Putting Wheels on the Bus: A Report by Environmental Defence and Équiterre

A recent report from Environmental Defence and Équiterre suggests Canada’s federal and provincial governments must use public transit as a tool for reducing nationwide carbon emissions. The report proposes using the Permanent Public Transit Fund to support the operational costs of transit systems across the country, rather than for capital costs. The report asserts that operational funding is the key to improved service and therefore improved ridership.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, decreased ridership meant transit systems struggled to maintain their service times and frequency. The federal government stepped in with emergency funding to keep these systems afloat, helping maintain access to equitable transportation. Now that the pandemic is no longer front of mind, most of this funding has been reduced or cut. What these cuts ignore is that transit is still feeling the impacts from Covid-19, for example, current ridership is still 7% lower than in 2016. Also worth considering is that many people now work from home or work less conventional hours than the standard nine-to-five that our transit systems are built to accommodate.

It's a negative cycle – when transit systems are primarily funded by the municipal government and passenger fares, lower ridership means less services. But if public transit is not well-maintained and accessible, fewer people will choose to use it. To reverse this cycle, we must improve service and accessibility to public transit, increasing ridership and therefore funding. 

Environmental Defence and Équiterre assert that the Permanent Public Transit Fund could help to double public transit ridership throughout Canada and reduce transport-related carbon emissions by sixty-five million tonnes by 2035. The Government of Canada’s goal to reduce emissions can be efficiently achieved through the proper allocation of funding to help transit agencies put their vehicles on the road and justify purchases of newer, more carbon-efficient transit vehicles.

Potential environmental impact (Putting Wheels on the Bus, Environmental Defence and Équiterre, 2024)

We believe that transit accessibility and equitability are key factors in improving ridership and service. Educating youth and providing them with the opportunity to learn about and use transit services are key elements to improving ridership and creating a positive feedback loop between improving ridership and improving service. Youth also often use transit during off-peak times, helping to justify running transit services outside of commuting hours and benefitting all transit users by increasing transit equity.

Furthermore, increasing youth access to transit and transit-related education in Kingston, Ontario has led to continued use of public transit systems as youth aged out of the free pass program. The programs supported by our Get on the Bus movement are fundamental to achieving the goals that Environmental Defence and Équiterre outlined in their report.

Read Environmental Defence and Équiterre’s Putting Wheels on the Bus report here to learn more about how improved transit funding can help Canada reach its climate goals.