Cars still king of the road for Calgary commuters
UPDATED: 2008-03-05 04:28:01 MST

By DOUG MCINTYRE

Car-crazy Calgarians outnumber public transit users almost five to one when it comes to their daily commute, according to census data released by Statistics Canada yesterday.

Compiled from the 2006 census, the figures show 76.6% of the 584,000 commuters in Calgary's metropolitan area drove to work or were passengers in someone else's vehicle.

A comparatively paltry 15.6% relied on public transit, while 5.4% walked and 1.3% used bikes.

The overall percentage of car users signified a slight drop from the 78.6% tallied in 2001.

Yet these numbers belie the fact that bus and C-Train use in Calgary has bucked the national trend, said Calgary Transit spokesman Ron Collins.


Statistics Canada's census data show nationwide public transit use increased a measly 0.5% in 2006, lagging far behind Calgary's boosted ridership, he said.

"In the last 10 years, ridership has increased 50 percent for both the bus and C-Train ... just on the C-Train alone, it's doubled," said Collins.

"Between 1996 and 2006, the share of autos driving into the downtown core at the peak rush hour dropped from 49 percent to 37 percent."

He said the percentage of commuters using public transit during this same period jumped from 32% to 45%, with a usage record set in 2007 at 90.3 million.

"It shows people see the value in taking public transit," said Collins.

Calgary nevertheless stacked up unfavourably against Montreal and its green-friendly commuters, 28.8% of whom made the journey to work by public transit, bike or foot in 2006.

However, Calgary's vehicle reliance fell far behind Abbotsford, B.C., Canada's car-commuting king at 93.2%.

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hmmm, with all this talk about going green, being eco friendly, and helping reduce emissions, I still see people not willing to give up their cars. Like I've said before, any self proclaimed green hippie, or any green hippie for that matter, are nothing but hypocritical nutjobs. They claim to be green, they claim they want to do more for the environment, yet proof is in the pudding, they won't give up their cars to go to work.

I confess, I do take the bus to work. I could careless about the environmental impact, however I do care about the cash I must layout to park on campus PLUS gas PLUS wear and tear on the vehicle. Parking on campus alone can cost up to $115/month.

Anyways, back on topic, on my bus ride to work, I see alot of cars with only one occupant. So much for the green movement !! And that is my point, no one will be willing to give up their luxuries in life for the environment.

Yep. Let's face it: SUV's may be gas guzzlers, but they're in demand because they fill a need. None of these greenie-weenies are going to give up theirs, but they'll walk to a protest and try to make you feel guilty for destroying the planet.

Because child seats are so freaking big these days, I'll be in the market for an SUV soon enough myself.

Just curious....do you guys have HOV lanes up in Canada?

exactly. could it be they expect everyone else to give up their luxury so they don't feel so bad about owning luxury items themselves ?

True, larger vehicles so use up gas more quickly, that is a fact (I should know, my truck guzzles gas like nobody's business ). However, it was a choice I made, and one that i'm willing to live with. On the other hand, these green hippies have been trying to make me feel bad for polluting the environment, but alas it has fallen on deaf ears.

as for HOV lanes, depends on what city you live in. Some cities have implemented HOV lanes, and some haven't. Here in Calgary, there is only one road that has it, and it is only during rush hour.

To me, i honestly don't care if a vehicle has only one occupant or not, but what annoys me is these green hippies tell people to car pool yet it wouldn't surprise me if they drove a car with themselves only in it.

I have no doubts that the greenie-weenies who actually own cars don't carpool. When the HOV lanes came to Tennessee back in the 90s, a study was done years later that revealed that they had virtually no effect on people's driving habits.

What burned me up about it was that Clinton handcuffed the states and forced the issue. Federal funding for roads was cut off unless each state had so many miles of HOV lanes. In the Memphis area (around where I live), Tennessee put them in an area on I-40 where it didn't really benefit anyone to use them as far as saving time goes. They were put in so that the state wouldn't lose federal funding. Thus, they may as well not have been there, other than they make for good fund-raising for the local police. The tickets are quite expensive.

Before the wife & I moved recently, I found HOV lanes convenient for passing cars. I routinely ignored it. If I ever got a ticket, I was prepared to take it all the way to the TN Supreme Court. Someone succeeded in getting HOV lanes removed completely up in the northeast, may have been Connecticut. I was prepared to use the case as precedent.

I remember you mentioning before, environmentalists will use any lame reason to promote their ideals, and the HOV is one of them.

Like your experience, the HOV lanes, when initially implemented, had zero impact on the amount of cars on the road. I remember the police setup traps to nab people with only single occupants, and I think they made a killing.

Truth is, you can make gas super expensive, you can penalize people for driving, it will take alot before people will give up their cars. And realistically, you know how big our countries are, who in the right mind is going to pack up the family bicycle and bike across the country ?

Forrest Gump might make the trek. Otherwise, it ain't happening. We'll just pay more for the gas.

So do you work on a college campus? This enviro stuff was minimal back when I graduated. If so, I'm just curious on what it's like these days & what you've run into.

Yeah, I work at the university. For the most part, there is a few green whackos on campus but not that much, or at least not that vocal. The university did post a blurb on how they bought a prius (as a loaner car) and they plan on buying a few smart cars as well, to be eco friendly.

There is a depart of environmental design, but god knows what they teach there. There are courses on how to promote the environment, but I haven't had time to look or cared to look into that.

I find students/staff are more worried about the political atmosphere, whether the gov't is spending enough money on education and if they are spending it wisely. They are also concerned about getting money for research too.

I just read a local piece here about the University of Memphis. Their tuition is going up around 10%. They were trying to keep it around 7%. It's typical with health care & tuition to increase as 2x + the consumer price index. This just can't continue down this route.

I just don't understand where all of this money is going. Although I know part of it goes to athletic programs, which routinely LOSE money. I was surprised when my brother enlightened me on that one.

He's of the opinion that a major NCAA school will be forced to shut down in the next 5-7 years. Either that, or as one noted economist surmised (forget his name, but he's very popular), 20 years from now it won't even be worth attending college anymore and the lack of demand will shut them down.

There is emails floating around on campus about wage increases and such, and someone mentioned that the university is running a deficit. Increase in wages, plus soaring operating costs doesn't help.

The gov't has promised a cap on tuition increases, but I know when I went to University I was $12 000 in debt when I graduated. Right now, it wouldn't surprise me if that was double for most students.

I guess running a school isn't cheap, the gov't only provides X amount of dollars in funding, and aside from personal donations, the only next source of income is tuition fees.