TORONTO - In a reasonable world, the Toronto Transit Commission would have no trouble luring drivers from their automobiles onto its buses, streetcars, and subways. Economic factors alone make public transit vastly preferable to driving a car in Toronto.

For example, it costs about 30 cents a kilometre to drive a car in Canada. In Toronto, where you can drive more than 60 feet without stopping for a red light, a maniac on a bicycle or a BMW parked illegally by a Rosedale yuppie in a black mink coat shopping for a $10 loaf of bread, it costs even more. If you're fortunate enough to reach your destination by next year, you'll have to pay at least $2.20 an hour to park your car. To leave your car in a lot all day will cost more than $20.

It costs $1 to ride a streetcar 15 kilometres across the south end of the city. If you ask the driver for a transfer, it will admit you to the subway or onto a bus, at no extra charge. The subway will convey you as far as Finch Avenue, 15 kilometres north of the city's waterfront.

Other factors make public transit even more alluring. You can read a newspaper. You can look out the window without running into a telephone pole. the police never give tickets to subway passengers or charge streetcar patrons with making illegal turns. You never have to look out the corner of your eye at the guy sitting next to you in the red Camaro and wonder if you can beat him to the next stop light. You don't have to park a bus. If someone drops an ice cream cone on the seat beside you, you can move far away.

One or all of these factors persuaded 463.5 million passengers to use the TTC last year. That could mean that every person in Metro Toronto took 218 rides or that one person took 463.5 million rides. In fact, a recent survey shows that 64 per cent of the people in Metro Toronto took most of the rides. The remaining 800,000 people rarely or never use the transit system.

Most of the people who use the system are women, aged 15 to 34, with an annual income of less than $40,000 a year. Most of the people who don't use the system are men, aged 25 to 54, who earn $50,000 a year or more. Half of them said they wouldn't take public transit even if it were free.

For his 30 cents a kilometre plus parking, the diehard Toronto driver enjoys the convenience of motoring directly to his destination ii his energy-consuming, fume-spewing, lethal vehicle. He can probably reach it more quickly than he could on public transit, and he can listen to whale recordings or the traffic report en route. If he's going to the suburbs, he might even find a parking space within 60 yards of the front door. He doesn't have to arrange his appointments around a bus schedule, nor does he have to worry about standing for an hour in his Giorgio Armani suit in the midst of a horde of nattering secretaries in woolen overcoats.

The TTC's vice-chairman, Mike Colle, says the commission should redirect its advertising campaign toward enticing these men out of their cars. He says the TTC's ads should depict "body builders, football players, and these macho types with chains. The ads could read, 'Be a real man — ride the TTC' or 'Get out of your T-Bird and ride into the TTC'"

Colle might have the right idea. After all, cosmetics companies, car manufacturers, cigarette producers and soft drink firms have persuaded people to part with their money by associating their products with a seductive images. Unfortunately, the TTC has only $2.4 million to spend on its advertising next year. So it's unlikely that we'll see Madona singing about the Spadina bus.