STEP SIX
Public Transit, and the argument of
Commuting Safely and Efficiently.
From Anastasios
Baxevanidis
Dear friends,
October 27th, 2014 is the date to
VOTE. You can
change your Town, for fair days,
and secure future.
today we are going to
talk about commuting. Commuting is one of the most important socio-economic
activity, any time any where the people engage with, in order to provide, to
secure the life-line for survival or to find, to earn the necessities to
"survive".
In prehistoric times,
people were "hunters and gatherers" and had to search for many hours
to secure the goods for their needs. Today, the needs and wants for the
"modern society", creates exorbitant requirements of valuable life
time and resources to reach the sources of goods and services they need to
satisfy the framework of "the modern life style", using various
commuting modals of transportation from home to work place and back home
(modern hunter and gatherer of essentials and non-essentials).
In the "old
days" all difficulties and constrains of "commuting" were resulted
of natural causes. Today, the political and economic structure differentiates
the social (community) needs, and economic (business) priorities. The essence
of economic equilibrium is cultivated by the "invisible hand with the
stick".
In terms of the
commuting issue, of how it is possible to move people from home to work place
and back home, most efficiently, minimizing costs (monetary, social, environmental, etc), the issue hangs
on the pendulum between partisan policies and social needs.
The unorthodox
practice of land use, creates an apocalyptic pipe-line for the commuters, and
other road users. The monolithic growth model that conceders only the supply
side, helps the gigantisms of monotonic waste land and so the asphyxiation. The
land is blanketed by the bedroom communities, and although they are squared by
four lanes roads, the distance to travel and the plethora of all kind of
vehicles, at least during the rush hours it is rather natural to have that
dishearten flow of traffic. This pressurized flow of traffic consumes priceless
social time, wastes huge quantities of capital, and destroys natural ecosystems
with immeasurable future values. In summation, the dynamism of the problems is due to a unproductive managerial
and political structure.
The York Region is in
the "red", about two billion dollars. The Towns have their own story
to tell you.
Getting back to the
transit and commuting, a few years ago, the Towns, those that, had a hatching
structure of public transit, agreed to amalgamate their systems with that of
the York Region's, and farther consolidated outsourcing the transit services to a private
company. By nature, there are industries in the economic system, and services
in all Government levels that hold the strategic status. These status are
subject to technological advances, and to democratic advances, improvements,
consolidated on the hands of the peoples. Accountability and transparency are
the beginnings of possible under probation acceptable Governments. The
strategic status are guaranteed by the constitution and the freedoms and rights
Act. Any deviation from the principles and the prerequisites constitutes
compromise of the Government's integrity, and there for eligibility. Yes! that
is the way things should be, other wise ?X?$&$#$.... One would expect that
the purpose of the outsourcing was to benefit the public monetarily and
ethically by supporting the environment.
The present operation
of this Transit system, cannot convince many, of being serious of implementing
policies that could increase the ridership and pull vehicles off the road. To
achieve outcomes like that, all concerned parties must disregard short run
political and financial benefits.
Transit investment is
a long run proposition, like any other public infrastructure, and it should be
build prioritising the welfare and the essential needs of the public.
Nothing justifies the
present fare structure of the Transit System given the competitive environment
of the commuting "market". The total marketing strategy is looking
the other way of the real issues and goals the transit system should have.
Both lines, the Yonge
street and the HW#7, fail the long run public investment and utilisation
criteria, in terms of public service, safety, and environmental benefits. It is
arrogant, abusive, and compromising, to say the least, wasting public money designated
for long run investments but with short run benefits to special interests
groups.
I would encourage the planners, and the decision
fabricators to stop building palaces for themselves, and throwing the public
under the incompetence bus system....
With great respect and
expectations
Have a hopeful day
Anastasios Baxevanidis (BA, MA)
Economist
E-mail: anastasiosbaxevanidis@gmail.com
E-mail: aithrios@gmail.com
Blog:http:anastasiosbaxevanidis.blogspot.ca
