Grade by Grade
E. Liveable Communities · Liveable Communities: Land Use and Sustainability in Canada

Getting Around: Sustainable Transportation, From Your Street to the World

E2.2 A1.5 A2.3About 75 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can describe transportation systems at the local, provincial, national and international scales.
  • I can analyse the environmental, social and economic sustainability of different modes of transportation.
  • I can compare existing and proposed transportation options and assess options for the future.
  • I can calculate and compare the space and cost of different ways of moving people.

Words to know

mode of transportation
A way of travelling or moving goods: walking, cycling, car, bus, subway, train, truck, ship, plane, pipeline.
public transit
Shared passenger transportation open to everyone, such as buses, streetcars, subways, light rail (LRT) and commuter trains.
active transportation
Human-powered travel such as walking, cycling, wheeling and skateboarding.
Complete Streets
A design approach that makes streets safe and comfortable for everyone: people walking, cycling, taking transit and driving, of all ages and abilities.
gateway
A place, such as a port, airport or border crossing, through which goods and people enter and leave a country or region.
intermodal
Using more than one mode on one trip, for example shipping containers that move from ship to train to truck.
congestion
Traffic so heavy that travel slows down, wasting time and fuel.
greenhouse gas emissions
Gases such as carbon dioxide released into the air, for example by burning gasoline and diesel, that trap heat and drive climate change.

Hook: the 401 at 5 p.m.

Highway 401 through Toronto is one of the busiest highways in North America. At rush hour, many lanes in each direction crawl along, mostly with one person in each car. Meanwhile, under the city, a full subway train carries hundreds of people at once.

How we move people and goods shapes our air, our climate, our budgets, our health and even who can get to work. Let's look at transportation systems from your street to the whole world.

Transportation systems at four scalesInternationalports, airports, border crossings, St. Lawrence SeawayNationalTrans-Canada Highway, CN and CPKC rail, VIA Rail, airlinesProvincial400-series highways, GO Transit, northern roads and airportsLocalstreets, sidewalks, bike lanes, buses, subways, LRTA trip or shipment often uses all four scales.
Transportation systems are nested. A package from overseas may arrive at a port (international), travel by rail across Canada (national), by truck on a 400-series highway (provincial) and by van on local streets.

Transportation at each scale

Local: sidewalks, bike lanes, local buses, streetcars, subways and light rail. Toronto is building a new subway line called the Ontario Line. Many cities use Complete Streets design to make streets safe for everyone.

Provincial: Ontario's 400-series highways connect cities; GO Transit runs commuter trains and buses around the Greater Golden Horseshoe. In the Far North, many First Nations communities have no year-round road; they rely on air travel and winter roads.

National: the Trans-Canada Highway, the freight railways of CN and CPKC, passenger trains run by VIA Rail, and national airlines link regions and carry exports to ports.

International: the Port of Vancouver, Canada's largest port, connects Canada to Asia. The St. Lawrence Seaway, opened in 1959, lets ships travel between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. Border crossings such as the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit carry a huge share of Canada–U.S. truck trade. Pearson Airport is Canada's busiest airport.

How sustainable is each mode?

Use the three sides of sustainability:

  • Environmental: transportation is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. Cars and trucks burning gasoline and diesel also cause air pollution. Walking and cycling produce almost no emissions; full buses and trains produce much less per passenger than cars; electric vehicles produce no tailpipe emissions (their total impact depends on how the electricity is made). For freight, rail uses much less fuel per tonne moved than trucks.
  • Social: not everyone can drive: children and teens, many seniors, people with some disabilities and people who cannot afford a car. Good transit and safe sidewalks give them access to school, work and services. Road safety is also social sustainability.
  • Economic: congestion wastes time and money; transit and highways are very expensive to build; owning a car costs thousands of dollars a year; good transportation attracts businesses and jobs.
ModeEnvironmentalSocialEconomic
Private carHigh emissions per person (gas/diesel); lots of space for roads and parkingFlexible, door-to-door; not available to allCostly to own; roads costly to build and fix
Bus / subway / LRTLow emissions per person when well usedAvailable to non-drivers; can be crowded or infrequentExpensive to build; cheaper for riders than driving
Walking / cyclingAlmost zero emissionsHealthy; needs safe routes; harder in winter for someVery cheap for users and cities
Freight railLower fuel use per tonne than trucksCan be noisy near homesEfficient for heavy goods over long distances
Air travelHigh emissions per passenger-kilometreOnly practical link for many remote communitiesFast but expensive
A general comparison. Actual impacts depend on how full vehicles are and how energy is produced.
Road space needed to move 50 people (example)By car (about 1.2 people per car): 42 carsBy bus: 1 bus50By bike: 50 bikes
Fifty people need about 42 cars (50 ÷ 1.2 ≈ 42) but only one bus. Fifty bikes fit in a much smaller space than 42 cars. Space on city streets is limited, so how we move people matters.
Worked example

Let's compare the cost of getting to work

Jordan commutes 20 km each way, 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year. Option 1: drive, at an example total cost of $0.60 per km (fuel, insurance, repairs and wear). Option 2: buy a monthly transit pass at an example price of $150 (12 months). Compare the yearly costs.

