Introduction

A strong public transit system creates many benefits, such as lower congestion, faster commutes, higher productivity, and lower emissions (Federation of Canadian Municipalities, 2019). A reliable transit system prevents road congestion by reducing the number of cars on the road. With fewer cars on the road, we can lower carbon emissions and help mitigate climate change. Many people believe that public transit should be an essential service and, by the Government of British Columbia’s own definition, it should be (Emergency Management BC, 2020). The definition provided by the BC government is “services essential to preserving life, health, public safety, and basic societal functioning. They are the services British Columbians come to rely on in their daily lives.” Public transit very much helps basic societal functions. So, to say that public transit, which people have come to rely on, is not an essential service is strange. This chapter will discuss the benefits of public transit, why it is important, and why we need to make sure it functions efficiently and reliably.

However, Kamloops public transit contains many problems that prevent it from being reliable, efficient, and a cost-effective alternative to cars. This chapter will explore all the challenges and issues affecting the public transit system in Kamloops. These problems include driver shortages and poor management, which contribute to delays and cancellations. There is a lot of research on how to make transit systems efficient and reliable and meet the diverse needs of the public to enhance urban mobility (Nwachukwu, 2014). For transit systems to achieve this, there must be a focus on service quality, passenger satisfaction, and the integration of modern transportation systems (Handajani et al., 2020). In Kamloops’ particular case, however, to make the system more efficient, the driver shortage must be addressed.

This chapter will go into depth about this issue and investigate easy-to-implement solutions and changes that need to be made for public transit to be efficient and reliable. The chapter will also explore how fixing these issues can make public transit more attractive and be a cost-effective alternative to cars. However, a better public transit system requires the companies and government to make changes. The changes that the companies and the government could implement range from small, quick, and easy changes, such as making sure buses run on time, to large changes to the entire system, such as changing company structure to allow for more full-time bus drivers and allocating more funding for the public transit system. These changes would help the system be reliable, efficient, and accessible. The end of the chapter will discuss these changes in more detail.

Methodology

This chapter will primarily use news articles, reports, and academic research to explore and assess the public transit system in the city of Kamloops. This assessment looks at how reliable, efficient, and accessible the system is. The public transit system will also be assessed to see how it can benefit the environment, economy, and society. This chapter will use reports and articles to explore how the public transit system can be a cost-effective alternative to cars.

Cost of Car Ownership Versus Public Transportation

There is a lot of information and research that proves public transit can be a cost-effective alternative to cars. In a Toronto Star article, Alsharif (2024) discusses a report from Ratehub.ca about the average cost of car ownership in Canada in 2024 (see Table 1). The cost of car ownership in Canada is very high due to the rise in costs related to gas, parking, insurance, and car maintenance. According to the report, the monthly cost is $1,387, and the annual cost is $16,644 on average. The report found that Canadians lose about $600 per year from depreciation and spend a monthly average of $200 on gas, $200 on parking, $111 on car insurance, $79 on vehicle maintenance, and $195 on interest payments. On the other hand, a monthly bus pass for a single person costs $50 per month, totalling $600 a year, very cheap relative to car ownership. Car ownership is almost 28 times more expensive relative to the monthly pass for transit use and seven times more expensive for a family of four with two teenagers (see Table 1). When car owners save their money, they can shift it to other household expenses, which can add “3.6 jobs for every $1 million shifted” (Lawong, 2015).

Table 1: Average Cost of Car Ownership vs. Public Transportation

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Note. Data from Lavin (2020).

Note. Data from BC Transit (n.d.a)

If there was better public transit in Canada and Kamloops, car owners would be able to reduce their costs by taking public transit more often.

Benefits of a Strong Public Transit System

Public transit provides a very important service to the public of a city. There are many benefits to public transit, such as less traffic congestion, lower carbon emissions from cars, better productivity, and a cost-effective alternative to cars. Less traffic congestion can lead to greener cities. According to Smart City (n.d.), public transit systems can carry large amounts of people, which reduces the number of cars on the road. Fewer cars on the road lead to a reduction in carbon emissions. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (2023), a typical combustion engine car emits 4.6 metric tonnes of carbon a year. Switching to public transportation or other non-polluting transportation modes would reduce emissions by 4.6 tonnes in a year.

