THE TRANSIT PLANNING IMPLICATIONS OF INCREASING FINANCIAL DEFICITS

The need for good public transit is generally accepted in most urban communities, this service being justified either as an alternative to other, more costly, transportation investment or as a contribution to the basic mobility needs of a large segment of the urban population. This public acceptance is reflected in the willingness of municipal and provincial governments in Canada to provide financial support for the operating and capital needs of urban public transit systems. Unfortunately, this public financial support has been provided at a time when inflation has been at a fairly high level, with the result that much of the money that was originally intended as an aid to service improvement has been absorbed by the existing transit services in their day-to-day operations. Analysis of these past trends, together with their associated socio-economic changes, suggests that in the future, an increasing proportion of government resources will have to be channelled into public transit simply to preserve the status quo. The case made by this type of argument is compelling and cannot be ignored. This simple extrapolation of past trends, however, ignores the potential impact of possible productivity improvements in the public transit industry. The control of the rate of increase of transit subsidies in the future, it is argued, is most likely to be made by the greater use of reserved rights-of-way, express services, sub-division planning controls and fare by distance systems rather than by new vehicle technology. (TRRL)