Encouraging B.C. residents to get out of their cars and onto public transit might be a key to building a greener urban landscape. But riders are paying a premium to take public transit.
According to Statistics Canada’s consumer price index (CPI) data, it is relatively cheaper to own and operate a car than to take public transit in B.C.
The data shows that the cost of taking transit in B.C. has risen more than 54% since January 2000. By comparison, the cost of owning and operating a private vehicle has risen 31% in the same period, and the price advantage for drivers has widened in recent months.
The widening price gap in favour of automobiles didn’t always exist. B.C. drivers can thank the global financial crisis.
Prior to 2008, with fares remaining below the average cost of driving a car, taking transit was generally the more affordable transportation option.
In fact, leading up to the financial crisis, the price gap between taking transit and driving was widening in favour of transit as gasoline prices continued to rise to record levels.
But transit’s price advantage disappeared with the rise in fares in 2008 and has continued to shrink with each fare increase.
While transit riders faced higher prices, drivers enjoyed the opposite. After gasoline prices peaked in 2008, they plummeted during the subsequent Great Recession and have remained below peak for much of the past half decade, although they had essentially returned to near-peak levels as of February 2013.
But offsetting painful gas price increases has been the uneven recovery of new auto prices in Canada.
CPI data shows that prices have bounced between 5% and 10% below 2002 prices over the past few years and only in the past year has it seen a steady rise.
But even if the price of gas and automobiles continues to rise, transit in B.C. will still be relatively more expensive than driving following the latest Metro Vancouver fare hike instituted in January. With talk of reduced service, which will lead to longer wait times, the cost and convenience of driving might still be worth it for now. •
