Urban Renaissance Institute

Interim Report to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta

September 1, 2002

Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries and Names for Alberta.

Click here to view webpage

January 30, 1996

Passenger-Kilometres

With the exception of the years 1980-82, the number of passenger-kilometers (pkm) traveled by motorized modes rose constantly throughout the period 1970-95. (See Table 1.) Growth in motorized travel increased a total of 127.5 % — outstripping growth in population, at 36.7%, over the same period. As a result, the average Canadian traveled 15,968.6 kilometers by motorized modes in 1995, as compared to 9,596.3 kilometres in 1970.

Source: http://www3.ec.gc.ca/~ind/English/Transpo/Tables/pttb06_e.HTM

Between 1970 and 1982, growth in the passenger-kilometres traveled by automobile ⁽²⁾and the more-regulated modes (trains, intercity buses, and urban transit ⁽³⁾) occurred at similar rates. In 1982, the passenger-kilometres traveled on the more-regulated modes in Canada was 135.5% what it had been twelve years earlier; the number of passenger-kilometres traveled by automobile was 133.7% of 1970 values.

After 1982, however, the growth rate of automobiles and the more-regulated modes began to diverge. Automobile passenger-kilometrage continued to rise, reaching 216.4% of 1970 levels in 1995, while the passenger-kilometres traveled on the more-regulated modes stagnated, and was still only 143% of 1970 levels in 1995.

Among the more-regulated modes, there were considerable differences in how the passenger-kilometrage changed over the twenty-five year period. While the number of passenger-kilometres traveled by rail was halved as the result of two sudden, steep drops, the number of passenger-kilometres traveled by transit grew rapidly until the mid-1980s, and held steady, at about 200% of its 1970 levels, thereafter. Throughout the twenty-five year period, the number of passenger-kilometres traveled by intercity bus was relatively stable.

Automobiles and airplanes both experienced sharp increases in passenger-kilometres carried. Air travel experienced the most rapid growth, reaching 352.7% of 1970 levels by 1995. Growth in travel by automobile was the steadier of the two, with the total passenger-kilometres dropping just once — between 1980 and 1982. Growth in travel by airplane was less steady: while almost always robust, growth in air travel was astronomical during 1978-80 and 1988-90 — seemingly in response to efforts to deregulate the industry. On the other hand, the mode experienced reduced ridership during recessionary times.

Until 1982, growth in the passenger-kilometres traveled by less-regulated modes (automobile and airplane) and more-regulated modes (transit, train and intercity bus) occurred at similar rates. In 1982, the passenger-kilometres traveled by the former was 143.6% of 1970 values; the passenger-kilometres traveled by latter was 135.5% of 1970 values.

Between 1982 and 1995, however, growth in travel on the less-regulated modes far surpassed that of the more regulated modes. By 1995, travel by automobile and airplane was 232.7% of what it had been in 1970, whereas travel by the more-regulated modes, at 143% of 1970 values, had hardly grown since 1982.

Market Share

Between 1970 and 1975 the market share of all motorized modes but airplanes went down. (See Table 2.) In the case of trains, the descent was uninterrupted, leaving this mode of transportation with a market share one-fifth the size it had been in 1970. The decline in the market share of intercity buses was almost as unrelenting. The industry experienced growth in its market share only twice amidst twenty-three years of losses. And while the market share of urban transit actually grew between 1970 and 1982, it has fallen every year but one since. Automobiles exhibited the opposite pattern: decreasing steadily throughout the 1970s, bottoming-out in 1982, but rebounding somewhat since. ⁽⁴⁾

Footnotes

1. Includes automobiles, airplanes, trains, urban transit, and intercity buses, but neither walking nor bicycle-riding.

2. Includes cars, light trucks and vans.

3. Includes commuter rail.

4. When airplanes are factored-out of the calculations, and only surface modes are examined, the trend regarding the market share of automobiles is quite different. In this scenario, the market share of the automobile not only rebounded to 1970-levels after bottoming out in 1982, it surpassed them.

Lawrence Solomon
National Post
May 16, 2002

This is the second in a five-part series on what should be done about our cities. Part Two: Lower taxes, not federal aid, is the way to help cities grow.

For more than two centuries, politicians and the public viewed cities as parasitic organisms that feed off the natural resources of the countryside. They didn’t fret that major city industries like finance and communications were burdened by extraordinary taxes, or that the democratic rights of city residents were stifled through under-representation in provincial and federal legislatures.

