I’m sorry I have not written in a while: between raising a kid and having your country’s next door neighbour attack your country, it has been a tiring and stressful time. Make sure you’re subscribed because I hope to get back into the groove of things in the coming weeks.
Canada is under attack by the US, which has placed universal 25% tariffs on its longtime ally and close partner (higher than those placed on China, all while prominent American officials try to get friendly with Russia). These tariffs have a justification that is paper thin and nonsensical, and the damage is and already has begun mounting — In the coming days, people are going to start losing their jobs.
Of course, at the same time, the US president and his band of lackeys have been going around talking about how Canada needs to be annexed and disrespecting our whole nation, not to mention its leaders. This is of course deeply upsetting, if not entirely surprising, and I’m confident Canada and our attitude towards the United States will never be the same.
However, since now is the the time for national unity, strength, and immediate action to protect our country and fellow citizens, I want to make the case that transit has never made more sense. We need to invest (and continue investing), and increase the scale and scope of our investments in public transit across Canada. That means more projects (with a serious effort given to cost control), and investments and new frameworks to ensure long-term sustainable funding to actually operate systems (with a serious effort at national standardization and operating efficiencies).
Transit Supports Jobs
For one, transit agencies across the country already provide well over 100,000 jobs, and that number could grow rapidly by running more service, which could have lots of immediate benefits. We could also honestly benefit from some more well-paid customer-facing staff, especially in our biggest cities where making it easier for tourists to get around would help encourage more travel and make riding more pleasant for everyone (helping older people reload their fare card etc.).
Transit Lowers Costs
One of those big benefits of running more service and thus making transit a better option for more people is lowering costs. No matter where you lie on the three-trucks-to-car-free spectrum, you stand to save money pretty immediately by taking the trips you can on transit — Even if it’s a few a week, or to sports games and concerts. I think this is broadly under-appreciated, but gas and vehicle depreciation are already expensive things, not to mention maintenance, insurance and parking. All of these things are tied to car use, not actually having the car. As people rely on their cars less and less, they can pare down the number they have, while keeping virtually all of the flexibility (it’s amazing how little real added flexibility multiple cars give you over one car). All of the saved money is money we don’t need to spend on foreign oil — and let’s be honest, mostly foreign cars, the majority of which are made in the country currently attacking Canada.
Transit is Domestic
By comparison, transit is, and can be almost entirely domestic, with us certainly not needing to rely on the US. Canada already has two big (and yes, perfectly fine) bus manufacturers in New Flyer and Novabus, we also do have super substantial domestic rail rolling stock manufacturing capability with Alstom (we clearly do need to whip them into shape though). We can of course also buy tons of good transit vehicles from our European and Asian allies, we just need to make sure the likes of CAF, Stadler, Siemens, and Hitachi aren’t building trains for us in Trumpland. There’s also a lot of potential to make more use of domestic steel and aluminum to build these trains, vehicles, and infrastructure for all of it.
But transit isn’t just physical things — Canada is increasingly relying on enormous amounts of consultants to plan and execute transit projects (learn more here). Many of those consultants / firms are American (why we would choose a country with worse and more expensive transit projects for this work is another question). The trade war is yet another reason to build state capacity and bring stuff in-house, and what can’t be brought in house should go to competent international firms like Systra.
Transit Differentiates and Strengthens Us
Something that you learn after living in Canada and talking to a lot of people here is that things like good public transit, public healthcare, and decent people are why people move to Canada. There are often “Americanizing” forces in Canadian politics, trying to convince us that bigger cars, less regulations, and unfettered consumerism inspired by the US is the answer to making Canada a better country for its people. The secret is that so often, what makes this country great is what differentiates us. You might not get paid as much here, but you won’t go bankrupt if you get sick and you get to ride frequent trains and buses in most of the big cities.
Toronto, my home, shows the immense value that is unlocked by frequent and comprehensive bus service — an investment in service that employs lots of people and uses lots of Canadian-made buses, and makes people’s lives much more affordable. At the same time, we are building new rail services using Canadian-made trains and trams.
Now more than ever is the time for more, and better transit.
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