I must admit to a bit of shame as I write this: I, James Bow, own a car.
Based on what I’ve said in the past about the merits of public transportation and pedestrian friendly urban design, I’m not exactly hypocritical. I’ve always said that I believe that car ownership is a wonderful luxury and should stay that way. I like to drive. I actually enjoy getting behind the wheel and heading off to some new place that is otherwise just a dot on a map. Our car has even allowed us time to write. Back when Vivian was an only child, Erin and I would pack her in her car seat and take off to London or Burlington or Ancaster — some place an hour or two out of town with a Chapters or Indigo bookstore. Vivian would sleep enroute, giving Erin a chance to write on the computer. At the bookstore, Vivian would occupy herself with the Thomas the Tank Engine display or Dora books, or the wheelchair ramp, while I’d sit in the coffee shop and write. It was a wonderful arrangement, and I’d like to get back to that.
What I have consistently criticized, however, is urban design which transforms the automobile from a luxury to a necessity. When it becomes physically impossible, or gravely inconvenient to access your stores, your libraries, your schools, your places of employment without an automobile, then how much freedom does the automobile truly represent?
From August 2003 to February 2006, Erin and I lived car free, and I cannot help but notice that it was easier for us to make ends meet even though we were working at part time jobs then, than it is today with Erin working her full time job at the University of Waterloo. Think of all the expenses we did without: insurance ($150 per month), car payments ($304 per month), gasoline ($100 per month), maintenance (about $100 per month). Sure, it’s more convenient to have a car ready for you in the driveway, but until the children came along we could make do with public transit, even for our groceries, and if we really needed a car, we had only to rent one.
At present, the Region of Waterloo is on the cusp of enabling its residents to do without the automobile. If you are single or a young couple without kids, or possibly a family with older kids who can take the bus on their own, you can get around this city without too much trouble. Yes, trips take longer, but they’re still manageable. But if you are carrying your children wherever you go, the car remains a tempting necessity. Currently, the Region of Waterloo and the Province of Ontario are considering a number of initiatives to improve public transit options for the residents of region. I find myself in the odd position of being able to assess the success or failure of these measures by my ability to consider whether or not I can finally ditch our car. The initiatives are, frankly, tempting, and I am impatient to see them developed.
Over the next few posts, I’d like to talk about the public transit options now available to the residents of the Region of Waterloo. I’d like to talk about the improvements that are being planned, both within the region, and to parts outside the region. And, of course, I’d like to talk about the frustrating gaps in public transit service, and the likelihood that these will be closed.
There is a lot to be proud of in this region. We have a very livable and walkable community, well connected to other attractions in the Greater Toronto Area. However, there is a lot that is missed if you don’t have access to a car. Some of the proposed changes offer up the hope that I’ll be able to shed this $1000 per month expense. I hope I see these changes occur before I reach retirement age.
The photograph above is entitled Last Bus, and is by Jeremy Ladan. The photo is used in accordance with his Creative Commons license.
February 10, 2009 7:41 AM
A large part of that $1000 a month is the car payment; I’ll bet when you pay that off the car expense will become more manageable. Your insurance goes down every year as well and gas prices are way down from last summer.
My biggest complaint about the local transit is the lack of a route between the Regions major attractions - Schneider House, McDougall Cottage, Doon Heritage House, the butterfly place, etc. If is almost impossible to visit more than one per day if you are dependent on public transit. Some are a real pain to get to via public transport if you have young children with you: i.e the long walk from the bus stop to Doon Heritage Village.
February 10, 2009 10:05 AM
What I have consistently criticized, however, is urban design which transforms the automobile from a luxury to a necessity.
Oh boy, isn’t that the truth. As you may know, Cambridge has spent a lot of money adding dedicated bike lanes to many of its roads. Which I find ironic, because many of the destinations you may want to bike to, are not bicycle friendly. The parking lots at the mall, big box center, grocery stores, etc. etc. are death traps for citizens walking or cycling. And then you don’t even have anyplace to lock your bicycle.
