Trying to get used to a drive-in world
Pedestrians 1, Cars 0. That’s how it looked over the Victoria Day long weekend in Toronto when joggers and cyclists temporarily took to certain major streets in place of cars.
Lanes previously congested with motor traffic were flowing freely with people grateful for the new-found room to roam, a result of the city’s ongoing ActiveTO program.
But Torontonians know well that scores change fast. Last weekend, pedestrians scored a point. Most of the time, however, they don’t. Why? Two words: Drive-in. No one guessed the 21stcentury global pandemic would be 1950s themed. But it seems we are entering a golden age for the following ventures, some retro, others brand-new variations on a retro theme: drive-in movie theatres, drivein restaurants, drive-in churches, drive-in concerts, drive-in art exhibits, drive-in graduation ceremonies, drive-in zoos, drive-in strip clubs.
These are only some of the car-based coronavirus-era activities springing up across the continent to offer society a safe means to congregate. As such, the future of leisure under COVID-19 is in many ways one big drive-thru (even testing for the virus itself is, in some cases, drive-thru).
This is fantastic if you have a car. But it’s a major bummer if you don’t. According to data from 2018, nearly 30 per cent of Toronto households don’t have a car, among them many suburban households. What about taxis and ride-sharing apps? For obvious reasons, a lot of people aren’t comfortable sitting in a car with a stranger right now. (According to a recent U.S. poll, 70 per cent of Americans are wary of taxis and 65 per cent are wary of ride-sharing apps.)
It already stands that owning a car or having access to one is crucial in the pandemic. A car is extremely helpful for grocery pickup and delivery, and getting out of the city to enjoy nature. Now, it’s also extremely helpful in the pursuit of something else: enjoying community and culture.
This trend hasn’t gone unnoticed by people who study cities for a living.
“We are seeing a lot of people opening up streets to pedestrians and cyclists,” says Shauna Brail, an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities.
“But there’s certainly been a push toward moving into vehicle-based activities because it turns out that a car happens to be the perfect container to keep people away from each other, to keep the virus from spreading.”
No doubt these vehicle-based activities are a great innovation. Just because some of us don’t have cars doesn’t mean those who do have them shouldn’t be able to get out and enjoy life. I don’t have a driver’s licence, but my wife does and borrowing a car has allowed us to spend time in nature and drop off paperback mystery novels to her grandmother who lives alone. This summer, we intend to catch a movie at the drive-in and make out in the back seat just as our ancestors did.
But wouldn’t it be great if, in addition to the numerous car-centric activities on offer, our city came up with a few events that the car-less could pursue on foot? Or on a bike? Or a scooter?
Brail says that, in a crisis of the kind we’re facing, leaders provide rapid solutions to big problems. The transition to car-based leisure is one of those solutions — and it’s a good one. But we shouldn’t stop adapting life and culture at the car.
Says Brail: “The one big challenge is that, in rushing to provide these solutions to accommodate for coronavirus, the question is, are our actions unintentionally exacerbating inequality?”
The short answer, it seems, is yes. Right now, it looks like the bulk of ideas for reimagining public life in the pandemic involve a resource that nearly one-third of Torontonians don’t have access to.
How then do we reimagine a public life that everybody can participate in?
One idea: “Ridership on public transit is so low,” Brail says, “there might be an opportunity to repurpose buses for some of these things,” in accordance with physical-distancing measures, of course.
Imagine, for example, riding a repurposed TTC bus through the Toronto zoo or a school bus into an art exhibit. Remember the controversial “Dinner With a View” dining experience under the Bentway last year in which Torontonians dined in individual domes? The event itself may have been in poor taste, but those domes — or something like them — might come in handy nowadays.
Brail wonders if portable domes that “are easy to clean and easily moved” could enable people on foot to enjoy public events alongside people in cars.
Some will invariably scoff at these ideas or brand them far-fetched. But they don’t have to be. A pandemic is a tragedy. But it’s also an opportunity for meaningful change.
“A city thrives on its public life,” Brail says.
“So if what coronavirus does is help us rethink the way we treat public spaces and who has access to them — that’s a positive.”