  1. Distance per day: 20 km × 2 = 40 km.
  2. Days per year: 5 × 48 = 240 days.
  3. Distance per year: 40 × 240 = 9 600 km.
  4. Driving cost: 9 600 × $0.60 = $5 760 per year.
  5. Transit cost: $150 × 12 = $1 800 per year.
  6. Difference: $5 760 − $1 800 = $3 960 per year in favour of transit (if the trip is practical by transit).

Driving costs about $5 760 a year versus $1 800 for transit, a difference of $3 960 in this example. Real costs vary, and time, convenience and reliability matter too.

Proposed options for the future

  • Electrification: electric cars, buses and trains reduce tailpipe emissions. Ontario's electricity is mostly from low-emission sources, which helps.
  • More and better transit: new subway, LRT and bus rapid transit lines; more frequent regional rail.
  • High-speed rail: in 2025 the federal government announced Alto, a proposed high-speed rail line between Toronto and Québec City. Supporters say it would cut travel times and emissions; others raise concerns about cost and the land it would cross.
  • Active transportation networks: protected bike lanes, trails and safer crossings.
  • Land use that shortens trips: complete communities and transit-oriented development, plus working from home some days.
  • Freight changes: more goods by rail and ship, cleaner trucks, and smarter local deliveries.

Every option has trade-offs: cost, construction disruption, who benefits first and how long it takes.

Just for fun

Why did the bicycle refuse to stand up on its own?

It was two-tired. (Luckily, a bike lane never gets tired of carrying people.)

Hands-on activity

Track your trips for a week

You need: a notebook or a phone notes app, and an online map to measure distances.

  1. For 7 days, record every trip you make: where to, distance, mode (walk, bike, bus, car, etc.) and time taken.
  2. Total the kilometres by each mode and make a bar graph with a title, labels and a source ("my trip log, dates").
  3. Pick two car trips. Could they be made another way? What would make that possible (a sidewalk, a bus route, a bike lane, a closer store)?
  4. Write a short recommendation to your municipality for one change on your street or route, with reasons from all three sides of sustainability.

What to look for: accurate totals, a properly labelled graph, and a recommendation that mentions environmental, social and economic reasons. (Stay safe: only try new routes with a grown-up's OK.)

Your turn

1

Give one example of a transportation system at each scale: local, provincial, national, international.

2

How many cars carry 60 people if each car carries 1.2 people?

3

Why is good public transit a social sustainability issue?

4

Why is rail usually more sustainable than trucks for heavy freight over long distances?

5

Why do many Far North First Nations communities depend on air travel and winter roads?

6

What is Complete Streets design?

More practice: warm-up

1

What is active transportation? Give two examples.

2

What is Canada's largest port?

3

When did the St. Lawrence Seaway open?

4

What does intermodal mean?

5

Name a commuter transit system in Ontario.

More practice: on your own

1

Are electric cars a complete solution to transportation sustainability? Explain.

2

A 30 km round trip is made 200 days a year at $0.55 per km. What is the yearly cost?

3

Explain why winter roads are becoming less reliable and what that means for remote communities.

4

Identify two groups that might support and two that might oppose a new LRT line on a main street, with a reason each.

5

Why is the Ambassador Bridge important to Canada's economy?

Challenge

1

Assess the proposed Alto high-speed rail line using all three sides of sustainability.

2

Using the bus example, how many cars would be removed from a road if 3 full buses (50 riders each) replaced car trips at 1.2 people per car?

3

Recommend a transportation plan for a growing suburb where 80% of trips are by car. Include at least three actions and explain how they work together.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which is an example of the INTERNATIONAL scale of transportation?

2.

How many cars are needed to carry 36 people at 1.2 people per car?

3.

Which mode generally uses the least fuel per tonne to move heavy freight long distances over land?

4.

Complete Streets are designed to:

5.

Why is transit a social sustainability issue?

6.

Alto is best described as:

For parents and teachers

Your family's own travel is the best example for this lesson. The trip log activity works well if everyone in the family joins in for a few days. When discussing driving, avoid making it a moral question: many families need cars because of where they live and work; the lesson is about how communities can offer more choices. Calculations with cost per kilometre are a good check for multi-step thinking (km per day × days, then × cost). Proposed projects like Alto may change; encourage your teen to check the latest news and date of sources.