A free, accessible public transit system that truly meets our needs benefits everyone, including those who use active transportation! Here are four key benefits:
- The more public transit becomes an attractive option—with faster, more frequent, and more extensive routes—the more people will use it. This means fewer cars on the road. Getting around on foot or by bike isn’t inherently dangerous; it’s the presence of cars that makes it so. Fewer cars mean less danger, more room for safe infrastructure, and, most importantly, more enjoyable travel!
- Public transit is meant to be a faster option for covering long distances. If it were easier to combine multiple modes of transport, active transportation would become more accessible for people who currently find it unaffordable—whether due to time constraints or physical limitations. For example, someone could bike to the station, take the train to the metro, and then bike again from the metro to their final destination.
- Free public transit would also encourage more people to use active transportation year-round. What often discourages people from relying on active transport is bad weather and the cold. If public transit were more accessible, people could use it on a multimodal basis during snowstorms, extreme weather, or rainy days.
- Accessibility also means investing in infrastructure that supports and encourages multimodal transportation. For instance, providing ample bike parking at station entrances, buses that can carry more than two bikes at a time, and additional storage space in train and metro cars, even during rush hour! Public transit should not be designed around car culture; we shouldn’t have to cross vast parking lots, highways, and boulevards without sidewalks or bike lanes just to reach a train station!
Ultimately, the more our cities and regions are designed with mass transit in mind—instead of centering cars, as is currently the case on Turtle Island—the more other modes of transport will thrive. The hegemony of the automobile makes active transportation dangerous, impractical, and complicated, while a truly accessible transit system expands travel options and simplifies life for everyone.