The federal government’s Retire Your Ride program has removed 2,000 older cars from Saskatchewan roads in the past year.
But the incentives being offered aren’t convincing some owners that it is worth their while to get rid of vehicles that environmental agencies say emit 19 times more smog-forming emissions than vehicles made 10 years later.
The incentives could include $300 cash, up to $450 towards a commuter bike, a coupon for a $500 mobility scooter, travel voucher from the Saskatchewan Transportation Company, or bus passes in Prince Albert and Saskatoon.
Those might be attractive incentives for residents who aren’t planning to replace their vehicles but they are not so beguiling for a family that requires vehicular transportation and can’t be accommodated via public transportation or a motor scooter.
In many cases those older cars are the only means of transportation lower income families can afford to own — even though rebates and financing incentives are offered by some automobile dealerships.
Certainly those families would like to do their part for the environment but getting $300 or a bus ticket isn’t a viable tradeoff for families in those situations.
The federal government might register higher involvement in these environmental programs if they were developed to appeal to a wider cross-section of residents.
