Transit is Fun

Who would have thought. Transit has the rep of being cost effective, practical, green and healthy. Now, thanks to the Olympics, it is time to add fun to the growing list of benefits of public transit. This is perhaps one of the least expected results from the Olympics. I did expect that the games would transform how we get around in Vancouver, but I thought the impact would be more incremental than obviously transformational.

I must admit that I enjoyed getting around the city fast on my bicycle, avoiding the line-ups and crowds. Some drivers also figured out that driving was quicker than expected because pretty much everyone was packed onto rails, buses and boats. However, it slowly dawned on me, that sharing the ride with hundreds of thousands of strangers was becoming a great part of the Olympic experience. Line-up became temporary communities. People broke out into spontaneous choruses of Oh Canada on SkyTrain cars. Transit not only facilitated the party by moving millions of people around, it became part of the party. Getting around by a car or on a bike, while quick, was not so fun anymore. Perhaps this is why many more people than expected were using transit.



Clearly, the success of the Canada Line became a big part of the buzz. Contrast this with Sea to Sky Highway. While it is dutifully mentioned as a legacy of the games, people's experience on the highway was not part of the buzz to say the least. The only comment I saw was how, in spite of the great scenery, people seemed to be likely to sleep through the ride. In fact, Alberta scored big by chartering the train to Whistler. Seems like the VIPs that Alberta wanted face time with, preferred a relaxing train ride to Whistler over being chauffeured up. So rail seems to offer a great experience for everyone. Cost to BC taxpayers of upgrading the Highway - $8 billion. Cost of Alberta renting the train - $6 million. Alberta scores great business connections - Priceless.

In spite of the trillions of dollars being spent on marketing individual transportation, as very social beings, it is clear that we like to be around lots of other people while we get around, especially if everyone is having a great time. Now, it helps that during the Olympics, people were more likely to be traveling with friends and family than during the daily commute. The take away, perhaps, is to focus much more effort on marketing transit for social and entertainment trips in the evenings and weekends, when there is plenty of capacity.

The other takeaway is, that in spite of the marketing hype, driving in the city is just not that much fun anymore. It is becoming a more and more miserable experience. Congestion on roads is no fun. Congestion in trains and transit stations is fun. Congestion on roads creates angry, isolated people. Congestion in trains and transit stations can lead to happy people talking to former strangers.

The Relentless March of Inevitability

2010 will mark a turning point. The people of Vancouver will be able to celebrate accomplishment of Olympic proportions. The calling of our age. A legacy ensuring hope for the future. It won’t be celabrated by the lighting of a flame, the raising of a flag or the playing of a national anthem. Instead it will be marked by the routine chime of a SkyTrain door, the chirp of a pedestrian button, the squeak of a chain or a simple “No thanks, I’ll take the bus.”

Late in the morning of Thursday February 11, 2010, a coffee mug will be placed in a holder and an engine will sputter to like marking the last time ever that the majority of the people of Vancouver will take a car to work. The next day, someone will make the choice to walk, cycle, or take transit thus culminating the relentless march of inevitability that began with the defeat of the freeways in the early 70’s.

The automobile will join transit, walking and cycling as alternate transportation. A choice for some, a necessity for a few, but no longer dominant.

With streets still jammed with traffic, this may seem unlikely. However, the 2006 Census reported the total being a mere 51.5% of people drive to work. Chances are that high gas prices have already reduced that to under half. Still another 6% are passengers so a bit over half still commute by car so still over half get to work by car. Many of the steps of inevitability are already in motion. The high price of gas, the higher price of housing, climate change, the Central Valley Greenway, South East False Creek, wider sidewalks on Burrard Bridge. In the end, it will likely be the Canada Line that will make the final difference. The much maligned little mini metro that could can and will likely be the nudge that pushes the automobile over the cliff of eternal minority status.

As the auto follows the horse to pasture, we still will fondly reminisce the summer drive on the open road. On the weekend we may even take the country train to enjoy a cruise down memory lane. The new hobby horse.

Worshiped and loved. The heart and soul of the twentieth century. Or was it. In reflection, the age of the automobile will appear as the illusion it was. Never an option for the majority of the people in the world. Never the dominate form of transportation in the world.

A strange love at that. A love proclaimed but not with patience. In reality, a tool of convenience, the less time spent with the better, lest one explodes with rage with the least of unintended provocation. We deserve better love than that.

Never before in history has a creation burned so bright, rose so high so fast, burned out so fast and fell to the ground so hard. It soared but never flew. So much for hydrogen and hybrids, the hyped, hapless, hopeless harbingers of non-change. Automotive margarine. In the end, it simply just ran out of gas. It lasted only a hundred years. A mere blip in human history. Will it even be remembered in the passage of time, our age of strip malls, cul-du-sacs and drive-ins.

Vancouver is ahead but Burnaby and New West are not far behind. Vancouver will be the first city in Canada and on the west coast to relegate the automobile to minority status. We follow in the footsteps of New York City and Washington DC. One by one, the rest will fall, the bastions of Buick, Benz and BMW under the boots of the relentless march of inevitability. The driving beat marking the end of the age of the automobile.