In the grand scheme of things, it isn’t much—the $105,000
Transport Canada awarded the Halifax Regional Municipality this month
through its ecoMOBILITY program, plus $140,000 from the
Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission and Conserve Nova Scotia, could
only buy half a bus.
But it’ll help.
The ecoMOBILITY program gives money to cities and towns that have
what are known as transportation demand management (TDM)
projects—projects that aim to shift people out of one-person-per-car
travelling and into more eco-friendly transportation methods like mass
transit, bike riding and walking.
The city of Halifax has a TDM project. It applied for funding from
the feds back in May and the $155,000 award is the half-bus-equivalent
reward.
The ecoMOBILITY grant gives $50,000 to the city to launch a pilot
Guaranteed Ride Home program—free taxi rides home for workers who
need flexible hours—and $55,000 for what Roxanne MacInnis, TDM
planner for the city, calls the “migration fund”—money that will be
used to research how the city can get funding to put towards
sustainable transportation. MacInnis says these smaller programs were
chosen by the city because there’s barely been any research into either
and the funding gave them the opportunity to start.
Laena Garrison, TRAX co-ordinator for the Ecology Action Centre,
thinks putting the money towards a Guaranteed Ride Home program is
“fantastic.”
“Often, not having a guaranteed ride home is a major impediment to
people using public transit or carpooling because they think, ‘Oh my
gosh, well what if an emergency happened? Or what if I had to stay late
at work—how am I going to get home?'”
It’s not clear how often such emergencies or late nights at work
actually happen, but it’s peoples’ perception that matters.
Garrison adds that about 10 years ago, when TRAX was just beginning,
the EAC did surveys to find out how employees were getting to and from
work. They discovered the lack of a guaranteed ride home was
significantly deterring people from using public transportation or
carpooling.
“So I’m really glad to see that they’re doing a pilot program,” says
Garrison. She says it’s a nice complement to the HRM SmartTrip program
(hrmsmarttrip.ca), a ride-sharing
website for carpooling in the city.
But Garrison’s quick to add the city needs an integrated,
sustainable transportation plan in order to seriously address the issue
of transportation within the city.
“And to go along with that, we need dedicated funding for public and
active transportation—annually,” she says, with an exasperated
laugh.
Garrison points out that, in the press release announcing the
ecoMOBILITY money for the city, mayor Peter Kelly said “aggressive
measures must be taken to encourage other commuting methods,” which she
fully agrees with, but says actions like cutting the bicycling budget
don’t sing the same tune.
MacInnis says the “aggressive measures” refer to the migration fund
and the different ways it can possibly get money for the city’s
sustainable transportation. And who can make that money for a city? Its
citizens.
“A good example is the bridges, with their tolls,” says MacInnis.
“People are required to pay to use the bridges. But there’s a bunch of
different things you can do—we don’t know what this will involve at
this point; we have no idea how this fund will be funded.”
MacInnis isn’t necessarily saying increased bridge funds will pay
for transit, but she’s saying something has to get the
money—increased bridge or transit fares, or more provincial or
federal funding.
The only thing that seems certain is that, when the city does find a
way to bring in the money, it will be used for sustainable
transportation projects—maybe even the bicycling budget.
But the research into how to get this money hasn’t started yet, so
asking what the city may use the money for is pointless.
It’s the same deal for the Guaranteed Ride Home program—MacInnis
says she doesn’t know exactly who it will target within the workforce,
when it will begin or how it will run. And no one’s been hired to start
the research for either program.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2009.
The Guaranteed Ride Home would help many of those, like myself, who work late into the night (around 2 or 3am). There is no public transportation available, and some employees live out towards Spryfield, Clayton Park, and Bedford. Cabs are too expensive for these individuals who work 5 days a week, and 8 hours a day. Some of these employees are students and can’t afford a car. Plus, those with cars get tickets when parking during their shift due to the ‘winter parking ban’. I hope those involved in these projects realize that there is a massive workforce active in the overnight period, and although the demand for transportation is not as significant as it is during the day time, the overnight and late night workers need to have access to some form of transportation. Especially on Thursday and Friday nights/wee hours, when the clubs are heaving, cabs are no where to be found, or won’t stop, and when employees just want to go home to bed.