Barcelona’s example

Re: Bringing Our Trains Into The Late 20th Century, Allan Richarz, May 21. Barcelona, Spain, is a city about the size of Toronto, at least in terms of population. It stretches along the Mediterranean Sea in much the way Toronto extends along the shore of Lake Ontario and includes satellite communities, just as Toronto does.

One can take the metro to the El Prat airport on trains that run every 30 minutes, along two separate routes that are fully integrated into the transit system. A regular one-way fare to the airport is 1.15 euros ($1.56) — it would be three euros ( just over $4) if El Prat was located as far from downtown Barcelona as Toronto Pearson is from downtown Toronto.

In other words, in Barcelona, a trip to the airport is looked upon like any other trip, to church or to the doctor, and not as an excuse to gouge “guests” $27.50 for a one-way ticket. Torontonians will be fortunate if some day they receive half the transit system Barcelona’s citizens now enjoy and pay only twice the price.

Patrick Cowan, Toronto.