This reduction would translate to social benefits equal to USD 1,380 per year, using a $300 per ton measure for the social cost of carbon, as was assessed by climate scientists, or $460 if a more conservative estimate to account for outliers and experts who were confident of their estimation that the social cost of carbon drops to $100 per ton (Pindyck, 2019). In other words, if this single person is commuting with a combustion engine car instead of taking public transportation, they are causing damages equal to $460 per year up to $1,380. Switching to electric vehicles, public transportation, bicycles, or walking would also reduce such damage. However, congestion costs would remain with electric vehicles. Table 2 shows the social costs of driving a car from a study by Gössling et al. (2022).

Table 2: Social Costs of Driving

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Note. Data for Tables 2A–2D from Gössling et al. (2022)

The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (n.d.) mentions how the U.S. public transportation system saves 37 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. These numbers prove that public transportation can help mitigate climate change and create greener cities. Another benefit of public transportation is an increase in productivity. When public transit is efficient and reliable, it can, in theory, enhance an employer’s access to a larger labour pool (Drennan & Brecher, 2012). Transportation systems can have a positive impact on productivity ratios if they are efficient and reliable (Weisbrod, 2016). Strong public transit can increase access to labour, supplier, and customer markets, which enables greater productivity for producers of goods and services and even for transportation service operators (Weisbrod, 2016). This increase in productivity can benefit the economy, which is why public transport needs to be well-funded. In the past, some cities, like Athens in Greece, made public transportation free from 5:00 am to 9:00 am and again from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm so workers could take public transportation to and from work, reducing congestion and pollution. This is a good idea to implement because the times people will head to work are mostly between 5:00 am and 9:00 am (see Table 3).

Table 3: Times People Leave for Work

Note. Total – Time leaving for work for the employed labour force aged 15 years and over with a usual place of work or no fixed workplace address – 25% sample data. Source: (Government of Canada, 2022)

If public transit was made free from 5:00 am to 9:00 am, it could possibly reduce the number of cars on the road between those times. According to Lawong (2015), “for every $1 invested in public transit, there are about $4 in economic returns.” Also, investing in public transit can create more jobs per dollar than other infrastructure projects such as “energy, water, public facilities, or any other mode of transportation” (Lawong, 2015). However, when it comes to providing funding, the province tends to favour auto-mobility more than public transit. A Victoria City councillor was quoted in an Infotel article saying that the “‘budget is allocated [to] overwhelming [favour] auto-mobility” (Munro, 2022). The reason auto-mobility is favoured is because of auto dependence within cities. Most people rely on cars to get to work, but there can be a cost benefit to car owners by taking public transit instead. If there was better public transit in Kamloops, car owners would be able to reduce their costs by taking public transit more often.

The Economics of Positive Externalities of a Robust Transit System

Economists view positive externalities as benefits that accrue to individuals or society because of an economic activity that is not captured by the market price. In simpler terms, a positive externality occurs when personal actions benefit bystanders without receiving compensation for these benefits. Examples abound, such as education, beekeeping and pollination, research, vaccinations, poverty reduction, and public transportation. This concept is fundamental to understanding the challenges and opportunities in public policy, especially in sectors like public transportation.

Community Well-Being in Urban Environments

Strong public transit systems generate significant positive externalities that enrich community well-being and urban environments. Reduced congestion benefits not only the transit users but also others that transport with other vehicles. Reduced emissions benefit current and future generations. Cities with robust transit systems improve public health by encouraging more walking and cycling, reducing obesity rates and associated health care costs. The availability of reliable public transportation also enhances inclusivity by providing mobility to those without access to a private vehicle, including people who are elderly, disabled, or poor. This inclusivity fosters a sense of community and belonging, as well as equal opportunities for all residents to participate in economic and social activities. Moreover, public transit contributes to urban revitalization by supporting higher-density development, which makes more efficient use of land and resources. This, in turn, can lead to the preservation of green spaces and the reduction of urban sprawl. In essence, the positive externalities of public transit extend far beyond the immediate impacts on traffic and emissions, touching every aspect of urban life and contributing to more livable, equitable, and sustainable cities. Such comprehensive benefits highlight the importance of investing in and prioritizing public transit infrastructure as a cornerstone of urban planning and policy.