Suddenly, just about everyone – from the prime minister to provincial leaders to mayors, from the captains of industry to the heads of non-profit organizations – has come to see cities as great engines of the economy. Canada’s cities have been getting the short end of the stick, everyone now agrees, a deficiency that must be remedied for the good of our entire society.

All true. Most of our country’s wealth is produced in cities, and much more, still, would be created if the policies enacted by our governments discriminated less against city businesses and city residents. Yet somehow, the reforms proposed by most of the city’s new champions pay short shrift to the need to unburden urban industries or to empower urban residents. Instead, the reform effort overwhelmingly concentrates on one area – how to get more tax money into the hands of municipal governments, as if cities owe their greatness to governments and not to the efforts of their citizens.

TD Bank’s recent study – A Choice Between Investing in Canada’s Cities or Disinvesting in Canada’s Future – is a case in point. While this often sensible document makes many valid points – property taxes are inherently flawed, urban infrastructure needs to be renewed – it chiefly grapples with the different means by which city governments can raise money. And it unabashedly laments the failure of city governments to keep up with senior levels of government in heaping new taxes on their citizens. "Between 1995 and 2001, local government revenues edged up by a total of only 14%," the report decries. "This was only a fraction of the gains of 38% and 30% reaped at the federal and provincial levels, respectively, and actually represented a drop in real per capita terms."

The report – which generally praises U.S. cities for their greater taxing powers and their ability to garner more state and federal aid – downplays the fact that, by many measures, Canada’s cities have outperformed U.S. cities. Nor does it consider the possibility that our cities’ recent tax restraint, a measure forced on city governments by city electorates, has many benefits. As the latest census shows, people are now flocking to Canada’s cities. They come seeking economic opportunities; they come seeking excitement and personal freedom. They don’t come seeking higher taxes. "The paltry increase in the municipal take" that the TD Bank so disdains not only represents the will of the people, it bolsters the ability of city industries to compete and helps them compensate for the unlevel playing field that governments have forced on them. According to a recent Toronto Board of Trade survey, an astounding 56% of city businesses would consider leaving the city if property taxes increased significantly.

Ironically, the TD report well understands the harm that comes of high urban taxes. Businesses flee the city for low-tax outskirts, from which they continue to serve their city customers. The loss of city businesses lowers the city’s tax revenues, leading the city to raise taxes on the remaining businesses to pay for the costs of maintaining the city’s roads and other infrastructure. "A vicious cycle has been launched," TD says, "forcing municipalities to hike downtown property tax rates and other levies, which in turn prompts more urban flight."

Exactly. Yet TD and others who would protect the city reflexively argue for tax hikes, knowing how poisonous they would be to city economies, out of some blind belief that a bigger city government would nevertheless be better. They equate a more powerful government with an empowered citizenry, when the reverse is more often the case.

Many also decry the powerlessness of cities, and dream of constitutional change that would give cities the taxing powers they need to solve their problems. Then arguing from this position of weakness, city advocates plead for tax monies from senior levels of government – a share of the gas tax, a share of the income tax, a share of the sales tax, outright grants, anything that would boost municipal coffers.

Reality check: It is the cities that are the economic powerhouses, despite their lack of constitutional clout. Cities can right their house, entirely within their existing powers, not by special pleading but by exercising the powers that many of them already have, or can easily obtain.

Instead of desperately seeking all manner of additional sources of tax monies, cities could simply staunch the bleeding of their existing tax base, by stopping the vicious cycle that TD and others so accurately describe. For starters, they can give city businesses an offer they can’t refuse – lower taxes, an opportunity to control their costs, and an advantage over their suburban competitors in serving urban customers. City governments can accomplish this merely by tolling all commercial vehicles, whether or not they are owned by city businesses, for their use of city streets. In the case of Toronto, such a user-pay system, using satellite technology that is now in wide use by the trucking and taxi industry, would raise hundreds of millions of dollars per year in user fees, much of it from the 110,000 commercial vehicles that enter Toronto each morning and leave it each afternoon and evening. The city could then use most or all of that money to lower the absurdly high taxes that Toronto businesses now pay. Toronto businesses would generally save more in taxes than they pay in tolls, giving them a reason to stay in the city. Many former Toronto businesses that set up shop outside Toronto, thinking they could service Torontonians without paying for the use of Toronto roads, would have an incentive to return. The vicious cycle would become a virtuous cycle as returning businesses bolstered the city’s tax base, lowering taxes across the board.

