City tops in transit growth: StatsCan

Calgarians are flocking to work courtesy of a green chauffeur in record numbers.
The city’s transit system experienced a three per cent jump in use over the past decade, with nearly 2.4 per cent of that in the past five years — the highest rate of growth in the Dominion, according to a Stats Canada report released yesterday.
Nearly one in seven Calgarians used public transit to get to work in 2006, and much of the transit gains came at the direct expense of the car commute, which dropped 3.5 per cent in 10 years.
“I think we’re seeing a changing trend,” Calgary Transit’s Ron Collins said.
“More young people are using the system, and you don’t have to look further than the price of a car, the price of gas and the cost associated with parking downtown. It’s good on the pocketbook and good for the environment.”
Those in the 15-to-24-year-old age bracket are almost twice as likely to board the green caravans than their senior citizen counterparts according to the report, a welcome harbinger for Sustainable Calgary’s senior researcher Noel Keough.
“Riding public transit makes economic sense, social sense, environmental sense and, I think, younger people are really getting that and hopefully it will rub off on older generations.”
-neil.mackinnon@metronews.ca