Under Provision

One issue related to positive externalities is under provision. If the government fails to fully recognize the above external benefits, the provision occurs where the social benefit from public transit exceeds the private benefits accruing to the existing transit users, leading to a lower-than-socially-optimal level of transit users. Public goods, an extreme form of a positive externality, such as cleaning our air, reducing poverty, and mitigating climate change, also suffer from under-provision.

Especially in an inefficient public transit system, the under-provision problem is exaggerated since the marginal cost of using the system is higher than it could be under an efficient system, which will be discussed in the next section. If the system is inefficient — plagued by delays, insufficient coverage, or inadequate infrastructure — potential riders may opt for alternative modes of transportation, like personal vehicles, that don’t offer the same societal benefits. These inefficiencies not only exacerbate issues like urban congestion and environmental degradation but also mean that the social benefits of reduced emissions, better air quality, and increased economic activity from more accessible public services are not fully realized. The failure to capture these external benefits in the price of public transit leads to its underuse.

Cost of Public Transit

The policy implications are significant. To address the under-provision and encourage more usage of the system, a subsidy for public transit is required to lower the cost for users and incentivize its use. Furthermore, investment in infrastructure to improve efficiency and coverage and regulations that limit the use of alternatives with negative externalities (e.g., congestion charges for personal vehicles in city centers, carbon taxes) will bring in new public transit users. By implementing policies that recognize and aim to internalize the positive externalities of public transit, municipal, provincial and federal governments can help ensure that these benefits are more fully reflected. This could lead to a more optimal allocation of resources that aligns closer with societal welfare.

To illustrate the issue at play, consider Figure 1, which shows a hypothetical construct of the transit market in Kamloops. It is assumed that the marginal cost of additional users into the transit system is $2.50 to pay for some of the cost of resources used to provide the transit service. The price charged is lower at $2 per user; others use a $50 monthly pass, a 4-month pass costs $100, and children under 12 are free. Table 4 shows the current pricing system (as of May 2024).

Table 4: Kamloops Public Transport Fares

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Note. Data for Tables 3A–3D from BC Transit (n.d.a)

Number of Transit Users

The private demand shows that as the price of transit decreases, the number of transit users increases. Due to the above-mentioned positive externalities, the social demand curve lies above the private demand curve. This curve represents the social valuation of transit, including the marginal external benefits not captured by the private demand. These benefits accrue to the community but are not directly factored into the private demand for transit. This justifies government intervention, such as subsidies, to increase transit use to the socially optimal level. In this hypothetical example, the optimal amount of ridership should be doubled to 8 million users per year from 4 million users; the latter is the actual user rate of the public transportation system (City of Kamloops, 2020). If public transit was made free to users, then users would increase by 2 million, totalling 6 million.

People With Lower Incomes

Prices of a bus pass or a train ticket are often cited as the biggest reason by motorists for not choosing to use public transit (Fearnley, 2013). Free public transit would also benefit people with lower incomes. According to Blair (2023), “people on lower incomes relied more on public transit, with 23% of workers in the lowest decile using it to commute to work.” Also, Kilani et al. (2022) found that free public transit decreased the number of car use by 9% overall, with car use amongst low-income people decreasing by 18.62%. Most people use their cars as their main mode of transportation. Comparing this with the 2016 Census Profile, the total number of commuters in 2015 was 42,000, a decline of 1,200, even though the population in the city of Kamloops increased from 90,280 to 97,902 (Statistics Canada, 2023). However, the year 2020 was the year of COVID-19, which would have impacted the decline in total commuters shown in the table. Note that public transportation was one of the smallest decline in terms of modes of transportation from pre-COVID-19 to COVID-19 year. Table 5 shows the difference in modes of transportation between 2015 and 2020.

Table 5: Mode of Transportation, 2015 vs. 2020

Note. Total — Main mode of commuting for the employed labour force aged 15 years and over with a usual place of work or no fixed workplace address — 25% sample data200. Data from Statistics Canada (2023).

