Media Clipping — Thursday, November 30, 2006, The Chronicle-Herald

It's expensive to get around

Transportation single largest cost faced by Nova Scotians, report says

By BRUCE ERSKINE Business Reporter

Transportation is going the wrong way in Nova Scotia, according to a new report released Wednesday by GPI Atlantic.

"The current way that we measure progress can be very, very misleading to policy makers and send very, very inaccurate signals to policy makers and to the general public," Ronald Colman, executive director of the non-profit research organization, said at a news conference in Dartmouth.

The 565-page report on sustainable transportation is part of a progress index that GPI is compiling to measure its economic growth and social and environmental costs.

The three-year study concluded that when all the numbers are counted, transportation is the single largest cost for Nova Scotia households — higher than housing, food or health costs.

And it's still on the rise.

"Transportation is becoming less affordable," said Mr. Colman.

He said the average Nova Scotian spends about $3,036 a year on direct costs such as vehicle ownership and operation, transit fares and parking, and another $4,562 in indirect costs, including related taxes, health costs associated with accidents and the effect of pollution.

"Transportation is contributing a very large and growing proportion of our greenhouse gas emissions so if we want to take action on climate change, there's probably no sector of our society or economy that deserves greater attention," he said.

The study pinpointed three main factors it says are driving Nova Scotia's transportation system away from sustainability:

• Increased low-density urban and suburban sprawl, which encourages more car travel;

• Higher truck freight traffic. The report says truck freight increased by 66 per cent in Nova Scotia from 1990 to 2002; and

• The trend toward driving minivans and SUVs, which GPI says produce far more greenhouse gas emissions than cars.

GPI recommends a number of measures to counter these trends, including:

• Revenue-neutral tax-shifting. Fuel and vehicle taxes would increase, while non-transportation taxes would be lowered;

• Pay-as-you-drive pricing that would convert fixed vehicle charges, such insurance premiums and registration fees, into mileage-based fees; and

• Accessible land-use development policies.

The report concludes that such policies would reduce vehicle mileage and fuel consumption and increase the use of alternative transportation.

"How about if employers, instead of simply offering free parking to their employees, as so many business establishments do — which favours driving —how about if those employees who chose to bicycle, walk, take mass transit to work, who didn't need that parking space, could cash out the value of that parking space?" said Mr. Colman.

"That would create a positive incentive to use transit."

Dave McCusker, Halifax Regional Municipality's transportation manager, said the GPI report, which got $15,000 from HRM as well as funding from Ottawa and the province, will help gauge the effectiveness of the 25-year municipal planning strategy.

"These indicators are a really helpful way of measuring that progress," he said, noting that there are concerns about people and businesses locating outside the urban core based on a perception that they are saving money.

"A lot of those decisions are not fully based on all of the costs that they actually incur."

Stephanie Sodero of the Ecology Action Centre said the GPI report confirms the work that the environmental group has done in promoting sustainable transportation such as cycling and walking.

But provincial Transportation Minister Angus MacIsaac said Nova Scotians who live way from urban centres shouldn't be punished for the distances they have to travel.

"It's a fact of life that you do have to travel to hospitals," he told reporters before cabinet Wednesday.

"You do have to travel for services in central areas. You have to travel to shop. If you are out there earning your livelihood on a Christmas-tree farm, it's obviously not going to be close to a metropolitan area."

( berskine@herald.ca )

© 2006 The Halifax Herald Limited