Scrap old cars and you get cash, bicycles: Canada

[Alonzo]

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadians will be offered bicycles, public transit passes or cash if they agree to scrap their old gas-guzzling vehicles, the government said on Wednesday.

Ottawa says five million of the 18 million cars and trucks in Canada were made before 1996, when tougher emissions standards were introduced. The older vehicles produce about 19 times more pollutants than newer models, the government said.

The Conservative government, heavily criticized for effectively abandoning the Kyoto protocol on climate change, is keen to show it is doing something to curb emissions and protect the environment.

Whether the program catches on outside major cities is another matter. Canada is the world's second largest country with a relatively underdeveloped public transit network.

The National Vehicle Scrappage Program will be up and running by January 2009. Other incentives include C$300 ($297) in cash, membership in a car-sharing program or a rebate on the purchase of a new vehicle.

Ottawa will spend C$92 million over four years to fund the program.

($1=$1.01 Canadian)

http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCAN0428807020080604

[Osborn F. Enready]

Its like an advertisement stating "rubes, let us profit from you".

[Alonzo]

How is paying money going to provide profit?

[Elrathin]

How is paying money going to provide profit?

Because given the current program, the car as scrap is worth more than what the government is giving you.

[Alonzo]

Because given the current program, the car as scrap is worth more than what the government is giving you.

I don't see anything about the government selling the scrap in that article or others I found:

The program will offer incentives including rebates on new vehicles, free transit passes, bicycles, membership in ride-sharing programs and $300 cash. The rusty clunkers will then be turned over to scrapyards to crush and recycle them according to provincial guidelines....

In the meantime, Ottawa will give $3.4 million to a patchwork of seven regional scrapping groups that until recently received federal funding....

Environment Canada has mulled the prospect of starting a national program since last year's budget set aside federal money for two years' worth of scrapping initiatives.

The department consulted with environmental groups, regional scrapping organizations and other stakeholders last year to explore the possibility of starting a national program.

The government estimates five million vehicles from 1995 or earlier -- predating today's tougher emissions standards -- were on the roads last year.

These older vehicles make up just a fraction of the estimated 18 million vehicles in Canada, but they account for up to two-thirds of the pollution that causes smog.

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1060620

[Buck Laser]

Austin has a "Yellow Bike" project. Bikes are refurbished by volunteers and painted yellow for distribution in the downtown area. It's modeled after one in Amsterdam (I think). The bikes are available for anyone to use, and are to be left in the area when one is through using them. If my health improves enough, I'd love to volunteer, because I know enough about bikes and bike repair to be really helpful. When they look at me, they'll prolly put me to sorting paper!

Whether or not someone chooses to diss it or not, I think this is a useful effort. So far as I know, no government funds go into the Yellow Bike Project.