Carrot or Stick

Calgary commuters going green, says study

Calgary residents may still love their cars, but more are walking, cycling or taking transit downtown than are driving, according to a new study by the city.

The report shows 55 per cent of morning commuters arrive on foot, bike or transit. That's up from less than 40 per cent a decade ago, said John Hubble, the city's transportation manager.

"The community has put a lot of investment into public transportation and I think these numbers validate that investment and they show that we are on the right track," he said.

[snip]

"Colleen McCracken, a spokeswoman with local environmental group Sustainable Calgary, said people are ditching their cars because they are too expensive to run, parking is expensive and traffic is terrible.

"I am not sure if the city can take credit for this in their policies, but I think people are changing and it's up to the city to catch up to that change."

This would all have happened a lot sooner if we'd been paying the true monetary cost of being a fossil fuel society.

I've lived here since 1992 and never owned a car. Only three things can momentarily make me wish I had one: missing a bus (and thus knowing I'll not catch the connections and be late for an appointment. Happened yesterday with the bus pulling away from the corner as I was crossing the street to get to it. Bastard driver, who idled there for minutes before the light changed, saw me running to get to it, I know it!), wanting to go to Banff for the afternoon, or needing to lug home a purchase from IKEA.