I, like Tim, also experienced the same excitement when I got my license. The first thing I did was cruise around the city in my parents' car with my friends, race a taxi (I lost) and see what happened when I pushed the pedal to the floor. (Sorry, Mom & Dad, but you probably wouldn't have let me do that while you were in the car with me). And at this point, I too felt little regard for the environment.
Driving was the norm for me when I was growing up. We have always had two cars back home, my parents drive everywhere and I rarely took the bus. We had bikes, but they were used only recreationally and it was only when I left home for Trent that I started to appreciate their usefulness as methods of transport. I predict that if cycling and other alternative methods of transport been something my parents used regularly, my approach to cars growing up would have been much different.
The point I am trying to make is that instead of trying to make alternative transportation more attractive to youth, we should perhaps focus on making it more attractive to their parents.
Although my case is not shared by everyone in the world -- I was lucky enough to be born into a family that can afford two cars -- there is a large segment of Canada's population that I do share such an experience with. But imagine if, as you grew up, your parents took the bus regularly or biked to work? And they did this not out of financial necessity, but because it was "cool" (as Tim recommended) or convenient. I reckon that many of us would make the same choices. After all, we tend to do learn a lot from our parents.
This, of course, is a challenging prospect. My parents are both hovering around their 60s, have been driving cars for most of their lives and are not about to hop on a bike to ride 20 km in a Winnipeg winter. Inspiring change in older generations is much more difficult than doing so with, say, relatively poorer university students.
But it can be done. There is a wonderful CBC documentary called
Pedal Power in which it highlights a prosperous Vancouver businessman who bikes every morning to his downtown Vancouver office building. Because of traffic he gets there in less time as he would by driving and he gets a nice workout, too. But we know these advantages already. What is really important is that the infrastructure was put in place to make this attractive, like dedicated bike lanes and bike paths. Young people like Tim and I might be prepared to ride on the roads with cars, but getting someone in their 50s to do so would be far more difficult.
But bike paths aren't everything for him. When he arrives at his downtown Vancouver office, he store his bike safely in a locked, fenced in area, and he can store his stuff in a locker. And the best part? There are showers available so he can clean himself off and not dirty up his suit on his way to work. The combination of everything makes it attractive, convenient and, perhaps the best part, kind of cool because he can differentiate himself from the pack. After all, how many of his work buddies are biking to work?
Bus travel, too, could also be made far more attractive. If more money and effort was put into making buses comparable to a luxury car, I imagine ridership would increase immensely. Imagine things like cupholders, nicer seats, even TVs on the bus?
And longer travel like GoTrain or GoBus in the GTA could also be made more attractive. A friend of mine pointed out that he would definitely take a four hour trip on Go if free wireless internet access and plug-in outlets were made available on every ride.
If we make alternative transportation choices more comfortable, convenient and cool, people will start to pay attention. As Tim said, the economic, environmental and health benefits just haven't caught on. But making them attractive just as they are and without an added reason might be what we're missing.
And if the older generation starts to pick it up, just wait and see what the kids start doing. Unfortunately, I don't think it works the opposite way quite as well. My parents expect me to take alternative transportation because I simply can't afford a car. Alternative transportation appears to be something you grow out of, either by age or wealth, so expecting my parents to start using it because their son is might be a longshot. It isn't like an iPod or Facebook.
But it doesn't have to be something you grow out of. Instead, we should make it something we grow into.
