By Elizabeth Howell
COVID-19 has placed public transit systems and sustainable infrastructure on a “knife’s edge,” argues Carleton postdoctoral research fellow Cameron Roberts.
“The pandemic made people cautious to climb aboard crowded buses and trains and reduced most of our activities to a short radius around our living quarters,” says Roberts.
“Meanwhile, transit systems are reducing service to save on costs with falling ridership, while people who can afford it are buying cars to get the “ultimate personal protection equipment.”
Cameron Roberts, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Public Policy and Administration
Crises such as COVID-19 can spur a radical rethink to help more people if we go in the right direction, says Roberts. In a recent piece in The Conversation, he says he hopes the pandemic is a moment where we think twice about once again spending money on highways and parking lots and instead find ways of encouraging more public transit.
“This could be an impetus to push more towards the local availability of shops and services and the 15-minute city idea that’s being pioneered in France, where you have all this stuff within walking distance or easy transit distance of your home,” he says.