Cars vs. Public Transit

Making public transit free would reduce the number of cars on the road and benefit the environment and other social costs, as mentioned above. A lot of people might use their cars because it is a force of habit, and if they were given an incentive to take public transit instead, they would use public transit. Thøgersen and Møller (2008) found that when people were given a free travel card, it reduced the influence of the habit of car drivers to use their cars. Free public transit will increase demand, which, in turn, will increase the frequency of departures, which makes it more attractive and user-friendly (Fearnley, 2013). In the City of Kamloops Transportation Master Plan, 47% of survey participants said that the bus service was too infrequent, and that was why they were less likely to use public transit (City of Kamloops, 2018). Free public transit can create a more efficient, reliable, frequent, and accessible public transit system. The following quote is from a Victoria city councillor who wants public transit to be free:

The funds for subsidizing would have to come from property taxes, fees, utility rates, sale of services, grants from the province, investment income, sale of capital goods, and private contributions.

Challenges Facing Public Transit

Public transit not only faces funding challenges but also suffers from layers of red tape between BC Transit, First Transit, and the province. This causes problems such as driver shortages and bad morale within the companies. Public transit tends to be underfunded and does not expand to the needs of the city fast enough. Looking particularly at the Kamloops public transit system, we see a lot of these challenges.

Reliance on Casual Bus Drivers

In British Columbia, First Transit oversees hiring the drivers and the office staff and operating the city’s transit (Landry, 2022). But First Transit’s corporate structure only allows for a set number of full-time employees. To become a full-time driver, a driver needs to have worked for the company for three years. This timing has caused there to be a reliance on causal drivers. There are about 20 casually-scheduled bus drivers in Kamloops for its 51-bus fleet. These casual bus drivers tend to end up working more than 100 hours per week. These causal drivers also are “left without pension or health benefits” because they are causal (Landry, 2022). These drivers make up for the lack of drivers by working more and skipping their breaks to keep routes running.

This bad morale also causes new drivers in training to quit after a “few weeks” from when they start. However, bus drivers are not the only ones quitting; even the office staff and management are leaving. According to Landry (2022), a bus driver he interviewed said that one morning “there was no one in the office when operation[s] began in the morning.” This makes it difficult for bus drivers to report problems when they happen because it is up to the office staff to make a change on the fly. These problems cause a driver shortage, which leads to delays and cancellations. This is the biggest issue facing public transit in Kamloops.

Transit Strikes

Bus drivers are also unionized, which can cause other problems. Recently, transit strikes caused service to halt for a few days. This prevented riders from getting to school, work, and elsewhere. These strikes sparked the conversation that public transit should be an essential service. But politicians in this province believe that bargaining should be worked out at the table (Paterson, 2024). If public transit was deemed an essential service, it would prevent strikes from disrupting service because “full-scale strikes…would not be possible by law” (CBC News, 2019). Union bargaining also involves talking about providing more funding to the public transit system, and the lack of funding is a major issue for public transit.

Funding

In Kamloops, like in many other cities, public transit is funded mostly through the province but also receives funding from the city and the riders. Table 6 shows public transit expenditures at about $20 million per year, constituting 11% of the budget over the 2022–2026 period. In contrast, police service expenditures are $31.8 million in 2022, or 18.6% of the total expenditures, increasing to $37.3 million in 2026, or 19.4% of the spending.

Table 6: Public Transit Expenditure, 2022–2026 (in millions of $s)

Note. Data from City of Kamloops (2022a)

The province in 2018/19 provided 48.3% of the funding to public transit, while local governments provided 22.9%, and the fares from riders made up the remaining 28.7% (Munro, 2022). In 2018/19, the Kamloops bus system “cost $15.9 million with riders paying $4.3 million in fares” (Munro, 2022). In 2022, the city of Kamloops paid $10.1 million to BC Transit (City of Kamloops, 2022). These numbers show that there is a lack of funding for public transit and that the local taxpayers are footing the bill to make up for it. Due to the lack of funding, the system is unable to grow and add routes to support a growing city. The Kamloops Transit Future Plan lays out the plan to expand and improve transit service in the city. However, improvements have been slow, which can be attributed to a lack of funding and bureaucratic red tape.

A recent Castanet article talking about expanding transit service to Ord Road mentioned that getting such a proposal approved would require the Ministry of Transportation’s approval (Dawson, 2024). The article also discussed that Ord Road is one of the fastest-growing areas in the Brocklehurst neighbourhood, so a new route along that road would help get people living in the area to work, school, or elsewhere (Dawson, 2024). In the Kamloops Transit Future Plan, the Ord Road route is considered “a long-range planning item” (Dawson, 2024). It is also important to note that adding a route along this road would also help connect the airport to the rest of the city’s transit system.

