Comments on: Carbon tax and rebate http://www.horace.org/blog/2008/05/26/carbon-tax-and-rebate/ Serious about the frivolous, frivolous about the serious Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:57:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Michael http://www.horace.org/blog/2008/05/26/carbon-tax-and-rebate/#comment-28068 Michael Wed, 28 May 2008 15:06:22 +0000 http://www.horace.org/blog/2008/05/26/carbon-tax-and-rebate/#comment-28068 In Toronto, it's actually not that bad if you need to go to downtown. Even if you live in the suburd, there's public transit that will take you directly to downtown. But if you need to go to a place other than downtown, you need a car, or it'll take you two hours. It's a chicken and egg problem in Canada and US. Because most people have cars, ridership in the public transit is very low. Since ridership is low, coverage of the public transit system is also limited. Cities in Canada and the US are designed with the assumption everyone has a car in general. We have low-density residents everywhere that makes comprehensive public transit not cost effective. In Toronto, it’s actually not that bad if you need to go to downtown. Even if you live in the suburd, there’s public transit that will take you directly to downtown. But if you need to go to a place other than downtown, you need a car, or it’ll take you two hours.

It’s a chicken and egg problem in Canada and US. Because most people have cars, ridership in the public transit is very low. Since ridership is low, coverage of the public transit system is also limited. Cities in Canada and the US are designed with the assumption everyone has a car in general. We have low-density residents everywhere that makes comprehensive public transit not cost effective.

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