That cities can look after themselves doesn’t mean that the federal and provincial governments should continue to discriminate against cities. But the way to help does not involve putting cities on the dole – the request of Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman, who thinks that free money from senior levels of government would answer his city’s problems. The TD Bank, to its credit, understands that free money leads to unaccountable, counterproductive relationships. Most others do not, especially if the free money comes with commitments for long-term funding. Unfortunately, free money would be particularly harmful if it could be relied upon for many years to come. In much the same ways that foreign aid has undermined Third World economies, that domestic transfers have debilitated the Maritime economy, and that federal grants have robbed our Aboriginal communities of their future, putting cities on the dole would soon strip cities of their entrepreneurial advantages and their sense of community, as municipal governments became expert at courting their federal and provincial paymasters instead of their own citizens.

To improve the economic capabilities of cities and end some of the many inequities, senior levels of government can start by eliminating taxes that target city industries and city residents. The federal government can abolish the hidden surtax city residents must pay through their phone bills, for example, and the capital tax that primarily targets city industries such as the financial industry. Provincial governments also have discriminatory taxes – such as Ontario’s tax on amusements, which primarily affects city establishments.

City governments are justified in wanting tax reform. They are not justified in doing nothing in its absence. These engines of the economy should just get on with it.

Next week: Toronto wants another million residents. Is that too much? Or too little?

Other articles in this series:
Lawrence Solomon’s Next City Part One:
Globalization equals urbanization
Lawrence Solomon’s Next City Part Three:
One million more Torontonians
Lawrence Solomon’s Next City Part Four:
Learning the wrong lessons from U.S. cities
Lawrence Solomon’s Next City Part Five:
Advice to cities: take control of your province

Related articles on tolls by Lawrence Solomon:
Toll roads v. the Canadian Accident Association
London’s green streets
Toll skeptics be damned: London’s rolling
The toll on business
The take from tolls
Don’t tax, toll: Presentation to the Canadian Home Builders’ Association
London unjammed
Toll today’s roads, don’t build more
How the free road lobby led us astray
Toll road commentary
Road safety
How to cut highways’ human toll

Fatos do mes Maio/2000
June 23, 2000

Fatos do mes Maio/2000 (Facts of the Month, May 2000)  

The article "How to cut highways’ human toll", by Lawrence Solomon, was translated from English to Portuguese and reprinted in May, 2000. The newsletter, in Portuguese, is as follows.

AutoBAn. Dia 2. Inaugurado o Centro de Controle de Operações (CCO) com avançada tecnologia em equipamentos de gerenciamento de tráfego. O Governador do Estado Mário Covas compareceu à cerimônia de inauguração acompanhado do Secretário dos Transportes e fez a entrega ao presidente da concessionária do Certificado ISO 9002, conferido pelo Bureau Veritas Quality International.

Vale-Pedágio I. Dia 2. Pela Medida Provisória Nº 2024, o Presidente da República criou o vale-pedágio, dispondo, em seu art. 1º, que sua destinação é "…para utilização efetiva em despesas de deslocamento de carga por meio de transporte rodoviário, nas rodovias brasileiras.", passando a ser responsabilidade do embarcador a despesa correspondente à sua aquisição.

Vale Pedágio II. Dia 3. Baixada a Medida Provisória nº 2025-1 que reeditou a MP 2024, e acrescentou, entre outros pontos, que, dos dias 4 a 11/05, os veículos de transporte de carga ficariam liberados do pagamento de pedágio nas rodovias sob concessão federal, e somente depois desse período, isto é, a partir do dia 12/05, começaria a ser utilizado o vale-pedágio.

Conselho Consultivo. Dia 4. A Diretoria aprovou sua ampliação, tendo sido designados os Srs. Maurício Cantarelli e Athos Rache Filho, como titular e suplente, respectivamente.

2º CBCR. Dia 4. A Diretoria aprovou a realização do 2º Congresso Brasileiro de Concessão de Rodovias (2º CBCR), em Foz do Iguaçu – PR, nos dias 6, 7 e 8 de junho de 2001. Vale-Pedágio III. Dia 5. Em Comunicado Oficial publicado em jornais de São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro e Brasília, a ABCR manifestou a sua discordância em relação à decisão do governo federal de suspender a cobrança de pedágio dos transportadores de carga no período de 04 a 11/05, apontando as principais repercussões que poderão ocorrer em relação aos contratos de concessão existentes e ao próprio Programa Nacional de Desestatização (PND).

