Too Many Cars But Too Few Passengers in Ottawa

More Ottawa commuters are driving to work alone but the City of Ottawa plans to stop it.

Ottawa is considering car pool lanes, preferential parking for vehicles with more than one person and ride-sharing programs, along with a proposal to charge a fee to drive downtown.

In the early 1980s, there was an average of 1.5 people in each car during rush hours in Ottawa, according to studies. This steadily declined to an average of fewer than 1.2 people in each car in 2004. Only a quarter of all cars had more than one person in them.

The city needs to bring in measures to stop and reverse this, that's certain.

Ottawa's numbers roughly reflect the overall picture in North America. However, the city's transportation plan aims to bring the average number of people in each car up to 1.3 people by 2021.

A number of things have contributed to the city's one-commuter-one-car phenomenon, including a rise in relative wealth: More households have multiple cars; gas prices, although increasing, are still relatively low; commuting times are acceptable, and parking for an acceptable fee can still be found in Ottawa.

The conditions for this kind of commuting are really quite ideal in Ottawa.

According to the city report, Ottawa gets a "poor" rating for the decreasing number of people in each car and for fewer commuters who cycle to work.

The city was making "good" progress in increasing transit use and walking; road safety for vehicles and increasing public transit available for disabled people.

The report found the city was doing a "fair" job at optimizing the use of the existing road and transit system and trying to spread peak travel hours over the course of the day.

A number of things have to change if Ottawa wants to see more people in each car.

In some U.S. cities, municipal governments run ride-sharing programs where people can sign up and be matched with partners. Owners of large buildings often do the same. Carpool lanes, preferred parking, fees for travelling downtown and other incentives also play a role bumping up ride sharing.

People have to see a benefit to do it. So if the goal is to be achieved, the incentives must be there.

A complicating matter in Ottawa's case is that the main goal of the city's long-range transportation plan is to increase the use of public transit. However, improved public transit systems generally result in less carpooling because commuters take transit instead of partnering up for rides. And increasing incentives for carpooling tend to take commuters away from public transit use.

So it's a balance. We don't want to be competing with public transit, but we also don't want people travelling by themselves in vehicles, and we will be developing policy to encourage ride sharing.