True words by Albert Koehl in Rabble of how Mayor Ford is doing more harm to drivers than good with his archaic, anti-city approach to moving people:
Don Cherry has a lesson to teach Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
Cherry has spent a career promoting the hockey fighter, sometimes known as the enforcer or goon. The problem is that the science of brain injuries has caught up with (and passed) his assertion that the violence of these bare-knuckle encounters doesn't really hurt anyone, and helps the game. Indeed, the very fighters whose role Cherry has championed are increasingly turning out to be the game's victims.
The cause that Ford championed most loudly during the election was that of motorists. On taking office he declared that the war on the car was over. He eliminated a small vehicle registration tax, then moved forward on his congestion relief plan by getting transit out of the way of motorists. Two of three streetcar lines approved by the previous administration were shelved and a third line would go underground at significantly higher cost. He even promised to build a new subway line. Cyclists, too, were targeted. The council he leads voted to eliminate three bike lanes at a projected cost of $400,000.
Science, and experience, makes it clear that Ford's solutions won't work -- and the main victim will be the motorist.
First, our roads are not congested because of too much transit and cycling; they are congested because of too little of it. Putting 20-50 people in a streetcar or bus takes up far less road space than the same people in single-occupant cars. Cyclists take up only an invisible part of the street, or, on the two per cent of Toronto roads that have bike lanes, a fraction of a car lane. Blaming cyclists for congestion and expanding roads by gobbling up the slivers of roadway dedicated to them confirms that the car-based transport model is out of gas.
Ford's cancellation of the vehicle tax deluded motorists into thinking that they were being unfairly targeted. The truth is that motorists underpay for local roads, while people who travel by foot and bike overpay. As a homeowner paying property tax, I understand the math. My bike puts less strain on our roads, but I pay as much tax as my two car-owning neighbours.
Second, the cost of operating a car will continue to rise. The average motorist already pays over $9,000 per year in vehicle costs (capital, repairs, insurance, parking, gas, etc.). Gasoline prices will continue to rise -- the millions of people in China and India aspiring to car ownership will make sure of this. Without improved transit and safer cycling, motorists will be stuck in their cars.
Finally, motorists pay other significant costs. The lack of exercise makes them more prone to long-term health issues like diabetes. More importantly they remain, despite improved vehicle safety features, the most common victims of fatal road collisions.
Motorists, like hockey fighters, will come to learn that advocates like Ford who champion their cause aren't always doing them a favour. Ford may have ended the war on the car, but his war on the motorist is just beginning.
It's not too late Mayor Ford. By embracing citywide transit improvements including those in the previous administration's Transit City Plan and making roads safer for cyclists you can become a real champion of motorists.
Albert Koehl is a hockey fan and an environmental lawyer focusing on efficient transport.
Comments
hamish (not verified)
This definitely is a good
Fri, 12/16/2011 - 12:07This definitely is a good piece - but only if facts worked! For whatever sets of reasons - too much lead on the brain, other substances, concussions, or a basic inability to learn something new (and I too may have the latter at times) - the F*s, and his team of car-onies and car-onlies will NOT accept that basic fact of cars being subsidized.
I was trying on Wed. to get the Fdkers on the TTC to avoid fare hikes and service cuts by making a simple motion up to Council to request the Vehicle Registration Tax be reinstated to get millions flowing back into city coffers, as we need transit. But, no response but paying more money for transit while the cars keep riding for relatively free to them compared to public costs.
The trick will be trying to get the more suburban councillors to go for a beginning of user fee, though the 26-19 summer killing of a mere study of tolling incoming vehicles on the limited access DVP and Gardiner had some surprising leftie votes eg. Carroll, deBaeremaeker, Fillion, Mihevc against, and some more conservatives for it eg. Minnan-Wong.
Random cyclist (not verified)
Well written and interesting,
Fri, 12/16/2011 - 13:58Well written and interesting, and for the most part true! The only sticky point is the wear and tear on our roads from cars is actually pretty nominal; trucks are the real culprits, unfortunately they're moving goods that we all benefit from — so it becomes more difficult to assign financial responsibility. Streetcars are even harder on roads than trucks — but we have so few roads with streetcar tracks on them that their damage is mitigated.
You also don't pay as much tax as your two car-owning neighbours — their car-related purchases (gas, parking, repairs, etc) are all taxed. Gas is taxed twice even. I suppose you're spending that extra money on other consumer goods (brought by those trucks!) so maybe you do pay the same amount of tax.
In answer to Hamish; road tolls would help alleviate congestion, but the worry is that it'll also encourage businesses to decamp to the 905 again, a repeat of the 90s. Our commercial property taxes are too low because they have to compete with the 905 offering slashed-rates and off-setting that loss with high development costs. As long as the suburbs have land they can parcel off and interest developers in, that trend will unfortunately continue.
MaryL (not verified)
The other taxes car owners
Fri, 12/16/2011 - 22:23The other taxes car owners pay go to highways, not city roads. When you look at the portion of property taxes that maintain city roads, car owners and non-car owners pay the same rate.
Iain_T
It all seems to boil down to
Sat, 12/17/2011 - 10:22It all seems to boil down to that if you aren't perceived to pay 'road' tax (taxes on Gasoline) then some motorists don't want you using 'their' road.
Random cyclist (not verified)
If anyone understood the
Mon, 12/19/2011 - 18:14If anyone understood the blasted difference between property tax, gas tax, and sales taxes, and what transport infrastructure each paid for...
It's pretty much just willful ignorance or trolling at this point.
Seymore Bikes
I say hit drivers where the
Tue, 12/20/2011 - 00:57I say hit drivers where the feel it most - in the dollars. Calculate the true overall cost of motor vehicles in strict financial terms.
Start with the $160,000,000 Toronto spends annually on road repair, the billions wasted from traffic congestion, the medical cost related to car accidents, the supplemental insurance costs from auto claims, the cost of premature death related to air pollution, etc...
Measure this figure against the tax & revenues generated by automobiles. Now you have a means to measure the positive effect of alternatives like bikes and public transit.
The reality of all this is apparent, but like a good joke - it's all in the delivery.