Transit a service for those who need it most

Re: Transit struggles as cars rule the road — Nov. 30

The latest census data shows 80 per cent of Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo commuters drove a car, truck or van to work in 2016. That’s unchanged since 1996.

John Cicuttin, regional manager of transit development, doesn’t see that as evidence that drivers will never abandon their cars. He cites passengers with briefcases and laptops that he sees at bus stops.

Sorry, but I feel I must state the obvious here. The passengers Mr. Cicuttin sees with briefcases and laptops are students, or those who live along a convenient bus route, close to work, and have no need for a personal vehicle during work hours. That’s a small percentage. The census tells us 20 per cent, which even seems high.

The reality matches the data; the vast majority of us do not live along a convenient transit route that gets us to work in a timely fashion. I consulted with regional transit staff a few years ago and they agreed that it would be silly for me to take GRT to and from work, a 13-kilometre trip. I could literally get myself to and from work three times faster by car and at a similar cost, not to mention that I would be stuck at work over lunch and couldn’t run errands.

Public transit is a service, provided through taxation, which provides those who can’t afford personal transportation a means of getting around. The issue shouldn’t be “we need more passengers,” but rather, how can we provide adequate service for those that need it in the most cost-effective manner? I doubt it’s with our white elephant LRT; that was just the political solution. Mark Brown Cambridge