The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[WhipperSnapper]

Distance traveled is already taxed by way of the gas tax. Tax commercial parking lots if you want to raise some monies for a truckload or two of rail. These are used mostly be commuters (over businesses) and commuters with higher disposable income.

[d_jeffrey]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Distance traveled is already taxed by way of the gas tax. Tax commercial parking lots if you want to raise some monies for a truckload or two of rail. These are used mostly be commuters (over businesses) and commuters with higher disposable income.

Not with electric cars and those who can afford a Tesla surely can afford tolls. Anyways, Coderre wants tolls to pay for metro extensions through the ARTM. The ARTM got power of taxation for any new development in a 1.5 area of a metro station.

[WhipperSnapper]

That's why I said you go (secretly) after parking. Less political backlash and focuses more on the right people.


Coderre may want it. Coderre may say it because it sounds good. Tolls are best used for covering maintenance. Special taxations in communities around new public infrastructure is nothing new. Sometimes it has worked and sometimes it hasn't. It has never truly lived up to the expectations and optimism presented here with the REM.

[Aylmer]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Distance traveled is already taxed by way of the gas tax. Tax commercial parking lots if you want to raise some monies for a truckload or two of rail. These are used mostly be commuters (over businesses) and commuters with higher disposable income.

If you want to tax distance, the gas tax will do. But travelling 5km through downtown Toronto at rush hour isn't the same as 5km through farmers' fields.

Parking taxes are also a good tool, but they are too blunt to differentiate between someone driving/parking at the peak of rush hour and someone doing it at 11am when traffic isn't heavy.

Non-variable tolls are similarly blunt, charging people no matter the congestion.


I'm a fan of congestion pricing because it's not just a tax or a revenue tool: It actually gives you something in return. You may pay $3-4 at the peak of rush hour, but in return, you get a smoother and more predictable commute. So if you have/want to drive, you might pay a little, but you're getting your money's worth in saved time and less frustration thanks to that toll. But at 8 pm when there's not really much traffic anyways, you pay nothing since tolling wouldn't make your trip any easier.

[nephersir7]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

All politics. The feds wanted to charge a toll on the new Champlain Bridge and they backed out. Tolls should be charged every weekday on all Montreal bridges from 6AM to 6PM IMO.

A big issue with the feds' tolling plan is that none of the revenues would have gone towards transit (or the city, or the province). This is a big part of the reason why opposition from provincial and municipal politicians was so unanimous.

[GreaterMontréal]

You cannot, in the long run it would ruin the innercity. People already adore the suburbs, it would be the last nail in the coffin.