Here's the pitch: The governments of Saint John and New Brunswick should tie investments in new road construction and expansion with equal investments in the expansion and improvement of a public transit network (commuter buses, walking and bike trails etc.) that becomes our transportation priority.
The City and Province should not abandon their commitments to continually maintain the roads they have built, but the sizeable investments made every year in this endeavour indicate such a poor investment should not be expanded in light of the shift to public transit that is happening all over the world.
How will Saint John solve its significant parking and transportation problems? By rationalising the movement of people in a fresh new way that respects our economic realities, environmental responsibilities, and our time.
Anyone that says a world class transit system in our region is unaffordable should be required to justify the current and planned investments in new roads for a transportation system that most experts agree is being left behind as a relic of the last century.
The 2009 operating budget for Saint John City Transit is just over $5-million. Whereas the City plans to spend $8.4-million on improvements to Simms corner - one intersection! Imagine what a difference it would make if that expenditure alone was matched with a similar $8.4-million investment in expanding and improving Saint John transit! Not only would this cause sober second thought to new road expansion projects but it would shift the thinking of our Councillors and Planners when it comes to our transportation system. When the city plans new roads for the east side shopping district, is public transit the priority? Of course not.
If this occured, budgeting would change dramatically and put a priority on the reach and quality of public transit. More people would use it and less people would own, operate, and store cars. Saint John would not require more parking, we would not need any further road expansion or intersection redevelopment beyond upgrades to overcome deterioration, and our road budget would focus on improved quality and maintenance for the vehicles that remain on the road."If Henry Ford had simply listened to his customers, he would have made a better buggy whip"
I am not suggesting simply a bigger version of the transit system we have now as most of us do not consider this to be a positive experience at this point and certainly not enough to get us out of our cars.
I am proposing that we invest heavily into our transit system to make it a service that we all will want and prefer to use, which is currently not the case. Like a business serving its customers, what level of service needs to be provided to get us out of our cars?
- A system with much greater capacity that will move us comfortably, efficiently and quickly where we want to go,
- Allow us to be online while we travel,
- Eliminate road rage and drastically lower the costs to our pocketbook and our environment,
- Let us check online or by phone for accurate transit ETAs so we avoid the disruption transit often causes.
Who thinks it is reasonable to move ourselves 20 kms in 45 minutes? If you live on the border of Rothesay and Quispamsis and travel to Saint John Centre (approximately 18kms) to work during peak times it will take you 25 minutes to drive, 5-10 minutes to park (if you have a reserved spot), and 5-10 minutes to walk to your workplace. Is this reasonable?
In 2008 it cost Saint John $345 per person to maintain roads in the City alone. Add to that the cost of maintaining our highways, cars, etc and the annual investment in maintenance alone is in the tens of thousands of dollars every year for each of us.
It currently costs $780 for a full year of riding the bus system in our city. What if major improvements to the system, improvements that effectively connected us with Moncton and Fredericton and an even wider transportation grid, resulted in that figure doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling? Our out-of-pocket transportation costs for each of us would still be only a fraction of what it costs us today.
We approve of these expenditures in road construction because driving our vehicles is what we do now. What will it take for us to see our options differently and start to truly plan for the future?
Saint John (with its neighbouring communities) should set itself a goal to establish ourselves as the best transportation system for a city of our size in the world. We can leave the road maintenance budget alone but let's start by legislating that all funds allocated to new road construction or expansion be matched with an equal amount contributed to the public transit budget for expansion and quality improvement for its users. Is there a better way to rationalise our transportation priorities in the 21st century?
