You know that in Canada, people rely quite heavily on their own vehicles. As well, in most major cities, public transit systems (such as Edmonton's LRT and Calgary's C-train) can also be used. Well-developed infrastructures allow people to get around within the cities as well as travel from one city or province to another. Is this type of transportation system available in less developed countries? You will learn about this in the following activity.

First of all, what are the factors that allow Canadians to have so many choices available for transportation? In Canada, as in most developed nations, the government has enough money from taxes to build roads, railways, airports, and harbours to support the economy and the transportation of goods and services within the country as well as with our trading partners.

 Because of Canada's geography, many communities are somewhat isolated and have relatively small populations. Therefore, having regular train or bus service to these places is not cost effective. This encourages people to drive their own vehicles when travelling to such communities. As well, many parts of Canada were developed after the car came into common use, so most cities and towns are designed for vehicle traffic.

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In contrast, developing countries often could not afford the infrastructure required (such as safe roads and bridges). Many people in developing countries cannot afford cars even if roads were built. High population densities in large cities may reduce people's need for their own vehicles. As well, many countries have cities and towns that were established hundreds of years ago and so were not designed for cars.

   You can see that attitudes and expectations of transportation result from where you live.