Families and Transportation in Vancouver, BC
The Metro Vancouver transportation and transit plebiscite has brought transportation to the forefront of public conversation. This study provides some insight into how parents of young
children travel within Vancouver — and how they would like to see their experience improve.
Parents with young children have many reasons to prefer cars to other forms of transportation. Tired, impatient children; strollers, diaper bags or sports equipment; and concerns about safety or weather can make it challenging to walk, cycle or take public transit. In spite of this, many of the parents we interviewed were trying to reduce their car use. Others did not have access to a car at all. Most parents wanted more and better options for other modes of transportation.
Photo by Christopher Cotrell on Flickr
Attachments
Beyond the Car: Families and Transportation in Vancouver, BC — SUMMARY
About the author
Arlene McLaren
Arlene McLaren is Professor Emerita in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Simon Fraser University. She is co-editor (with Jim Conley) of Car Troubles: Critical Studies of Automobility and Auto-Mobility (Ashgate) and co-author (with Sylvia Parusel) of several articles on automobility and its impact on families published in Canadian Review of Sociology, Canadian Journal of Sociology, World Transport Policy and Practice, Mobilities and Gender, Place & Culture.