches that improve our quality of life and the protection of our environment.