The war against the car will never succeed

The other day, as I drove to my exercise class (yes, yes, I know there’s a contradiction there), people on the radio were telling me to take the TTC. There was a smog alert, and I was contributing to the problem. But it’s next to impossible to get to my class by bus, so I drove.

“Hah!” said my instructor, the Pilates queen. “You know what TTC means? Take The Car.” She’s no fan of Toronto’s public transit. That’s too bad because, according to the politicians and the urban planners, public transit is the answer to all our woes. Everyone knows cars are responsible for everything from gridlock to pollution and obesity. Pry people from their cars, and the world will be a better place.

Unfortunately, most people are refusing to co-operate. In 1988, TTC ridership was 463 million, the second largest in North America. By last year, despite the Greater Toronto Area’s explosive growth, ridership had shrunk to 410 million.

Transit advocates blame higher fares and service cutbacks for this decline. If only we invest more in improving public transit, more people will use it. To a limited extent, this may be true. But transit advocates ignore the overwhelming evidence from around the world: People still prefer their cars.

Globe and Mail