I was struck by the street demonstration asking for a New York expressway to be taken down. On Monday, I took part in a similar demonstration in Toronto. Except we were not in the street. We were packing the public gallery of Toronto City Council Chambers while the City Council voted 28 to 16 in favour of taking a car lane on a major road and turning it into two bicycle lanes.

Cyclists filled all the public seating and packed the standing room area as we watched the vote. That’s my kind of demonstration. Details on the Toronto Cyclists’ Union website at:

http://bikeunion.to/news/2009/05/25/jarvis-st-redesign-adopted-big-win-toronto-cyclists

As per usual, “follow the money” is advice that explains a lot. When the US federal government pays 90 cents on the dollar for urban expressways but NOT public transit, that subsidy distorts the whole transportation system.

It is interesting to compare that with public policy here in Ontario. Canada’s constitution assigns authority over roads to the provinces, an authority that is jealously guarded. The Dominion government pays almost zero for road construction and maintenance. In Ontario, the provincial government pays for most rural and suburban highways, but downloaded most of Toronto’s highway costs onto the City government.

After a huge fight, a US-style expressway system was never built in Toronto. And the City is planning to tear down some of the bits that were built. Particularly an elevated expressway whose maintenance costs are in the tens of millions of dollars. Money that the local property taxpayers are no longer inclined to pay.

Many of the car lanes on urban roads are being taken away from cars and reserved as exclusive streetcar lanes or exclusive bicycle lanes.

Where I live, in the Riding of Toronto Centre, the commuting transportation mode share breaks down as:

Public transit – 38%
Cycling and walking – 34%
Motorists (drivers and passengers) – 26%

The numbers are from the 2006 census; the 26% is probably a lot lower today.

Its about money and infrastructure. Car infrastructure simply wasn’t built in Toronto. For example, there is zero car parking where I live and there is zero car parking where I work. So driving a car to work isn’t happening.

Money and infrastructure. These are the things that drive (pun intended!) how we live.

—Greg Brown | The Poet Game