Fórum de Transporte de Produtos Perigosos do Estado de São Paulo. Dia 8. Realizado na Câmara Municipal de Paulínia – SP o 2º Painel – Experiências de Gerenciamento no Transporte Rodoviário. Na ocasião, foi criada, na Secretaria dos Transportes, a Subcomissão Regional de Estudos e Prevenção de Acidentes, que deverá analisar os acidentes ocorridos, bem como propor medidas de prevenção. Faz parte da Subcomissão um representante da AutoBAn.

Triângulo do Sol. Dia 17. O Juiz de Direito Sylvio Ribeiro de Souza Neto, da 3ª Vara Cível de Sertãozinho deferiu a liminar requerida pela concessionária, expedindo mandado proibitório, para o fim de impedir a ocupação, pelos invasores da Fazenda Experimental de Zootecnia do Estado de São Paulo, da faixa de domínio da rodovia SP-333 – Rodovia Carlos Tonani – sob responsabilidade daquela concessionária.

Paraná. Dia 18. A Juíza Dra. Vera Lúcia F. Ponciano, da 9ª Vara Federal de Curitiba, indeferiu pedido de liminar em Ação Popular movida pelo Deputado Ademir Antonio Osmar Bier e outros contra a União Federal, o governo do Estado do Paraná e as concessionárias paranaenses, com o objetivo de suspender a cobrança de pedágio nas rodovias que compõem o Anel de Integração.

São Paulo. Dia 18. A 4ª Câmara de Direito Público do Tribunal de Justiça confirmou a sentença do Juiz de Direito Dr. Luiz Paulo Aliende Ribeiro, da 5ª Vara da Fazenda Pública, que havia julgado improcedente a ação popular movida contra o governo do Estado por ter este privatizado a exploração do sistema Anhanguera-Bandeirantes, com cobrança de pedágio. De acordo com essa decisão, os Decretos 40.028 e 40.077/95, que instituíram a concessão, são legais e não causadores de danos ao patrimônio público do Estado de São Paulo.

Ecosul. Dia 18. O Ministério dos Transportes, por força do contrato nº 013/00, e em decorrência da denúncia pelo Governo do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul do convênio respectivo, subrogou-se nos direitos e obrigações, junto à Empresa Concessionária de Rodovias do Sul S/A – Ecosul, relativos à concessão do Polo de Pelotas – RS.

Moção de Aplausos. Dia 22. A Câmara Municipal de Boituva, cidade localizada à margem da Rodovia Castelo Branco, aprovou ato proposto pela Vereadora Neuza Balarim Ferreira de homenagem à concessionária Rodovia das Colinas pelos serviços prestados à comunidade.

Rio Grande do Sul. Dia 23. A Juíza Dra. Denise Oliveira Cezar, da 7ª Vara da Fazenda Pública, deferiu liminar em Ação Cautelar Inominada proposta pelas concessionárias gaúchas que integram o Programa Estadual de Concessão Rodoviária. Em decorrência dessa decisão, foram suspensas as isenções de pedágio instituídas pela Lei 11.460, de 17/04/2000. Transcrevemos, do despacho da Juíza, o seguinte trecho: "A Lei em questão, como se verifica de seu texto, não indica a fonte de custeio da "isenção" (sic) atribuída, fazendo crer que o Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, embora intervindo no domínio econômico para desobrigar determinadas pessoas de pagamento de tarifa ou preço público, não se dispõe a subsidiar tal pagamento. Ou seja, o Estado contratou a prestação privada de serviços públicos, mediante pagamento pelo particular dos preços fixados e controlados pelo Governo e estabelecidas as bases do contrato, alterou parcialmente a regra de concessão, estabelecendo que em alguns casos o pagamento não é devido. Induvidosamente, seja ou não oriundo do Poder concedente a alteração, e assim possa ou não ser considerada nos estritos limites a lei como "fato do príncipe", houve alteração na base do contratado que altera a equação econômico-financeira da concessão, sem concomitante, simultânea ou imediata revisão da estrutura tarifária, assegurada aos concessionários por força das disposições constantes do artigo 9, § 4º da Lei nº 8987/95, artigo 35 da Lei nº 9074/95 e artigo 163, § 4º da Constituição do Estado."

Aneor. Dia 24. Presidida pelo Eng. José Alberto Pereira Ribeiro, tomou posse a nova Diretoria da entidade, com mandato para o triênio 2000/2003.

Fundecitrus. Dia 24. Em carta enviada àquela entidade, a ABCR contesta afirmação feita pelo seu presidente, em entrevista ao jornal O Estado de São Paulo, de que a cobrança de pedágio representa um aumento nos custos do setor de citricultura. Foi sugerida reunião para debate do tema, com a presença do Eng. Silvestre de Andrade Puty Filho, da Tectran.

