The individual automobile is used one in two times (52%) for work travel in cities around the world and even more in the United States and Canada, where it is used more than nine times in ten (92%) on average . This is really not good news, neither for health, nor for the environment, nor for family finances, nor even for the quality of daily travel.
All-car driving in North America (minus Mexico) leaves only 5% of transportation to the bus or metro and 4% to active modes. In Asian cities, the bulk of movement is by public transport. In Europe, the models coexist, with certain cities in active mobility (like Utrecht, in the Netherlands, where walking and cycling dominate), other cities focused on public transport (like London) and others still where two thirds of trips are made by car (Rome). In Africa, we walk a lot.
Montreal and Quebec, like other Canadian cities, are built around the individual car, a means that has become more widespread in just a few decades. The Quebec metropolis has 71% of trips for work by car, 22% by public transport and 7% by bike or on foot. The situations are similar in Ottawa (72% for cars), Toronto (69%) and Vancouver (70%). In the national capital, on the other hand, the portrait gives more space to the car (81%) and less to public transport (11%) and active modes (8%).
These conclusions come from the investigation by researchers Rafael Prieto-Curiel (Complexity Science Hub in Vienna) and Juan Pablo Ospina Zapata (Universidad EAFIT in Medellín) entitled The ABC of Mobility and published in the magazine Environment International in March. Data from the last decade comes from 794 cities spread across 61 countries, mainly in Europe and North America, where there are 850 million Earthlings.
The economy plays another undeniable role. The expensive car crushes other modes of transport in the richest cities. The study even shows that doubling income in a city increases car travel by 37%, with all the related problems that ensue.
“In reality, what we have done is nothing new,” he said humbly. Duty urban planning professor Juan Pablo Ospina Zapata, by email. City-wide, high income [entraîne] a greater number of trips by car, and active mobility and public transport are then less frequent. » The researcher cites the pioneering studies of Peter W. G Newman and Jeffrey R. Kenworthy, whose Cities and Automobile Dependence (1989). “Successfully collecting so much data from the world was our biggest challenge. »
When we compare ourselves…
Can Montreal really console itself a little with its third of active or public travel? Its results bring it closer to certain European examples, such as Manchester, but move it away from the dynamic model, where walking and cycling dominate, as in Copenhagen (47%) or Bilbao (66%). In Paris, the automobile modal share is constantly declining.
“The example of Montreal speaks for itself,” notes Catherine Pilon, sustainable mobility analyst for the Quebec ecological organization Équiterre. With a public transportation network, most of which was developed in the 1960s, and a cycling network that has seriously developed in the last 10 or 15 years, we stand out from the majority of North American cities. That said, we must not be satisfied with being mediocre, we must aim for rapid transformation, because the urgency of climate, health and security issues requires it. »
The automobile is used for less than half (45%) of transport in Europe, where the combined active share (28.5%, including 22% for the bicycle) and public transport (26.5%) dominate. “When we look at where we are starting from in North America and we look at the European figures, clearly we have a way to go,” says M.me Pestle. Europe is not homogeneous either: some countries and certain cities or regions are doing much better than others. That said, Europe generally does something much better than here, and that is intermodality and integrated mobility. That is to say, the transport options “talk” to each other and complement each other. For example, in the Netherlands, cycling for short distances connects very well with the train for longer distances. »
An unnecessary evil
The private automobile poses enormous challenges to cities, countries and the planet. “The car, especially when used to transport a single person, drains a phenomenal amount of energy, resources and space,” recalls the Équiterre specialist. It has significant impacts on health, the environment, the economy, land use planning and the safety of living environments. We must rethink our trips to reduce those made by car and favor collective and active modes of transport, before even thinking about electrification. Travel by car must be limited to those that cannot be done otherwise. We must reduce the role of the car as much as possible in our cities and our dependence on it. »
The transport sector (and that of road transport in particular) remains the main contributor to GHG emissions in Quebec, accounting for 42.6% of total emissions in 2021. The electrification of transport will certainly not change anything about congestion or ‘urban sprawl.
In contrast, the two other modes of transport studied are only beneficial from the point of view of physical and mental health as well as for the protection of the environment. The financial argument turns out to be just as compelling: walking costs nothing, and an electric bike (which could replace a quarter of car trips in the greater Montreal area) sells between 10 and 20 times less expensive than a car. new, the average price of which now exceeds $60,000.
“I am not surprised to see that people buy a vehicle when their financial situation allows it, not only for the simplicity it offers, but also for the social status associated with it,” emphasizes Mme Pestle. Active or collective transportation, as comfortable, efficient and luxurious as it may be, will never benefit from the billions of dollars spent on advertising by the automobile industry to promote its product and position it as an object to consolidate social status. »
457e out of 794…
The magazine The Economist used research data The ABC of Mobility to classify cities according to the percentage of their active population, that is to say who mainly uses walking or cycling to get around. Quelimane, a city in Mozambique, holds the top position, with 91% of its 300,000 inhabitants in active mobility. The next fourteen places belong to European cities, including four Spanish cities that appear in the top 10.
In fact, Europe largely dominates this list of active urbanity. The first North American cities on the list, all Mexican, arrive in 118e place (Guadalajara, with a score of 39% active mobility), San Miguel de Allende (165e) and the capital, Mexico City (184e). You have to wait for 362e place to see the first city in the United States (Ithaca, with 20% active travel) and the 382e for the first Canadian mention (Victoria).
Quebec occupies 441e position (with 8% active transport, as in New York) and Montreal 457e place (7%, like in Boston). From there, 327 of the remaining 337 places at the bottom of the list and so unenviable belong to North American cities. In Memphis (774e place), a city of 1.3 million inhabitants, only 1% of trips are made on foot or by bike.
Mr. Ospina Zapata admits to having been surprised to note that even in small North American towns (he cites Casper City, in Wyoming) all trips are made by car, whereas, in towns of similar size in his country, in Colombia, people go on foot. “In American cities, the modal share varies little, most people prefer the car. The current balance between active mobility, public transport and cars in some cities does not guarantee a sustainable future nor does it show that cities are moving in the right direction. »
