By: Tom Sandborn
(continued)
What does this victory mean to Canadians? In my opinion, the L.A. Bus Riders' Union has a lot to teach anyone who is contemplating working at the "intersection" (as the Strategy Center puts it) of mass transit, civil rights, and the environment. The group's experience shows that by creatively mixing legal action, street demonstrations, and grassroots organizing, transit issues can rise to the fore, leading to change where before there was only inertia.
Now, nobody would argue that the situation in Canadian cities is the same as in Los Angeles. Local history - particular race relations - make the situations in Canada and the U.S. incomparable in many ways.
But on both sides of the border, there are some things we do share. We are all drowning in automobile exhaust from private cars and trucks, and we are all desperately in need of more public transit.
In Canada, there are certainly issues around which the L.A.-style tactical mix could be applied. The Canadian Solutions Report, for example, calls for the same tax breaks to be made available to employers providing transit passes for their workers, as are given to employers who provide free parking. The report also points to government underfunding of public transit - an obvious potential focal point for political campaigning.
Other commentators might wonder whether the promotion of polluting vehicles might imply the same sort of liability for vehicle manufacturers and petroleum producers that has prompted the health minister to take action against the tobacco companies. Any idealistic lawyers out there?
All of this sounds like a lot of work, of course. But it beats holding our breath for the next century as we're stalked at every intersection by killer BMWs.
Tom Sandborn's first book, Joyride to Hell: Dispatches from the Automobile Century, will be published this Spring by Douglas and McIntyre's GrayStone Books imprint.
Get More/Do More
Bus Riders' Union: www.busridersunion.org
Canadian Urban Transit Association - an industry body that represents mass urban transit providers: www.cutaactu.on.ca
American Public Transit Association - provides resources for public transit analysis and planning: www.apta.com
Canadian Transit News - a discussion group for those interested in public transit issues in Canada: www.egroups.com/group/ctn
The Victoria Transport Policy Institute - an independent research organization in Victoria, BC, dedicated to developing innovative and practical tools for solving transportation problems: www.vtpi.org
Transport Canada: www.tc.gc.ca
Centre for Sustainable Transportation - a research institute dedicated to encouraging more sustainable transportation policy: www.web.net/~cstctd
Question:
Are you getting the transit you need? Do you think some regions get preferential transit treatment? Do you know of effective actions Canadians or others have taken to improve their transit and reduce auto gridlock?
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