Opinion –  Alex Cameron

This is an opinion piece – and I think it should provoke some disagreement! I would love to see some discussion on the ECA Google Group, and if somebody wants to write another column with a different opinion – I would love that even more.

This article will focus on “people transportation”. Future articles will look at other aspects of transportation – key among those – “goods transportation” – the trucks, trains, and aircraft that deliver goods both locally and over longer distances.

Lets define “green people transportation” as transportation with low or zero GHG emissions that allows  individuals and families to conduct their lives: go shopping, get to work, visit friends, and just generally go about their business.

I consider “green people transportation” to be far more difficult to achieve than Zero Emission Buildings. That’s because we need to deal with some tightly coupled issues that just make it more complicated:

1. Self Image
   Few, if any, people see the way that they heat and cool their house as part of their self image. That is not the case with transportation. There are a lot of people who think of car and motorcycle transportation as a key part of their self image, including their “freedom”.  
2. Urban Design
   In 1908, Henry Ford introduced the Model T – the first mass produced automobile. One hundred and fourteen years later, I think even the hardest-core “car guy” would admit that cars have affected a ton of aspects of city design in a negative way. We have a lot of paved space used solely for parking, not to mention having lots of streets that are very focused on car use – and not on the other users.
3. Urban – Rural Divide
   For a politician looking for a divisive issue, this is an issue that is perfect for dividing urban opinion from rural opinion. I think it is 100% possible to look for solutions that work for both – but that is a harder job – and not as easy as simply “pumping up the volume” on being divisive.

So, it is hard to talk just about reducing GHGs from personal transportation. You need to deal with differing views for what cities will look like in the future, you need to ask people to think differently about their self image, and you need to understand that the solutions for green people transportation in a rural and an urban environment may well need to be different.

What are the main options that are currently available for people transportation in urban places like Etobicoke?

1. Public transit – the TTC and GO. Depending on your personal mobility, where you live in Etobicoke, where you shop, and where you work – this may be either a really good option, or not realistic at all. In many cases, it will be somewhere in between.
2. Walking and rolling – walking, cycling, skateboards, scooters, etc.  As with public transit, this may be a good option, not realistic, or in many cases it will be somewhere in between.
3. Traditional motorized vehicle – a car or motorbike. Currently, the layout of the city is very focused on this as a primary source (with public transit and walking playing supporting roles) of transportation.
4. Ride-Sharing Services – things like Uber and traditional taxi services.
5. Non-traditional motorized vehicles – things like e-bikes, e-scooters, e-unicycles.
6. Long Distance Trains – Via Rail.
7. Long Distance Buses – things like Coach Canada, Ontario Northland, and Megabus.
8. Airplanes. Yikes – from a green point of view these have very high GHG profile and we would like to avoid when other options are available.

As soon as we make this list – something starts to jump out at us:

1. Intra-City ( Short Distance / Medium Distance) has more options.
   One set of these options is focused on shorter  and medium distances – within the city. So, these are the options that must work well together in dense population areas.
2. Inter-City (Long Distance) has fewer options. The other set of these options is much more focused on traveling longer distances.
3. The traditional motorized vehicle is the only form of transportation that is widely used for both Intra-City ( Short Distance / Medium Distance) and Inter-City (Long Distance)  use cases.

A little bit of research, and we end up finding out that “Canadians love their cars, but they hardly ever use ’em”. When you look at these statistics – it starts to become pretty clear just how expensive it is to own a car – without even including the environmental impacts. But many people currently have no other choice:

1. If they want to go out of town to visit friends, a cottage, a ski resort, or anywhere like that, there really is no viable alternative in Ontario to the car. Is there?
2. If you are going to Costco, or to the supermarket for the weekly grocery shop, could you really get all that stuff home some other way than by car? I know – people will suggest a cargo bike – and I think that for a subset of people – that might work. But for many people, a motorized, protected from the weather, option is always going to be what they want.

So, I think that leads us to a conclusion something like this:

1. We are already at a point where urban residents can use their cars less. I think many of us have already tried to reduce our car usage. Keep it up. This makes sense. Walk and roll when you can. Take public transit when you can.
2. Leave the car parked. When you need to take the car out, try to be mindful about it, plan your route. How about considering carpooling with others? Can you and some friends or neighbours use a single car trip to accomplish several errands, and thus reduce the traffic on the streets, as well as reduce the GHG impact?
3. If you currently don’t own a car – don’t buy one. It should just continue to get easier to not need one. And  they are expensive.
4. We need to keep the pressure on our governments to continue to fund the evolution towards “complete streets” – that is – “streets should safely accommodate all users – pedestrians, cyclists, transit services and motor vehicles – and also support and enhance local neighbourhood context and character.” 
   
   This likely means lower speed limits on urban streets. Why not? Also, convert a lot of streets to one way – so that you can use the space to segrate “heavy motorized”, “light motorized”, human powered wheels, and walkers into separate lanes to deal with with velocity and exposure profiles.
   
   Martin Green, one of our core team, expands upon this:
   
   [In addition to complete streets], I think it is even more important to have complete (15-minute) communities. In much of Etobicoke, the only viable way to get to shops and services for daily needs is to drive – it’s simply too far to walk or cycle, especially as we get older.
   
