The BC liberal government is going to add a 2 cent carbon tax to all fuel starting July 1. At the same time, we will get a $100 cash rebate from the government in the name of climate action division. The idea is you can spent the money to lower your carbon footprint. However with the gas price reaching record hight, I guess I will just simply spend my rebate to fill up my gas tank before the new tax becomes effective. The government may seem generous on rebate, but the money actually come from my pocket. In a long run, we still have to pay more tax, which is bad.
I don’t see any way we can cut our consumption on oil. Only those who are too naive or stupid will think public transit can replace automobile as a mean of transportation. Time is also money. The time I wasted stuck in a bus is much more than the money I have to spent on gas. Taking public transport doesn’t make any sense unless your home and destination is right next to a Skytrain station. Maybe the only solution is to invent some new source of energy to power our cars.
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.