Re: New form of rail transportation

[amorton@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au (Anthony Morton)]

>> In any case it only snows in winter; you still have to explain why
>> people still flock to the buses in summer.

Bill Bolton <billboltonREMOVE-TO-EMAIL@computer.org> wrote:

>Winter travel patterns tend to set overall the annual usage in cities
>which experience significant winter snow fall. Boston in another
>example of this effect.

Here's what Mees has to say about snow in 'A Very Public Solution' (pp 182-3):

An obvious difference between Melbourne and Toronto is the latter's colder
winter and snowfall.  Some Australian transport experts have claimed that
climate is a major reason why the success of public transport in Toronto is
not reproducible in Melbourne.  Stuart Joy, in a submission prepared on behalf
of the Victorian Government for the [Industry Commission's] Urban Transport
inquiry, committed this view to writing: "Toronto is above the snow line, and
for a considerable period each year residents who can are encouraged to use
the rapid transit railway to downtown, with its underground passages
connecting downtown stations to major buildings."

When I visited Ontario in 1994, I put this idea to the transport and urban
planners I met.  All reacted with scepticism, responding that, if anything,
it should be harder to persuade people to use public transport in inclement
weather.  The same snow and ice that covers the roads also covers footpaths,
and even a short wait in the open for a bus or tram is extremely uncomfortable.
I have only had the experience of waiting for a bus in temperatures below
minus 10 degrees once in my life, but it was enough to illustrate the point.
Public transport patronage on the TTC is actually lowest on days with heavy
snowfall and in extremely inclement weather (for example, during January
1999), the system shuts down.

My informants also disputed the image of Toronto as a city snowbound for
months each year.  The Canadian Encyclopedia describes Toronto as having "a
fairly mild and humid climate by Canadian standards, though with some
changeable extremes."  Fodor's Guide to Canada describes Toronto's weather as
"the same as in the northern United States."  "Heavy snowfall," the
Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on Toronto reports, "is rare, even in January
and February, the coldest months."  Climatic records indicate that snow falls
on forty-five days in a typical year, and that there is appreciable snow
cover for two months per year.  Cities like Detroit and Minneapolis, which
have rates of public transport usage much lower even than Melbourne, have
climates that are similar to or colder than Toronto's.  It was snowing in
Toronto in the winter of 1950, when public transport patronage was much lower
than in Melbourne, and it has snowed every winter since as the two cities
have gradually swapped positions.

Toronto's public transport does appear to have outperformed Melbourne's,
despite the similar urban environments in the two cities.  If the explanation
is not snow, what is it?

Cheers,
Tony M.

Public Transport Users Association           http://www.vicnet.net.au/~ptua