“Traffic” by Alexandr Trubetskoy is licensed under CC BY 2.0

As a lifelong, driver’s licenceless Winnipegger, I’ve become privy to the ways that car culture is deeply embedded in the fabric of our city. In the years I’ve been reading novels, making conversation with strangers, and thanking bus drivers for getting me from points A to B, I’ve encountered a slew of folks who’d rather pay the hefty price tag associated with driving than take advantage of a cheaper public transit alternative.

I love taking the bus—and yet, I’m not naive to the less desirable aspects of public transit as it currently stands. During Winnipeg’s frigid winters, my legs have become frostbitten while watching wait times change from five minutes to 15 to 30 or more.

These aren’t an inherent failure of buses—they’re a failure of political will. A robust, adequately funded, affordable public transit system greatly reduces traffic congestion, drastically reduces emissions, and improves mobility. Most importantly, it affords everyone a right of access to the city, including disabled people, seniors, and low-income residents.

In the face of the climate crisis, electric vehicles have been gaining traction as a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Yet, despite Elon Musk’s ambitions, it’s evident that electric cars won’t solve the myriad of issues that automobiles cause. Reliance on cars has influenced suburban sprawl, the necessitation of parking lots, and, of course, longer commutes.

Cars also take up an insurmountable amount of urban space. In a 2019 study on parking conducted by the City of Edmonton, it was found that, on average, the maximum usage rate was just 41 percent during the middle of the day. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Cars? Public Transit in the Age Google, Uber, and Elon Musk author James Wilt describes the urban transit crisis as fundamentally one of space. “Space in a city is a zero-sum game; every square foot that’s prioritized to one form undermines the possibility of another,” he writes.

A city with fewer people using cars is one where we can begin to imagine what a city built for people, not cars, looks like. Parking lots can be transformed into community gardens and cooperative spaces that spark more joy than storage for cars that aren’t in use 95 percent of the time do. Public transit itself can become a site of solidarity building between drivers and riders—whether it’s fighting a fare increase or expanding access.

Yet, getting there will require more than policy—implementing frequent, fare-free service is just the tip of the iceberg in cities like Winnipeg and in most of North America, where car culture permeates everything from coming-of-age fantasies to city planning. How do we persuade folks who would rather suffer the inconveniences and price tag of driving downtown instead of hopping on a rapid transit line? Convincing these types to make the switch requires a massive shift in the consciousness of a city toward seeing transit as a universal, public good.

In this sense, driving must be rendered not merely inconvenient, but downright dreadful. This will require actions like reducing speed limits and eliminating parking spaces, while simultaneously propping up a robust public transit system—one that is frequent, low-cost or fare-free, and accessible to all. Crucially, public transit must remain under democratic, public ownership.

An investment in public transit is an investment in everyone’s right to access the city. To make a just transition from the private spaces of cars to the public spaces of transit, we must incentivize the latter while rigorously disincentivizing the former. With frequent service, fare elimination and a move away from car-centric urban planning, environment and equity go hand in hand. We only have to make public transit accessible and irresistible to all.

Photo by Rick Madonik

In Julie Kim’s family, it’s customary to say, “Go safely” to your loved ones when they leave the house,
and, “They came back safe!” once they’ve returned.

Hearing about three anti-Asian attacks on the Toronto subway in the span of three days in April 2021, this family custom, and similar initiatives in the United States, prompted Julie Kim to start Go Be Safe. The crowdfunded program subsidizes rideshares for members of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities who fear being attacked when leaving their homes on essential trips.

Throughout the pandemic, there’s been a surge in attacks against Asians and Pacific Islanders. One week after the Atlanta spa shootings where a white gunman killed eight people, six of whom were Asian, the Toronto chapter of the Chinese Canadian National Council, along with several other advocacy groups, released a report analyzing the racist attacks committed against Asians in Canada since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between March 10, 2020 and February 28, 2021, 1,150 attacks against Asians were recorded by Fight COVID Racism and Elimin8hate. The report analyzes the 643 complaints submitted in 2020, with the rest of the attacks having been recorded afterwards and not included in the analysis. Reported attacks included physical assault, verbal harassment, being coughed at and spat on, and being denied service. Nearly 10 percent of incidents occurred on public transportation.

Kim says the response to Go Be Safe has been overwhelmingly positive. She says that many Asians don’t want their loved ones going out in public by themselves, but they “feel safer knowing that … their parents, sister, brother … grandparents can get home safe” through the program.

As of June 2021, Go Be Safe has raised nearly $10,000 of its $50,000 goal. The program caters to Asian women, queer people, elders, and disabled community members, although Kim says that as long as they have the funds, they won’t deny reimbursement to any Asians who feel unsafe and need a ride.

Go Be Safe functions as a reimbursement program. After taking a rideshare, you can apply for reimbursement of up to $40 per ride, a maximum of three times a week. The program is only open to Asians and Pacific Islanders in the Greater Toronto Area or Great Vancouver Regional District, the two cities with the highest recorded rates of anti-Asian incidents in Canada. Pending more funding, Kim hopes to open the program to all racialized, trans and queer people from coast
to coast.

Currently, Kim is focused on making Go Be Safe more accessible to elderly Asians and Asians who don’t speak English. Materials are being translated by volunteers into Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, and Vietnamese. A couple of Asian restaurants will be posting the translations in their window fronts in the hopes of reaching community members without smartphones.

Kim says that ideally a program like this shouldn’t need to exist, but right now, “Everyone is a target.” She hopes the program will continue to grow and “bring a … sense of relief to people … knowing that someone is … watching [out] for them.”