blog post #4 How could Canada’s infrastructure be developed to lessen traffic – Learning from others

Hi! Welcome back to my blog. Last post I looked at what the 5 main issues are causing the major traffic problem here in Canada. Them being: construction, incidents and accidents, the urban core, dependence on cars, and undeveloped public transport. In this post, I will look at what other large cities and places around the world do to control their traffic. This will help me with my next post where I plan to research possible solutions.

As I stated in my last post, Vancouver was ranked among the top five worst traffic cities in North America. It was alongside two cities with the highest population in northern America: Toronto, Halifax, and Winnipeg. These are all Canadian cities and were also in the top ten. We already have the reasons why the traffic is so bad here, but why isn’t it a problem in other densely populated cities? What are they doing that we aren’t?

• Tokyo & Japan – housing built in mixed zoning

“”Taken as a whole,” Nolan Gray writes, “Japan’s zoning system makes it easy to build walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods,” making it markedly different from the prevailing American norm. “Japanese zoning is relatively liberal, with few bulk and density controls, limited use segregation, and no regulatory distinction between apartments and single-family homes.””(1) This article talks about how mixed zoning contributes to affordable housing, even in cities. It contrasts with American zoning, but it also applies to cities in Canada, especially with the housing crisis. Mixed zoning is a thing in all cities but scaling it up and doing it not only in the main part of the city but areas around it would greatly help traffic.

Japan has national zoning laws that encourage mixed-use development meaning that housing, commercial buildings, and even some industrial buildings can be in the same area. They also allow high-density housing, including mid-rise and high-rise residential buildings in the same area as houses. This means commutes are shorter and there is less need for cars. People can buy a house next door to their jobs so they can live, work and shop without having to leave the area. (2)

In comparison north American cities often have single-use zones meaning that: there is an area where most people live, an area where most people work and an area where most people shop. (3) cultural influences and single-use zones many times lead to low-density housing, one house per family, this spreads people’s homes out over a large area. The commute to work or shops is way larger, this leads to car dependency* and traffic congestion

• Amsterdam – pedestrian friendly cities / bicycle

Last year experts studied 240 cities around the world and Amsterdam was named as most walkable. Rotterdam which is another large city in the Netherlands was ranked number two, then Venice, Italy (4). “Beyond mere convenience, walkable cities promote a reduced reliance on cars*, which in turn can lessen a city’s environmental impact and bolster its local economy.” (5) Amsterdam is also known to be the “bike capital” of the world. 63% of the population is said to use their bikes daily. 881,000 is the number of counted bikes in the city, and 263,000 is the number of cars. 32% of traffic movement in the city is by bike compared to 22% by car and 16% by public transport. In the city center, 48% of traffic movement is by bike. (6)

In Canada, among all commuters in the country, 81.5% use a car, and 11.4% use public transport (7) only 4% of the population use their bikes daily most of the subtense of that number come from Quebec and Manitoba.

The main reason for this large difference comes from infrastructure and cultural norms. Amsterdam has a huge network of bike paths and lanes. The total length of all the paths and lanes put together adds up to a whopping 767 kilometers! Canadian cities lack this infrastructure for bikes; the roads are made in a way that heavily favors car use to the point that bikers on the road can be an obstacle and an even annoyance to drivers. Cycling has been a part of Dutch culture for over a century, it started in 1920 since then it has been integrated into daily routines, even the Dutch prime minister cycles to work.

• New York – congestion pricing

• Paris – car free zones

220 of Paris’ 6,000 roads were already car-free, most of them are close a school. recently it was voted for 500 more streets to be closed off from cars. they plan to change all these roads to bicycle lanes and pedestrian zones and green areas.(10)

• Europe in comparison – public transportation

public transport in Europe:

• Investments in many rail networks, including high-speed trains like the TGV in France and ICE in Germany, trains connect countries while also having regional trains that connect smaller towns and cities
• densely populated cities which are designed for public transportation
• stronger cultural norm to use public transport
• public transport has strong governmental support making it affordable and accessible
• its a big priority because many people use and realiy on it daily.

public transport in northern America:

• less investments in trains more in highways and car travel
• cities are more spread-out suburbs are formed in a way that is easiest to travel by car and tricky to cover all the area with public transport
• big dependance on cars for commuting
• Public transit systems are often underfunded and don’t have the same level of government support.
• It’s not a priority because there is only a small percentage of the population that uses it

1. Rojc, P. (2019, April 6). Zoning in Japan versus zoning in the U.S. Planetizen News. https://www.planetizen.com/news/2019/04/103734-zoning-japan-versus-zoning-us
2. Homes, P. (2022, July 13). Land use zones under the City Planning Law in Japan. PLAZA HOMES. https://www.realestate-tokyo.com/news/land-use-zones-in-japan/
3. Hudson, L. (2024, September 29). Urbanism 101: Zoning’s history and role in the housing crisis – the urbanist. The Urbanist – Examining urban policy to improve cities and quality of life. https://www.theurbanist.org/2024/09/28/urbanism-101-zoning-history-and-role-in-the-housing-crisis/
4. Written by: Letitia Smith | Travel Insurance ExpertLast updated: 16 July 2024. (2024, July 16). The world’s most walkable cities. AllClear. https://www.allcleartravel.co.uk/blog/worlds-most-walkable-cities/
5. White, T. (2024, July 31). This city was just named the world’s most walkable – and it’s also known as the “bike capital of the world.” Travel + Leisure. https://www.travelandleisure.com/amsterdam-netherlands-named-worlds-most-walkable-city-8685257
6. Cycling in Amsterdam. ThingstodoinAmsterdam.com. (2023, November 7). https://thingstodoinamsterdam.com/transport/cycling-in-amsterdam/
7. Government of Canada, S. C. (2024, August 26). More Canadians commuting in 2024. The Daily – . https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/240826/dq240826a-eng.htm
8. Menon, S. (2025, April 23). Yes, New York City’s congestion pricing program is still in effect – and it’s working. Vital Signs. https://vitalsigns.edf.org/story/yes-new-york-citys-congestion-pricing-program-still-effect-and-its-working
9. mortillaro, N. (2025, January 13). New York City has just implemented congestion pricing on cars. is a big city in Canada next? | CBC News. CBCnews. https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/nyc-congestion-pricing-1.7424946
10. Berry, A. (2025b, March 24). Paris to increase car-free zones after city vote – DW – 03/24/2025. dw.com. https://www.dw.com/en/france-paris-to-increase-car-free-zones-after-referendum/a-72019387