Media Clipping — Friday, December 1, 2006, The Chronicle Herald, Editorial

Under our wheels

THE high, and growing, cost of transportation in Nova Scotia was usefully identified by a new GPI Atlantic study released Wednesday.

According to the 565-page report, Nova Scotians spend more on transportation than on any other single item, including housing, food or health care. The study found the average Nova Scotian spent $3,036 a year on direct costs, such as vehicle operation, and another $4,562 indirectly, through things like related taxes and the health care costs from accidents. And, GPI says, those costs are rising.

Though more definitely needs to be done to try to slow down this trend, some of the study's recommendations would do more harm than good.

For example, GPI endorses raising taxes on fuel and vehicles, while at the same time lowering non-transportation taxes. In effect, GPI is advocating slapping driving with a "sin tax," similar to extra levies placed on tobacco or alcohol.

The problem, however, as Transportation Minister Angus MacIsaac pointed out, is that many Nova Scotians travel not because they want to, but because they have to. That might be due to their jobs, their residences being far from central service, health care needs or a host of other reasons. The regressive fuel tax increase proposed by GPI would hit lower-income families harder, as well.

The study is on firmer ground in pushing for more accessible land-use policies. And its focus on growing SUV and minivan use in Nova Scotia – travel by those vehicles, which emit twice to three times the amount of greenhouse gases of smaller cars, increased by almost 50 per cent between 1990 and 2002 – highlights an area where progressive government policies, such as incentives for buying hybrids and extra taxes placed on such larger vehicles, could definitely help.

Governments also need to do much more to encourage alternate transportation options, including investing in more comprehensive transit networks and bicycling trails.