Transit: The Politician's Best Friend?

"But it is not surprising that Toronto area politicians, like their counterparts elsewhere, are so effusive in their invocation of transit as the solution to traffic congestion. Transit gets them off the hook. So long as politicians can blather on about transit they are freed from making the tough choices about solutions that work. In fact, virtually all planning agencies in the affluent world project virtually all of the new future urban travel demand to be for personal vehicles -- automobiles and sport utility vehicles. There is only one way to accommodate more highway demand, and that is creating more highway capacity, whether through expansion of the roadway network or more effective traffic management."