According to Sue Zielinski, choosing public transit or your bike over the car isn't a one-way street. The Toronto Urban Development Services worker says more people would choose sustainable transport if bike lanes, tax breaks and affordable public transit existed.

    Changing people's driving habits isn't an easy proposition. "Transportation is so integrated into people's lifestyles that you can't really come up with a simple solution," says Zielinski (FES '91).

    Zielinski says part of the problem is how we view transportation. Traditionally, engineers have seen transportation simply as a way to move people from one place to another. The result has been zoning bylaws that separate where you work, from where you live, and from where you shop. So, depending on where you live, you may have no choice but to drive.

    She says transportation is about more than getting from point A to B ­ it's about making sure people can meet their needs. "We could reorganize our cities and towns so people could access life necessities without needing a car. Stores could be close to where we live. People need easy access to work, or to be able to work at home."

    At York, Zielinski researched communications and technology issues. She says FES helped her develop a bigger picture of how the environment, economics and social issues connected. "In the end it's not the technologies that run our lives; it's the decisions we make that affect the kinds of technologies we come up with."

    As part of the City of Toronto's Anti-smog Group, Zielinski helped develop a working plan to reduce city smog. The plan, which was unanimously accepted by City councillors in 1997, includes charging city employees for parking and redirecting the money to subsidize employee metro passes and build state-of-the-art bike facilities in government buildings.

    Zielinski is helping organize a sustainable transportation conference to be hosted by Toronto in July 1998. She hopes the conference, which will bring people together with successful sustainable transportation solutions from around the world, will offer strategies for a 10-year plan to be adopted by government and corporations.