With regard to Matthew Claxton’s column (Getting rid of all private cars, not so simple as that) in the Jan. 25 Oak Bay News:
The personal auto is one of if not the biggest drivers (pardon the pun) of the economy. We might need less of them but I’m tired of people talking about them as the evil we know and not looking at the positive side.
The automobile is a necessity for most. Would you pick up your kids from school on the bus and then take them to whatever activity they do? Go to hockey on the bus? Go downtown to buy hundreds of dollars worth of goods on the bus, uber, modo? With the onset of online shopping, my car sits in the driveway a lot of the time while Amazon or the grocer brings me what I need. Oops, they drive a vehicle too.
How many hours are wasted waiting for and riding the bus/transit? Parking? Well, the parking lots you speak of could easily have a green rooftop deck the same size as the footprint the parking lot displaces – that’s all about planning.
There is a large amount of people who choose not to have a car. It’s not mandatory to have one. As for “green” alternatives, modern cars are far less polluting than they used to be and much less than diesel (the most prevalent mode of power for) buses. Electric? Give me a break. Exporting pollution to countries that mine the essential minerals (and lots of them) needed to change to electric vehicles?
Don’t forget that any form of transportation has downsides. Personal vehicles are here to stay for the foreseeable future. They are the best alternative. Maybe not in the form they take now but in some form. Take a look at the huge “tank” our parents/grandparents drove. Look at what we have now. Gasoline is cleaner too. I’m tired of the all-or-nothing argument. There is room for change and improvement. Smaller, more efficient gasoline, hydrogen, hybrid and electric personal vehicles are the way to go. Mass transit for all? No way!
Paul Cooper
Victoria
