Navigating more sustainable and inclusive transportation

Transportation is a hot topic that matters to everyone—whether congested roads, lack of bus service, parking lots at capacity, or sustainable options—everyone has experience navigating transportation failure and success. And like restaurants and professional sports teams, most people think that they could do a better job at managing a transportation system than the professionals who plan and operate it.

Of vital importance to planners and policymakers, citizens and visitors, transportation concerns can win or lose elections and connect or divide communities. Yet, there are huge gaps in the understanding of how transportation policy is developed and whether it is serving the public effectively and equitably.

Simon Fraser University (SFU) Professor of Urban Studies and Political Science Anthony Perl studies policy decisions on transportation, cities and the environment. A prolific and award-winning scholar, Perl has researched transportation in cities around the world and advised governments in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France and the United States. He has also served on transportation and land use oversight bodies including the Board of VIA Rail Canada and the Vancouver City Planning Commission.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Perl was recruited to compile his expertise into a handbook on transportation policy and planning. He immediately reached out Rosalie Singerman Ray from Texas State University and Louise Reardon from the University of Birmingham to develop a volume that would offer more diverse and intergenerational perspectives on the topic.

The result, the Handbook of Transportation and Public Policy was published earlier this year. The groundbreaking volume explores the many ways in which politics influences transportation policy, planning and implementation. It also looks at the role of transportation policy in advancing social justice and ecological wellbeing as well as addressing climate change.

We spoke with Professor Perl about his work.

Why is transportation such an important topic, and, why is it often overlooked by governments in favour of other priorities?

Transportation is an enabler of almost every aspect of our social and economic activity. Mobility is deeply embedded in our lives.  And most people want more of it, but also want to see, hear and feel less of the noxious byproducts of transportation – from noise to air pollution to climate change. That is a tall order for governments, which typically have to make costly investments up front to change transportation options, with improvements not becoming noticeable for many years after the money has been spent. It is thus no wonder that most governments look to address problems that are cheaper and quicker to solve.

The Handbook considers how the design and delivery of transportation should be approached with an equity lens. How did you gather diverse perspectives for the volume, and how could transportation be considered in a more equitable way?

We recruited 38 contributors to help us develop a more complete picture of what the burdens and benefits of transportation alternatives mean for people in diverse circumstances. By focusing on the mainstream when it comes to age, gender and levels of ability, policy makers often adopt a strategy that works best for those who are already doing well, while leaving the less privileged behind.

We wanted to shed light on those who are not well served by transport policies and plans, including future generations who will have to live with the climate consequences of our resistance to moving beyond carbon-based fuels. We still lacked enough input from the global South and less affluent countries, but hope to close this gap in future editions of the Handbook.

How does good transportation policy contribute to social and ecological wellbeing? Are there any cities in the world that are getting it right?

Better transportation can give us more of what we want from life – connection and convenient access to people, goods and services, without destroying the places and the communities that we value. And those promising mobility options depend on coming up with better transportation policy.

In the past 15 years, China has built the world’s most ambitious mobility infrastructure that goes beyond the dependence on driving and flying that have put much of the world on a collision course with climate crisis. High-speed trains link 80 percent of their population, and local trains and streetcars get people around their major cities using electricity that is poised to become entirely post-carbon in future. We have many lessons to learn from China when it comes to transforming transportation, as much as we may differ from them in other respects. This alternative path is explored in the Handbook. 

Do you have a recommendation to fix congestion in the Lower Mainland, generally? Is the solution more roads? More public transportation?

We do not actually need bigger roads, more tunnels or SkyTrains, but we do need better alternatives. From greenways for safer walking and cycling in complete communities to regional rail that can take us from Whistler to Abbotsford, and eventually into the Okanagan, without burning any more fossil fuels, these are the alternative priorities we need. And that kind of change will require new policy at every level of government.

Where can we find a copy of the Handbook?

SFU has contributed to paying for this Handbook to become Open Access in January 2027. From that time forward, anyone will be able to look at our work without buying a copy of the Handbook or checking it out from a library. For now, the book can be accessed for free at the SFU Library online with SFU computing ID.

For more: See Anthony Perl’s interviews on the future of transit in Vancouver.