And don’t even get me started on transit in the city….
February 10, 2009 11:05 AM
I live in Downtown Toronto. Right on Yonge Street in the financial district to be exact. So as downtown as you possibly can get.
I do have a car, and plan on disposing of it later this year when the lease ends.
Since I’ve moved downtown, I’ve had very little need for a car. And the fact I only seem to need to refill the gas tank like once every 4 months these days is a testament to how little I actually drive it.
I won’t be leasing a new car when the lease is up. However, I do think there are interesting economic benefits to the automobile lifestyle that go ignored. Or rather, urban planners and transit enthusiasts like yourself, want to undo.
It’s often said that the cost of everyone owning an automobile far exceeds the cost of everyone collectively using transit in urban settings. But really, this is an over-simplification of the economics of it.
In reality, it’s much more complex. And in reality, the relative cost of living between suburban and urban areas, as a result of the very infrastructure that negates the need for personal vehicles muddies the waters and, in fact, makes the economics of owning a personal vehicle in a low-density area quite similar to the economics of using transit in a high-density area.
That being said, there is also the problems introduced from pollution, commute times, and so on. But even then, there is the fact that personal vehicles improve worker mobility, and therefore, improve the economy’s ability to absorb changes and shocks.
Here’s an extreme example to describe my point (although less dramatic examples exist as far as economics go): imagine a terrorist attack against primary rail lines in a highly dense urban setting, versus a terrorist attack in a low-density suburban setting where all persons have personal vehicles.
The former will have large swathes of people suddenly unable to move where they want, get to their places of work, etc; the economic shock is significantly more. The risk is actually higher.
None of this is to say that we should all move out to the suburbs and get cars. As I’ve said, I’m downtown and I’m getting rid of mine.
February 10, 2009 11:28 AM
As I said, I have nothing against car ownership, and even after the kids get old enough to take the bus, it will still be a considerable temptation to keep the car in the driveway. I’ve carried a week’s worth of groceries on public transit and I’ve carried it on the car, there is no question which I’d prefer. And the Ikea lifestyle, which isn’t so bad itself, makes little sense without an automobile to carry some of your purchases home. I remember my father and I once tried to carry home a piece of boxed furniture from Idomo on the subway. It was probably high comedy for anybody else who might have been watching.
But we have a problem if we create an urban fabric where the automobile is the only feasible means of getting around. Imagine a suburban neighbourhood, and picture where the stores are in relation to the house, and the libraries, schools, parks, et cetera — all those things beyond work where you need to go day to day. Now imagine what happens to you if, living there, you suddenly find yourself unable to drive.
This is a situation that Erin currently finds herself in. Earlier this decade, she was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia, a degenerative, debilitating condition where the TN nerve (covering migraine and root canal pain) fires randomly, without warning and at top intensity, causing blinding, stabbing pain that causes the victims to black out. Of course, as the situation got worse and she reported this to the doctor, the doctor signed papers to take her drivers’ license away. And it’s perfectly understandable, since you, her, me and a bunch of other drivers wouldn’t want her blacking out on the 401.
But since then, she’s been entirely dependent on me to take her anywhere by car. Fortunately, she also has access to a decent transit system here, and we’re not too far from downtown Kitchener so she can walk, otherwise she’d be a prisoner in her own home. Even now, over a year after being cured of the condition thanks to the gamma knife, the bureaucracy still has not moved to restore her license (though we expect that to happen any week now).
You can drive in downtown Toronto. You don’t have to, and it can be a chore, but it is still possible. It’s a choice. The other choices are harder to come by in some suburban settings. Things are getting better, but there’s still a lot of work to be done, and a fair amount of money to be spent making the public transport option a viable one in some areas.
