We can learn from our peers By John Mutton

Regional Talk
By John Mutton        I spent most of the week in LA on business and I am astounded at the constant traffic issues in Los Angeles County. Indeed we are closing in on that type of a problem here. While congestion only used to occur at rush hour now we have congestion on Saturdays and Sundays, very similar to Los Angeles.

We have so many people travelling one person and one car and given the transit alternatives this will continue. Transit improvements are essential to Durham and the entire GTA, but how do we afford it.

Judging by the amount of empty buses driving around Durham, I am not sure if we are properly deploying our routes and money. Peer reviews of our system by some of the top transit providers in the world should happen so we can get it right from the get go. Light rail is an option I would like to see looked at as we had a great system in the Greater Phoenix Area when I lived in Arizona. It was a simple system, however it worked fantastic and gave good options to all public to travel the major urban centres.

We can learn from our peers, let's not repeat mistakes and let's look at those that have done the trial and error to get our transit system right and maybe, just maybe we will get more people out of the car. A transit ride needs to be easy to understand, clean, safe and faster than a car. These are some of the things that must happen for the public to embrace public transit and support the cost. We can't run empty buses around and be fiscally responsible at anytime.

Till next week
John Mutton
President and CEO
Municipal Solutions - Energy and Infrastructure