Thought of the Day - May 4 - Impact on Public Transit

Hi All,

Greater Vancouver has one of the best public transit systems in Canada, and due it our geographic location Burnaby is the city that benefits most. Gail and I have used the Skytrain to commute to every one of our jobs since moving to Burnaby. This system has been built over decades; piggybacking on funding for large events and cross-funding from other tax revenues, and fueled by Vancouver's anti-car sentiment. And, other than a few missteps such as the implementation of the Compass card, open-pit mining on Cambie or trying to use articulated buses to climb Burnaby Mountain works, the system works very well.

I had not really thought about the pandemic's impact on mass transit until Gail passed on a YouTube video. It basically says the service we enjoy may never recover from Covid-19.

It is no surprise that our current containment measures impact many services, and transit is no exception. However here the impact will not be just short-term. It takes years for people to get used to using public transport, but with increased work from home, physical distancing measures, lower gas prices, many of us are already getting out of the habit of using it, and thus services are being cut. This downward spiral will probably continue for the rest of the year. Even with the reopening of many businesses, the ongoing stigma will remain - in the back of our minds is still the thought "one way to avoid Covid is to avoid using public transport". Unfortunately by the time this thinking changes, public transport like we enjoy today may no longer be available.

Cheers

Cliff

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