   A major change in planning strategy (Official Plan) is needed to both increase density in existing neighbourhoods (with up to 5 or 6 storey buildings) and provide affordable space for small businesses (shops and services) within a 15 minute walk of any residence. Even high density areas, where tall condos are becoming dominant, have inadequate local shops and services, and the problem is only getting worse. A redevelopment proposal for Six Points Plaza will replace the heavily used shops and services with more than a thousand condo units, Cloverdale is to go the same way, and construction at Humbertown has already started. Before long, we will all have to drive to Mississauga just to get milk.
5. Have a hard look at using things like Mobility as a Service, or taxis, or ride sharing. If your use case for a car is mostly around town, then these things might make sense when you run the budget numbers.
   
   The other part of this is modularity – if your transportation need could be met by a short bike ride, a longer train / bus leg, and a final short bike ride – and the transportation system allowed you to transport the bike, or park it securely on one end, and rent one on the other end – that would mean less hanging around for crummy public transit connections, as well as being good for you to get out and get some exercise. I think modularity and Mobility as a Service are going to be key.
6. If the primary use case for the vehicle is long trips, in my opinion, if you already own an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) car, and it is well maintained and has reasonable fuel economy, I would be in no hurry to trade it in for a BEV (battery electric vehicle) – especially when your primary destination(s) does not have “fast charging”, or if those destinations are mostly further than the range of your planned BEV.
   
   This is because charging infrastructure is still fairly sparse, and even at a fast charger, it still takes a fair amount of time. So –  these are the “range anxiety” issues that hurt BEVs for me.
   
   BTW – Fast Charging – Yikes – still early days – and I think fairly confusing:
   
   There is a lot of different terminology about this. But the bottom line is that AC charging is slow – (Level 1, and Level 2 which is much faster than Level 1 but still slow) and you need to get to DC for truly fast charging. See the Wikipedia “Charging Station”, “SAE J1772”, and “Combined Charging System (CCS)” articles. 
   
   Note that the Tesla plug is proprietary to Tesla. You can buy an adapter cable to allow your CCS car to charge at a Tesla Supercharger. It appears that the Non-Tesla Supercharger Pilot might be available in Canada. Anybody know for sure? The internet is confusing about this.
   
   I can’t find a reference to show me a cable to plug a Tesla into a CCS charger – but it may exist – and frankly, it is not clear.
   
   So, for me, charging is the issue on long drives. I would encourage rural citizens to be in no hurry to convert to a BEV.
7. If you live in Etobicoke, and if you can afford to, sell one of the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles and get a BEV for running those errands around the city where range anxiety is not an issue. Frankly, this is the path I want to get on – my family owns two ICE cars – and I want to make the case to my wife that we should sell one and get a BEV for running around town. She is willing to hear the business case on this, but I need to finish getting it straight in my own head. 
   
   One of the complexities for me – I am fairly convinced that we need to upgrade our electric panel so that we can add a 40 Amp (or 50 Amp?) circuit for the AC Level 2 charger. Or, do we? Can we manage having a BEV without having a home charger? At any rate, if I decide to do that, and I also decide to add a CC-ASHP, then I will need to also add some Solar-PV – and that means further electric work. Being thrifty, I hate the idea of multiple electrician visits if I can plan for just one!
8. Keep monitoring the technology stack. Some things worth reading:
   1. The 10 Biggest Problems With Electric Cars has a lot of interesting things to say, including dealing with the problem that a BEV is still a car and all the problems associated with being a car in an urban environment. If you have time to read just one link in this newsletter, read this one.
   2. Toyota CEO Defends Combustion Engines: ‘The Enemy Is Carbon’ – This is really interesting. ICE that uses a green fuel. This is research by the world’s biggest automaker – so not to be dismissed.
   3. Hydrogen gas (H2) in general is very interesting – lots of work is going on to make the creation of green H2 cheaper, and much more scalable. Lots of people are talking about using H2 to get to zero-carbon steel manufacture, and to the future of goods transportation.
      
      Some interesting competitions are going on how to use the H2 – either directly in an ICE, or in a fuel cell, or by converting to ammonia – and then using the ammonia in an ICE or a special type of fuel cell.

This turned into a long article. What do I think are the key takeaways?

1. Embrace the fact that urban transportation must change. Embrace using your car less in the city, and encourage the politicians to make this easier to do.
2. If you can afford a BEV for usage in the city, that might make sense. It is far less clear that BEVs make sense for rural folks, or for those who do a lot of long distance travel.
3. Keep monitoring the evolving tech, keep your ICE well tuned (including tire pressures) for those long trips, and watch for the future of long distance personal green transportation to become clearer.
4. Keep up the pressure on the city, provincial, and federal governments to decarbonize and improve public transportation.
5. I honestly think that for the short term you need a fuel-efficient ICE for longer distance travel in Ontario and the rest of Canada. So keep your existing ICE well tuned, buy a more fuel-efficient one, or sell the one you have and rent a fuel-efficient one when you need it.

Thanks for making it to the end – Alex