The Road Out of Poverty?

Received a press release today from the uber-right wing Frontier Centre for Public Policy about a new report (link here) by one of its researchers touting the benefits of car ownership to help alleviate poverty. Apparently, the more mobile a person is, the better able they are to (1) search for a job (2) get to work (3) take a different job with another employer with better pay and benefits.

That's certainly our position at prairie dog, with respect to the part about mobility being a key component of economic (and social/cultural/psychological/physical/political) well-being anyway. As for the suggestion that car ownership is the best means to achieve that goal, well, that's where we part ways with the Frontier Centre.

I live and work in downtown Regina. I don't own a car. For eight months out of the year (mid-March to mid-November) I cycle pretty much every where I go. For four months of the year I rely on Regina Transit. Yeah, the service sucks, and is in desperate need of being upgraded. But outside of the odd new set of tires and tubes for my bike, I spend roughly $240 a year on transportation (four monthly bus passes at $60 a pop). Automobile ownership, meanwhile, imposes a significantly greater financial burden in the order of $8000-$10,000 a year minimum, not to mention the immense toll motor vehicles take on the environment and civic infrastructure.

You want to improve people's employment prospects, how about facilitating their ability to move about cheaply and efficiently through walking, cycling and public transit?