All these challenges prevent the Kamloops transit system from functioning reliably and efficiently, but changes can be made to improve the system.

Solutions & Improvements

Many of the challenges discussed can be fixed, but whether they get implemented is up to BC Transit, First Transit, the Government of British Columbia, and the City of Kamloops. Here are some solutions and improvements that should be made. These solutions can help make the public transit system efficient, reliable, and accessible. Some of these solutions proposed can be implemented rather quickly. Other solutions will take time; public transit is mostly a provincial issue, but the city can still make changes “on fares, routes, and service levels” (City of Kamloops, 2018). If these solutions and improvements are made, they will lead to the benefits mentioned above and create a strong, efficient, reliable, and accessible public transit system.

BC Transit

First, BC Transit needs to fix the card readers in the buses, as the card readers only work a quarter of the time. However, with the new Umo system, the need for fixing them does decrease, but the physical BC Transit cards are still likely to be used. So, fixing them should still be a priority. Second, the Umo and the Transit apps should be combined into one app. Having two different apps means two different teams developing the app, which seems inefficient from a monetary standpoint. Third, improving the maintenance of the buses to avoid mechanical failures. It is always unfortunate to see that a bus has been suddenly cancelled due to a mechanical failure, which causes riders to have to change travel plans at the last minute. This maintenance should also make sure that the tech in the buses is functioning properly, including the GPSs and bus stop monitors. Finally, abolish seasonal service changes and keep service constant all year. Seasonal service changes were cited in the Kamloops Transit Master Plan as one of the reasons the public will drive their cars rather than use public transit (City of Kamloops, 2018).

First Transit

First Transit should remove the limit on full-time positions and introduce part-time positions. First Transit drivers should also be immediately eligible to work full-time and should not need to be with the company for three years. This will allow First Transit to hire more bus drivers and be less reliant on casual drivers. Their current system leads to a reliance on casual drivers, a high turnover rate, and bad morale, which leads to cancellations and delays. This is why it is important to change this so that there are enough drivers to keep the system running efficiently, reliably, and frequently. This decreases the reliance on casual drivers who work long shifts and skip breaks just to keep the system running. This will allow for better benefit eligibility from the union, which will make it so that being a bus driver is more attractive. These changes are the most important and would help reduce the number of delays and cancellations.

British Columbia

Increase funding for public transit. The lack of funding prevents the system from being efficient, reliable, and accessible. The current amount of funds that the provincial government is providing is far too little. In 2023, the provincial government provided the entire system with $170,853 in funding (BC Transit, 2023). The province should make Public Transit an essential service. If public transit is an essential service, it can help prevent strikes that cause disruptions to the public transit service. Make Public Transportation free to increase efficiency, frequency, and accessibility.

City of Kamloops

Advocate on behalf of the rider so that the province, BC Transit, and First Transit implement the solutions. The riders do not have as much sway in making the companies and the province implement changes as the city does. So, the city should add pressure to these calls for change. Increase funding for public transit and make public transit free for everyone due to the positive externalities. Continue to maintain routes, stops, and exchanges. Add lighting, benches, and weather covers to the stops. Also, some bus stops have a time list for when the buses are set to arrive. However, these are subject to vandalism and are spray painted and graffitied, which makes them hard to read. Improve security at both the Lansdowne and North Shore exchanges. Increase service levels during the Summer, weekends, and during the middle of the day.

Conclusion

Public transit provides a necessary and essential service for lots of people in Kamloops. Public transit can help lower congestion, create faster commutes, contribute to higher productivity, lower emissions, and be affordable to poor people (Federation of Canadian Municipalities, 2019). Public transit can be a cost-effective alternative to cars and can save car owners money, which can help boost the economy by creating jobs (Lawong, 2015). While public transit faces many challenges, these challenges can be overcome. The solutions and improvements can fix the issues and create an efficient, reliable, and accessible public transit system.

Media Attributions

Figure 1: “The transit market in Kamloops graph” by the author is under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Figure 2: “Experience of a full-time vs. part-time bus driver in Kamloops flowchart” by the author is under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Figure 3: “Colin Forbes’ poster presentation at the 19th TRU undergraduate research conference during March 2024” by the author is under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

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