Getting around: Transportation

EcoDensity’s connection to transportation.

We hear it every day on the radio: traffic backed up for kilometres on Highway 1 or the Mary Hill Bypass. We see it when it hasn’t rained for a while: the brownish grey haze over the city. As well, we know that carbon dioxide from car exhaust contributes to climate change, and in Vancouver about one-quarter of the city’s green-house gases come from cars. The wind off the ocean blows the smog eastward, so it’s easy for us to ignore the effects of our pollution.

Thankfully, people who both live and work in Vancouver don’t have the long commutes that many others do. We drive less when shops and services are close to our homes. We know cars are big polluters. Even if we all drove small electric cars, our society’s automobile dependency would still have negative effects. All those cars have to park somewhere, using up premium land. Even if we all drove small electric cars, our society’s automobile dependency would still have negative effects.

Density allows for better transit Vancouver is growing, and there’s no more room for new roads, or to widen existing ones. If everyone in Vancouver drives everywhere they need to go, no one’s going to get anywhere very fast. That means less time doing things we like and a lot more aggravation. Already, it’s usually faster to take the SkyTrain than drive, and often faster to take the bus when you account for the time it takes to find parking and then walk to your destination.

Cities all over the world have traffic problems. The ones with excellent public transit systems are also the ones with a high density of people who can support those transit systems. What New Yorker would consider driving across town rather than taking the subway?

Vancouver is already making transit more convenient and more practical by concentrating new development around SkyTrain stations like Joyce, and along major bus routes like Broadway and Cambie Street.

EcoDensity involves finding ways to help people locate near work and if that’s not possible, putting housing near transit. One of the major challenges will be to provide space on a transit system that is over-crowded today. Major increases in transit services, such as expanded rail transit, will be required to satisfy the increased demand for transit. But transit is just part of the solution to reducing our transportation headaches and our ecological footprint.

Density creates more opportunities for walking and cycling Imagine that you’ve received a notice that there is a registered letter for you to pick up at the local post office. Would you rather have a 10-minute, round-trip journey that involves walking under a canopy of street trees, or a half-hour car trip with just as much walking except that it’s through a parking lot?

EcoDensity is exploring how to make walking and other kinds of active transportation easier and more pleasant than driving. Mixed use, higher density communities can have jobs, shops and services closer to your home because there are enough people nearby to support them. Walking is also healthier than driving, for both the walkers and the environment.

The City is taking steps to support pedestrian activity. Sidewalks are being installed and widened in areas of the city, with attractive landscaping, street trees, and places to sit. In ther areas, buildings are required to have awnings to make walking more comfortable on rainy days.

Crossing streets is getting easier and safer, too. The City is installing more pedestrian-controlled signals and reducing wait times. Curb bulges at crosswalks help pedestrians and drivers see each other more easily, and they make crossing safer by shortening the time pedestrians have to spend in the roadway.

The fastest growing kind of transportation in Vancouver is cycling. There are almost triple the number of bicycle trips in Vancouver today compared to 10 years ago. And bicycle paths and bike lanes have doubled in the past decade.* The City also encourages businesses to provide shower and changing facilities to make it more convenient for people who want to cycle to work. Support for cycling is paying off with faster, more enjoyable trips, and an opportunity for daily exercise.

The high cost of free parking Everyone knows that free parking is, well, free, right? A no-brainer? Maybe not.

New retail and residential developments are required to supply off-street parking for their customers and residents. Near shopping and dense residential areas, land is very valuable, yet much of it is taken up with parked vehicles. Most apartment residents have an underground parking spot even if they don’t drive. This parking is factored into the cost of their unit, an unnecessary expense for many.

So-called “free” parking in fact comes at a high economic and environmental cost, driving up development costs and condominium prices, and encouraging driving. The high cost of free parking is just one more reason why focussing our attention on better transit is a smarter solution than trying to accommodate more and more vehicles.

What’s happening here and elsewhere?

Encouraging co-op cars The Co-operative Auto Network has a fleet of co-operatively owned vehicles that are parked all over Vancouver and shared by the co-op members. Drivers book cars or vans and pay by distance and time. Maintenance and insurance are part of the co-op costs. Less parking is required, and people save by only paying for insurance and maintenance for the amount that they actually drive. To help keep condominium prices down, Vancouver allows new developments to provide one co-op car to replace three spaces of parking.

Distance-based car insurance Distance based insurance rewards car owners for driving less. Places like Ontario, the Netherlands and South Africa have introduced pay-per-kilometre insurance. Flat-rate insurance penalizes drivers who only need their cars occasionally, and provides no incentive to drive less.

Bicycle stations Innovative bicycle sharing programs sponsored by advertising company JC Decaux have been successful in Vienna and Lyon. High-tech bicycles are rented from and returned to special stations located throughout the city. The rental is inexpensive, and the first half hour is always free. The programs have worked well and now other cities such as London, Delhi, and Toronto are considering them.

Less parking There is no minimum number of parking spaces required for new developments in much of Portland, Oregon. This allows the market to decide how much parking people need, rather than a one-size-fits-all standard number of required stalls that can result in unnecessary parking spaces and higher construction costs.