Sustainable Transportation

Todd Litman from Victoria Sustainable Transportation Institute is one of the most exciting, passionate, and eccentric person I’ve ever met. This is a good thing, don’t get me wrong. We need people like Todd for encouragement and a hope that is often missing in our society. Heck, without a little craziness, this life would be pretty boring! After biking from downtown Victoria still sweaty, out of breath and a little thirsty, Todd presented to us alternative transportation methods, personal research initiatives, and a personal challenge.

“Paradise is not a distant destination; it’s something we create in our communities.” –Todd Litman

Why do we need the fastest, newest and biggest vehicle? Our current North American lifestyle has forced us to believe we need this. Vehicle ownership is engrained in us. When traffic jams start occurring we just build more lanes! This is called “growth” or “expansion”. A local transportation issue (Malahat highway) is a prime example of this dilemma of whether to expand the number of lanes or to develop a bus system that would transport people. We are hopefully moving towards sustainable “development” in the near future. This involves improving existing systems already in place. For example, in land uses planning some of the new ideas out there include mixed use, smart growth and transit-oriented design (TOD). Personally I like the TOD concept where high density housing and mixed use are built in the region of transit stations (trains and buses) for easy accessibility.

Wheeled Luggage = More Walkability

Problems associated with vehicle transportation: Traffic congestion, Road construction, Accidents and insurance, Parking costs, GHGs, Inadequate physical activity, Lack of mobility for pedestrians. There are many solutions available to these problems we have created. If our transit systems were more efficient, cheaper, had more convenient information and accessibility, than I think people would take them more often. They need to compete with vehicle driving. Having a more positive image would help too. Todd thinks we should make our transit systems sexier! He also suggested we make our bus/train stations more comfortable, safe and fun so everyone would want to take transit. Personally this doesn’t make sense to me. Does he not realize how many bus stops there are in Victoria? I guess the city could clean up a few of the major stations but to improve all of them would cost an arm and a leg. Also, I think improving the transit system by making it more accessible and affordable to more people is what we should be doing first.