I was rummaging through some statistics this morning about Surrey. Stumbling upon the Transportation graphs, I found something rather bewildering – the stats showed that SOVs, or single occupancy vehicles, were, beating the trend, so to speak, and decreasing in usage in Surrey!
This is quite amazing, especially considering our options out here in terms of transportation alternatives.
It’s a spectacular feat and a wonderful trend. Especially since Vancouver won’t get all the attention now!
Private vehicles were the primary mode of transportation in 2006 of those who commute to work. The share of commuters traveling by vehicle as driver declined from 2001 to 2006. This was accompanied by a complimentary growth in travel by vehicle as a passenger and by public transit. Carpooling activity may be captured by either category of vehicle use since this statistic tracks an individual’s most common mode of transportation.
The primary mode of transportation throughout Metro Vancouver in 2006 is vehicle as driver. This mode is used by a smaller share of the commuting labour force in the inner municipalities of Vancouver, Burnaby and New Westminster. The Metro Vancouver average excluding these municipalities is 75.8%. Surrey is in line with this at 76.1%.
What the paragraph above tells us is that Surrey residents are doing the best they can to go out of their cars with the resources they have. It is the cities of Vancouver, Burnaby, and New West that have some of the best transit in the region – for this exact reason, they were taken out of the equation. So, in terms of comparing our driving usage with other places that have crap transit – we’re about equal. Just imagine our transit usage if we had viable alternatives – like rail or BRT!
Sadly the communities south of the Fraser don’t have much clout to push for an improved transit system. People will only get out of their cars if it makes sense. Rising cost of fuel really is not a factor when the transit rates are also on the up and up.
Hi Paul, sometime since I last dropped by your blog (which is unusual as I refer to you often!) I hope you’re doing well…
My question is – why shouldnt we expect a decrease in SOV usage in Surrey? I mean, I am guessing the increase in transit mode of transportation is in the northern part of Surrey, but still… I concur with you, Surrey needs a much stronger transportation infrastructure, that’s for sure.
I finally met Erika Rathje in person! It would’ve been nice if you had come down for WordPress Camp :)