Tebe. Dia 27. Publicada nota no jornal O Diário, de Barretos, na qual o Sr. Luiz Carlos Fabrini relata sua satisfação com o atendimento recebido da concessionária, em 11/05, na SP-326, quando seu veículo sofreu uma pane.

Câmara dos Deputados. Dia 31. Atendendo a convite do Deputado Barbosa Neto, presidente da Comissão de Viação e Transportes, o Presidente da ABCR participou de audiência pública, tendo feito palestra sobre o Programa Brasileiro de Concessões. Participaram dessa audiência Lívio Rodrigues de Assis, Diretor de Concessões do Ministério dos Transportes, Cláudio Monteiro Considera, Secretário de Acompanhamento Econômico do Ministério da Fazenda, Aluysio Antonio Mota Asti, Diretor da Área de Infra-estrutura e Projetos do BNDES e Adriano Murgel Branco, Consultor na área de transportes.

Financiabilidade. Dia 31. Em sua palestra na Comissão de Viação e Transportes, o Dr. Aluysio Antonio Mota Asti, do BNDES, falou sobre o risco das operações de financiamento, o qual está ligado ao contrato de concessão respectivo, quando afirmou: "É fundamental que os contratos sejam respeitados para garantir a receita das empresas".

São Paulo. CPI dos pedágios. Durante o mês foram realizadas 4 audiências, na quais prestaram depoimento: Dia 4 Sérgio A. Camargo, do DER; Dia 11, Paulo Borges, da Barramar, e José Kalil Neto, da DERSA; Dia 18, Ricardo Trípoli, Secretário do Meio Ambiente; Dia 24, Moacyr S. Duarte e Michael Zeitlin, Secretário dos Transportes.

Site da ABCR. O site http://www.abcr.org.br. registrou 1.268 visitas no mês de maio. Isso mostra a importância de se manter atualizados os dados das concessionárias, para o que a ABCR tem contado com a colaboração de todas as associadas, e até mesmo, em alguns casos, dos próprios usuários, através da seção "Fale com a ABCR".

Eventos

· I Congresso Brasileiro de Regulação de Serviços Públicos Concedidos, a ser realizado em Salvador, Bahia, entre os dias 2 e 5/07/2000. Informações pelos tels. (71)332-6108/6109

· 10ª Reunião de Pavimentação Urbana, a ser realizada em Uberlândia, entre os dias 8 e 11 de agosto, pela Associação Brasileira de Pavimentação. Mais informações poderão ser solicitadas pelo e-mail abpv@ax.ibase.org.br

· Conferência Internacional sobre Eficiência Energética no Transporte Rodoviário, dias 25 a 28/09/2000, no Rio de Janeiro. O evento faz parte do Programa Nacional da Racionalização do Uso dos Derivados do Petróleo e do Gás Natural – CONPET, coordenado pelo Ministério de Minas e Energia. A ABCR é uma das Promotoras e o Eng. Gil Guedes faz parte de seu Comitê Organizador.

Leituras recomendadas

· "Uma nova regra para os pedágios", artigo de Luis Nassif publicado na Folha de São Paulo, edição de 19/05/2000, no qual o autor esboça um modelo de concessão rodoviária cujo fator de reequilíbrio econômico-financeiro seria o prazo de concessão estabelecido: assim, se o fluxo de tráfego for menor que o previsto, o prazo da concessão seria aumentado, e se maior, reduzido.

· "How to cut highways’ human toll", artigo de Lawrence Salomon, publicado em 02/05/200 no jornal National Post, do Canadá. O autor analisa as condições que tornam as rodovias pedagiadas mais seguras do que as que não cobram pedágio. Aos interessados, a ABCR pode remeter uma versão em português. Solicitações pelo e-mail nelson@abcr.org.br.

Visitas recebidas

· Dia 24. Visitaram a ABCR os Srs. Atanásio José Ferreira Rodrigues, Herculano do Carmo Ferreira Nascimento, Waldemar Pires Alexandre e Antonio da Gama Lopes Teixeira, Diretores do Instituto de Estradas de Angola – INEA, acompanhados pela Sra. Thais Helena Monteiro Penteado, Diretora de T&D do DER-SP.

Na edição do mês de abril, na nota ‘Proporcionalidade na cobrança de pedágio", não constou que o mandado de segurança foi impetrado contra a ECOVIA e que o parecer do Procurador da República no Estado do Paraná deu-se depois da manifestação dessa concessionária nos autos.

Read "How to cut highways’ human toll": English, Portuguese