EconTech

The eh team

We’re #1

OK, I knew that US public transit was pathetic compared with Western Europe; but if you try to talk about Europe, people start going on about population density, as if we all lived in Montana or something.

Anyway, Canada has lots of open space, too — and it doesn’t even have $8 a gallon gas. Yet it still has usable public transit in a lot more cities than we do.

I knew that Canada has better public transit; I had no idea, however, of the bicycle usage rates in some of these countries was so high. Unfortunately, cycling in the US is quite a bit more dangerous than riding in a car or walking. When I was in Botswana, I was surprised by how few bicycles there were (I saw like three the entire time I was there). I attempted to purchase one and couldn’t find a seller, but I was also told by those I worked with that using it would be a terrible idea. The traffic laws were not followed closely enough to make it safe to ride around. My experience on their mass transit (an interesting, privatized system with seemingly minimal public regulation) confirmed that driving on the left side of the road was a rule of thumb, and that the gravel shoulder, the right lane, and even the right shoulder or the grass were all open game if it meant speedier delivery and/or pick-up of new passengers. Yes, this meant that the sizable portion of people who walked kept a good 5-10m from the road.

I mention this because I am curious what drives people in different countries to choose their method of transport. Of course, income will have something to do with it, as well as road quality and the price of gas. But what kinds of interactions are there in terms of the differentials road safety, insurance, liability, and traffic law compliance between the various forms of transport. I see a few papers on Google, but I don’t have access to those journals.