It is time to dispense with the strange math that attacks the minds of otherwise sensible Edmontonians when it comes to public transit.

City Council members who approved spending over a quarter of a billion dollars on a single interchange are still not certain they want to spend an equivalent amount on 338 new buses and a few related facilities necessary to minimally enhance the less than mediocre level of transit service in this city.

The idea that public transit is a taxpayer burden must be quashed once and for all if Edmonton is ever to be taken seriously as a major city. We must part forever with the expectation that transit fares pay the bulk of the cost of a ride, a notion based on misplaced concern for the non-transit-using public. There is no reason that “user pay” should be the guiding principle of transit budget deliberations, especially not when the same logic is not applied to the much higher and more environmentally damaging infrastructure costs generated by private vehicle owners.

We have no toll roads in Edmonton and no plans to introduce them, despite the record spending currently planned for city roads that are used primarily by private and commercial vehicles. At the same time, we expect transit users—whose choice to take transit reduces the wear on roads and the strain on our environment—to pay ever-higher rates for the privilege of insanely slow commutes, when service is available at all.

And service is not always available, as shift-workers and those whose work sites fall in transit dead zones will tell you. In my own case, although I live close to a major city artery and work in a building only metres away from another, it would take me close to two hours to make the journey in one direction, and this would include walking several blocks. By car, the entire commute takes me about 20 minutes.

I can’t believe Mayor Stephen Mandel is balking at the estimated $9 million price tag for a reduced nighttime transit schedule. Even minimal nighttime service would benefit not only those working late at night but those of us currently forced to share the roads with the not-inconsiderable number of intoxicated drivers who can’t or won’t get a cab home. 

The security concerns raised by transit drivers regarding night service are understandable, but Toronto and Vancouver have much more serious crime problems and still maintain night buses. Edmonton could manage it as well. And to put the cost in perspective, we could run night buses in this city for a quarter of a century and still not fork out as much as we will for the 23rd Avenue interchange.

Granted, the city is finally making progress on LRT expansion, but even here movement is tentative and unimaginative. The south leg, scheduled to open in 2010, will bring Edmonton’s system to just under 20 kilometres of track, an embarrassment for a system that has been in place for 30 years. The next step, a small spur from downtown to NAIT, replicates a number of existing well-served bus routes, meaning a slightly faster commute but no improvement in the reach of the city’s transit system.

Meanwhile, Calgary’s LRT trains travel to the far corners of that city on 45 kilometres of track, and will add close to 15 more within the next four years. And in case anyone in our City Hall needs reminding, Calgary’s LRT started out three years later than ours. If the champions of free enterprise to our south can justify serious investment in public transportation, I don’t see how we can fail to do the same. (And don’t even get me started on bike lanes, where the rabid capitalists also have us beat.)

If the expected $2 per litre gas prices really do change the way we move, and there are signs that this is already happening at a much lower prices, Edmonton needs to be ready for that behavioural shift.

Good luck finding the necessary political will at City Hall.

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