Ride Or Die: Is COVID-19 A Blessing In Disguise For Green Transit?
COVID-19 is a freight train coming right at climate change (and us)
Who was miffed (to put it delicately) by the public transit? Me!
Dodge, swerve, sprint, and repeat. That was my daily routine before COVID-19 as I raced towards the platform in hopes of catching the train and a good seat. I have religiously used the Go Trains and MiWay since 2016 and, to this day, I have never understood why the trains and buses aren’t more frequent. Why is the traffic so congested on the roads even during off-peak hours? And why oh why the construction never seems to finish! If one combines that with the high volume of cars in the GTA, then we get a nightmare of a commute.
Now, I have been advised to use that time productively: “oh, go read while commuting!” or “learn a new language while commuting!” and so on. I cannot be productive on transit because it is so crowded, there is no wi-fi on transit, and there is no table for me to safely place my laptop on (my lap and knees are tiny, I am 4’11 and slender, not a bright idea to balance a delicate device here). Above all, hunching over is detrimental to my posture and long-term health.
COVID-19 put a kibosh on my daily grind, admittedly while I miss my social routine, I certainly do not miss the commute. When the federal government announced it was making climate mitigation as a criterion for funding businesses, I was thrilled. However, given from what the CBC and the Guardian have reported, transportation isn’t being viewed as a key industry for turning around the recession and emission reduction.
The wheels on the bus go round and round, while the engine pollutes…
I firmly believe Canada’s focus needs to encompass transportation as well in its bid to mitigate climate change and recover from the COVID-19 induced recession because the transportation sector provides many opportunities to boost employment and reduce emissions in the long-run.
According to Corporate Knights, Canadians drive over 300 billion km yearly and the associated costs of maintenance are larger than spending on any other expenses. Even more, it is wasteful since cars are predominantly parked as opposed to driven. The greenhouse emissions spiked by 53 percent between 1990 and 2018. Transportation is a huge component of that spike, currently, it accounts for 25 percent of the national emission.
How the federal government can use COVID-19 as an opportunity
As of now, the federal government has not disclosed a concrete plan on how it plans to weave climate accountability in its fiscal stimulus package. Nevertheless, transportation (both public and private) is a promising sector for change. The federal government can invest heavily in public transit and electric vehicles.
Municipal public transit can be free of charge for a year which would reduce emissions and provide opportunities for employment. A $6 billion injection would directly benefit people especially lower-income groups, students like myself, and essential workers. The fund ensures transit authorities have the revenue for hiring staff to ensure the sanitization of the transit system.
For those who own cars, there is hope for switching to electric vehicles if the federal government guarantees the loans for three years. Currently, lease agreements for electric vehicles are twice as much compared to the ones with combustible engines. This is because banks assume the electric car will depreciate completely by the end of the lease (Canadian banks don’t have enough long-term data on the long-term performance of an electric cat yet). A federal guarantee would drive down the price which would allow the purchase and in turn data collection.
Above all, the focus should be on providing transportation services as opposed to products, like Communauto. The idea is like Uber as it provides transportation without having to own a car, and its responsibilities, however, the vehicles are either hybrid or electric. The federal government should consider expanding upon its existing zero-emissions vehicles program by including ride-sharing. This would effectively reduce emissions and financial burden on consumers.
Those of us in Ontario still have time before the COVID-19 restrictions are truly eased. I start grad school at the University of Toronto this fall and I will be doing online courses, this means not commuting. I imagine many are in the same boat too. This is a prime opportunity for public policy analysts and the government to overhaul a failing transit system.
