Torontonians are in a moral dilemma. They all think there are too many cars on the road, but they shudder at the thought of giving up their own car to save the environment. Too much of their prosperity is riding on their tires for them to bear giving up their automobiles.
So why spend a lot of ad dollars in trying to convince the general populace to ride bikes and use public transit, when the message will likely fall on deaf ears? Any why are there so many cars on the road in the first place?
The answer, from an economic perspective, is that nobody has any incentive to reduce their automobile use. As long as there are nice wide paved roads to drive on, and the price of gas is low enough for households not to cut their consumption, then you better be prepared to deal with the increasing traffic jams and ever increasing smog days in this city.
The simple answer to our traffic problems, according to Charles Whalen, is to raise the price of gas. I agree - along with the incandescent light bulb, the automobile has to be the one of the most inefficient uses of energy by consumers on this planet. Higher gas prices will force people to make better use of their cars, drive less, and improve the air quality around us as a result. Too bad no political party with great ambitions (NDP maybe?) would make an attempt at building a winning platform based on this principle.