I would like to share information on local and regional multimodal transportation policies that can significantly reduce climate emissions and provide other social, health and environmental benefits. This is important because motor vehicles are, by far, the largest emissions category in our region, representing about half of all GHG emissions (see graph below), and automobile-oriented transportation systems impose large and inequitable costs on households and governments, and contribute to health risks and habitat loss. More multimodal transportation planning can provide significant savings and benefits.
An excellent model for reform is Vancouver’s Climate Emergency Action Plan which include includes ambitious targets (called “Big Moves”) to reduce emissions and achieve other economic, social and environmental goals:
- Big Move 1: by 2030, 90% of people live within an easy walk/roll of their daily needs, called a “15-minute neighborhood,” meaning that most common activities are easily accessible by walking less than 15-minutes. Make low-cost sustainable transportation options easy, safe and reliable for all Vancouverites.
- Big Move 2: By 2030, two thirds of all trips in Vancouver will be made on foot, bike or transit.
- Big Move 3: By 2030, 50% of the kilometres driven on Vancouver’s roads will be by zero emissions vehicles.
- Big Move 4&5: By 2030, cut in half building emissions and reduce new buildings embodied emissions by 40%.
Our region has many 15-minute neighborhoods. Transportation efficiency and affordability require that the majority of future housing development occur in those areas, rather than in automobile-dependent urban fringe locations. Achieving this will require both transportation and land use policy reforms, including permission for more compact and affordable infill housing, and reducing or eliminating parking minimums.
Local and regional policy reforms can help make this happen. The CRD Board will be discussing transportation policies at today’s meeting (https://bit.ly/3oBRDdF). They will explore possible ways to create more integrated transportation planning in the region, and plus CRD’s response to the recently-released South Island Transportation Strategy (https://bit.ly/3gtpx1z).
This is a letter we wrote recommending six specific policies to increate transportation efficiency and affordability in our region. For more information see our Efficient and Equitable Transportation Plan and our Affordable and Inclusive Neighborhood Action Plan. I hope this can inspire discussion among sustainable development advocates like yourselves, so our community can quickly agree on immediate actions.
These are important and timely issues. Please let me know what you think of these ideas and how we might proceed to build broad community support for more multimodal and efficient transportation policies in our community.
Todd Litman (info@citiesforeveryone.org)
Cities for Everyone (www.citiesforeveryone.org)