Win! Victoria takes another small step to make transportation, and housing, affordable and sustainable.

Victoria City Councillor Jeremy Loveday

At the urging of Greater Victoria Acting Together (GVAT), Councillor Jeremy Loveday  made a motion to direct “staff to report back at the next update of the Go Victoria plan on aligning the City of Victoria’s vehicle kilometres travelled targets with the targets within the Clean BC plan.” On June 9th Council voted unanimously in favor.

This is an important step as the BC government’s CleanBC target is much stronger than Victoria’s present target for replacing automobile traffic with public transit, walking, rolling, and cycling. The provincial target, adopted in October 2021, is to reduce “distances travelled in light-duty vehicles by 25% by 2030, compared to 2020.”

However, this is only one piece of what we asked Victoria Council to do. They have still not committed to meeting the provincial target of reducing traffic 25% by 2030, or directed staff to consider this target in ongoing decision making regarding transportation and parking. 

To meet this target, a large amount of road and parking space will have to be reallocated to bus lanes, protected bike and roll lanes, and space for walking. More and safer options for people on the move equates to fewer cars, healthier, cooler, more inclusive and more pleasant communities. There are also important mental health benefits to quieter, greener, communities with visible climate action. Reduced need for car ownership reduces transportation expenses, and less need for parking reduces housing costs. 

Eric Doherty, GVAT Climate Team co-lead, has articles in Planning West and the Georgia Straight about the implications of the CleanBC target.

Victoria Council’s vote complements GVAT’s biggest Transportation & Built Environment accomplishment to date – the Capital Regional District’s groundbreaking policy on transportation prioritization, which calls for defunding highway expansion in favor of sustainable transportation. This could see hundreds of millions of provincial and federal dollars invested in electric rapid bus lines, cycling routes, and sidewalks in our region. (If other BC regions follow the CRD’s lead it could result in billions of dollars shifted to public transit.) It could also get climate pollution from transportation trending down rather than up. Ensuring implementation is one of our main ongoing climate justice campaign focuses.

An illustration of the kind of money that could be reallocated to public transit is that the cost estimate for the Keating flyover interchange recently increased from $44 to $77 million. As Doherty recently wrote in a Times Colonist letter to the editor “An inexpensive traffic light would alleviate the safety issues with left turns at this intersection. An expensive interchange makes no sense when we are planning for a future with fewer cars.” GVAT Climate Team member Steve Gray also wrote “For $76.8 million, the province could advance an electric rapid bus system along the major urban/suburban corridors in the CRD to move people around much more quickly and cut emissions big time.” in another letter in the Times Colonist.

The work the Climate Justice Team did to get this win complements GVAT’s efforts to integrate affordable housing with affordable low-carbon transportation. It is an added reason to stop requiring expensive parking spots at housing near frequent transit. Our housing campaign considers the combined cost of housing and transportation and the mobility rights of people who do not own cars.

This unanimous vote is just one small step forward  on climate justice and housing affordability, and we can achieve much bigger things in the future if we act together.