I hear you about the downside of density, especially with regard to the impact of disruptive events like terrorism, though I think we should be talking more in terms of bottlenecks. I mean, it’s possible for terrorists to severely disrupt our suburban road network as well. Think what chaos could happen if a bridge on the 401 is taken out, or on any of the American Interstates. And let’s not even talk about terrorism. Back when there was native blockades of the 401 and the rail corridor between Toronto and Montreal, people were moaning that the rail blockade was costing the economy $100 million a day. Mark Dowling said it best (paraphrasing): “Excuse me? You are routing $100 million per day of economic activity along a single rail corridor with no ability to bypass? Do you have any idea of how much disruption you are opening yourself up to? Not just blockades, what about an accident at a level crossing? What about a rail derailment? Those do tend to happen near railroads, you know.”
A similar situation happened to me in Ottawa a month ago. With transit on strike, I took a cab, and discovered that the downtown is really a maze of one-way streets. One way streets are what I describe as a suburban planning response to traffic flow. If it all works as designed, the new network becomes more efficient at moving traffic, but that’s if it all works as designed. But we had protesters at Parliament Hill, which effectively cut off our main route out of the downtown to the south of the city, and the cab had to go far afield before finding a suitable route south, since all the major one-way streets he encountered headed north.
Sometimes bottlenecks are unavoidable. We can’t pave over rivers whole-hog, for instance. But we need more redundancies built into our systems, I think, regardless of whether we’re looking at inner city or suburban living. That’s one reason I support building a Downtown Relief subway line before extending the Yonge line into the outer suburbs of the GTA.
February 10, 2009 4:07 PM
Re:”it will still be a considerable temptation to keep the car in the driveway”
You will still need it to get to the school readings, writing workshops and book launches you and Erin do as well as for IKEA and grocery shopping and picking up Vivi and Nora from dates and of course lending the girls the car on occasion!
February 10, 2009 11:01 PM
School readings, writing workshops and book launches, as well as recreation like Doon or the Butterfly gardens, are once-in-a-while things, for for which one can rent a car or take a cab. (You can rent a car for $50 a day, plus gas — you could probably do it 10 days a month and come out ahead.)
James is talking about day-to-day use — whether you have to have a car to get to work, school, shopping, etc. If you do, it’s a necessity. If you don’t, it’s a convenience. A very big convenience, but still an optional one.
February 11, 2009 3:18 AM
In my 7 years living in Waterloo, I saw a city that had to be dragged kicking and screaming into any change whatsoever. I’ll be shocked if any attempts at making it more walkable/transit friendly get any traction.
February 12, 2009 2:37 AM
When my car died about 4 years ago (I buy used and drive them, literally, into the ground) I decided to try transit. I haven’t tracked all the costs, by any stretch, but believe that even with very flexible/generous cab usage, I’m still ahead 1-2000 per year.
However, my daughter intends to get a job soon (entering high school in the fall, Grade 10 in AB). My quandary: Do I plan to hop the bus to meet her at 9/10 at night? Do I intend to pay a cab home (or make her pay/share/whatever?) Or should I just buy a damn clunker for it?
Because once I start the “chauffeur” portion of my life as a parent, I suspect a car will become mandatory, for my own sanity if nothing else.
Parking is expensive (comparatively, diddly when one looks at Calgary, Vancouver or Toronto, but still) compared to a transit pass - my employer provides a discount, so currently I’m paying easily 40-45% of the cost of PARKING ALONE to use transit vs driving. (When I’ve had a rental car, the drive, combined with finding parking and walking to the office, is about 2-5 minutes shorter than transit when road conditions - summer - are optimal. In the winter? No question, I’d pick transit any day for the work commute.)
My kid’s safety? To paraphrase MasterCard “priceless.”
Decisions await me this summer. But I’m willing and prepared to take transit to/from work and use a car for - picking up child from work, groceries etc.
I’ll still be ahead, just not as much.
February 13, 2009 1:52 PM
I’m not sure of the statistics, but your daughter may be more likely killed or seriously injured by you driving her home, then something bad happening to her taking the bus home.