By the end of the first paragraph it was deja vu all over again for me. One of my early columns in this domain was titled "Taking steps towards the end of the automobile era". It was published in the Ottawa Citizen on Dec. 9, 1975.

It is now 30 years later, and people are still being exhorted to take the bus, get with it on light rail, join a commuter pool, telecommute, park their buns on a bicycle seat, or take a walk to see if their legs still work.

However, and as indicated in your editorial, even in the face of increasingly dire warnings – no room for roads, loss of land, pollution, whackos behind the wheel, growing maintenance costs, rolling congestion, and other bummers – there is little or no abatement in the propensity to drive, even among seemingly intelligent people.

Worse, there is no leadership on this matter at any level of government in Canada. No city in Canada (including Ottawa) has implemented an alternative transportation strategy of any consequence, and the business community in Ottawa and elsewhere seems to be on snooze control.

It is my impression that what was readily correctible 30 years ago has now gone past the point of no return. As a result, more and more tax dollars will be spent on urban transportation, but the returns on that money in the way of benefits will continue to decrease.

Unless something totally mind-shaking happens, that losing battle is destined to go on, it seems to me, for at least another 30 years before needed structural and functional changes begin to be made.

Perhaps one of us will be around do an "at last, at last" column, or letter to the editor.

Professor Barry Wellar,

Department of Geography

University of Ottawa

Your coverage (June 13) of the issue of needing to understand and participate in the many positive impacts of better transit is right on the money, money, money. If we do this Ottawa Rapid Transit Expansion Plan (ORTEP) right, we will not only save huge amounts of cash (up front!), we will position this city to save operating and capital costs for decades, and in doing so, we'll establish the fundamentals to create a sensible economic (and fiscally sustainable) plan, hence a city that will be cleaner, greener, more inviting (to new residents, business and visitors) and ultimately more liveable for generations to come. Shouldn't that be the goal here?

Jeff Esau's related coverage of this issue on June 6 (Traffic Growth a bumpy Ride for Business) and May 23 (City growth at the Expense of the Environment) were both informative and needed as well.

Getting the word out to business is the right thing to do. The OBJ deserves kudos for encouraging everyone to do whatever they can in playing a positive role in this transformation away from certain gridlock towards a better alternative.

Larry Pegg

Ecoview Developments

www.ecoview.com

We are all in the same boat, I think that the only "motivator" that will shift people's perspective will be higher fuel cost, we see it firsthand when people enrol on the (CarpoolWorld) website.

Isabelle Boulard

Vice-President

Datasphere Corp.

www.carpoolworld.com

I enjoyed your editorial (Come on, people: Take public transit already, June13). You even used the "one-person, one-vehicle" phrase I shared with Daniel Spence during our discussions leading up to Commuter Challenge week (we were sponsors of the fourth day, Share-A-Car Day).

You also mentioned doing carpooling, which is highly uncommon in Ottawa. You said that you can't do it on days when you have "work-related meetings" and "personal appointments." That's not necessarily true. If we had a car located near your office, you could use it for such trips.

I spent the Tuesday of that week at Nortel introducing carsharing (not ridesharing) as a way for them to commute without their car every day, since we could provide cars for just these kinds of workday trips. Carsharing provides access to a car for periods as short as 1/2 hour and one kilometre.

I even made the point that workers who live downtown – and were less likely to own any car – could use the same car to form a carpool for their daily commute. By using a shared car for ridesharing, all riders – along with any other coworkers – can have access to a car during the day (of course, such trips must end in time to allow the car to be used for the trip back).

You see, unlike the other prosletizers active during commuter challenge week, we are focused on reducing car ownership, not necessarily rush-hour driving (although very few of the trips are used for are to commute to a workplace).

Chris Bradshaw

Vrtucar co-owner

systems and outreach

This was an interesting article about the lack of car-pooling, however, the informal survey (on www.ottawabusinessjournal.com) yielded even more interesting information regarding the number of drivers that are acting carelessly by performing tasks other than driving while they are supposedly driving.

I would like to suggest a simple solution to traffic congestion, smog and the under utilization of public transportation – pass legislation that only allows vehicles that have been fully paid for on the road. Overnight we would see a dramatic reduction in the numbers of vehicles on the road.

Bill Bolton