| The transit strike isn’t just taking a toll on weary commuters stuck in traffic, it’s also affecting greenhouse gas emissions – thousands of additional kilograms of carbon dioxide are being pumped into the air as people drive to places they would otherwise take the bus to.
Using information from the Calgary Transit Web page and Natural Resources Canada (NRC), Nita Ross of Clean Calgary estimates that if one in four people who normally use transit are driving instead, an additional 112,500 kilograms of carbon dioxide per day – or more than three million kilograms over the last four weeks – is being released.
"There certainly are more cars out there," says Ross, who has been the family chauffeur during the strike.
She adds that it’s easy for Calgarians to ignore the effects traffic has on air because the wind often blows emissions away. "This was just an opportunity to try and raise awareness about that fact."
Ross based her calculations on the fact that Calgary Transit had 79.4 million riders in 2000, or about 200,000 riders per day. Assuming each individual ride is an average of 7.5 kilometres, this equals 1.5 million kilometres per day. Using a semi-effieicent vehicle with a rate of 12 litres per 100 kilometres, this totals 180,000 litres of gas burned per day. According to NRC’s publication Autosmart, the average amount of carbon dioxide emitted per litre of gas is 2.5 kilograms.
However, not everyone has turned to the automobile. Ross says a lot of people have found different ways of getting around the city, such as walking, cycling or carpooling, and she hopes they will continue when the strike is over.
"I hope people will kind of think about the affect their personal choice has on their personal emissions." |
