Your personal letter that explains why you support sustainable public transportation is very powerful. It doesn’t take many polite and personal letters about an issue to get the attention of our elected representatives.

Here are a selection of points to make when writing to your politicians about trains and buses: 

• More than a quarter of Canadians don’t drive or don’t own a car. That should not mean social isolation or not being able to get a job. 
• Trains and buses are a greener, cleaner way to get around, reducing pollution and giving people an affordable choice. 
• Investment in transit for our cities is welcome, but we need a National Public Transport Strategy to restore regional and long-distance rail and bus services. 
• Lack of safe, affordable transportation outside our big cities puts personal safety at risk, as highlighted by the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The government now has a responsibility to solve this problem, for all Canadians.
• If train and bus services are good and run on time, more people will use them.
• Good regional rail and bus services can spread economic growth out from our big cities, making all Canadians better off. 
• Making good use of existing rail corridors, or even reactivating old rail lines, is much cheaper than building more highway lanes.
• Passenger trains need fair access to freight railway tracks, so they can run on time and meet growing demand.
• Investment in double tracks on our existing rail network will help move Canadian products and commodities to market, as well and creating more capacity for passenger trains. 
• Urban services like GO and Translink are tax-free, so why not make all bus and train fares tax-free to be fair to all Canadians and help rural services survive?
• The loss of Greyhound in the west and decades of cuts to train services have left many communities with no connection to the rest of Canada.
• People change jobs more frequently today. Good regional bus and train services mean that people are more likely to be able to take a job without the expense and disruption of moving house. Employers are also more likely to be able to hire the people the need to continue investing in creating more jobs in Canada. 
• Age, ability, or simply living outside the biggest cities shouldn’t be a barrier to being able to get around, get a job, go to college, or simply enjoy everything our country has to offer.
• Canada used to have one of the best national rail and bus networks in the world, but now we have some catching up to do.