News   Mar 27, 2024
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New Transit Funding Sources

denfromoakvillemilton

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...-touchy-subject-of-road-tolls/article2323485/

The report is set to be released publicly in five days, but it’s making the rounds among Mr. Ford’s inner circle. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Dr. Chong revealed some details and spoke optimistically about the prospects for Sheppard construction, a sharp change from forecasts he was making just a few months ago.

“I have to confess that over the last six months I have gone from optimism to deflation about this plan,†he said. “But now I’m back on track. I feel very positive about it. I’m told by financial advisers that it’s doable. The private sector would be chomping at the bit to get at it.â€

By Dr. Chong’s projections, the private sector could pay for 50 per cent to 60 per cent of the total project cost. That’s up from the 10 to 30 per cent that Dr. Chong was predicting late last year.

Road Tolls are nice. I guess its time anyway, either that or a big increase in funding.
 
How about, charging road tolls for people outside of the city coming in? Would that be a good sell to voters within the city? I'd imagine they'd need a database of all license plates that're linked to Toronto addresses.

Cool then I guess all the Regions can toll all the people from Toronto (a bedroom community) for coming into their municipality. Essentially creating a moat around the city of Toronto.
 
How about, charging road tolls for people outside of the city coming in? Would that be a good sell to voters within the city? I'd imagine they'd need a database of all license plates that're linked to Toronto addresses.

is this a joke post
 
is this a joke post
Why not, it's a good idea, if it is used to subsidize something that 905ers currently use, but don't contribute their share of. Like the 1/3 of TTC operating costs that are paid for by the City of Toronto.
 
If road tolls are implemented, I think they should be in the following fashion:

1) 7:30-9:30am, and 4-6pm on weekdays. Those are the times that the highway system is most congested, so that should be when there is a price attached to using them.

2) The system should be ETR, and set up so that it is fare by distance. This would act as a defacto charge on 905 residents, because they would be paying the most, on average.

3) It should only be set up on the Gardiner and the DVP to begin with. A 'border' system like London would be too expensive to implement right of the bat. If nothing else, direct some of the toll money to pay for helping to expand the system.

4) I think all auto-billing should be done using Presto. I know this may sound a bit weird to begin with, but hear me out: Presto's database already has the name, address, and billing info of thousands of people in the GTA. All they would need to do is add a field for vehicle type and license plate. This way the billing for using the tolls would come from the same purse as from using transit. For those who really don't want a Presto card, the bill would be send to the address listed on their license plate. Presto would just be a lot more convenient, because people could use the auto-load feature. And even if they were drivers, having a Presto card may tempt them to take transit every now and then. Presto would become the one-stop shop for all transportation payments in the GTA.

5) The system should be designed in consultation with the Province so that it can be expanded into a region-wide Metrolinx-run system. We don't need a white elephant toll system, where the rest of the GTA is using 1 system and Toronto is using another.
 
Road Tolls are nice. I guess its time anyway, either that or a big increase in funding.

If this is a Toronto venture only, I do not think you can put tolls on the privincial highways that lead into Toronto.

Would tolls be only on DVP and Gardiner (note that hwy 404 and QEW are still in Toronto). This would punish this on the edge of Toront and encourage more people to take the local residential routes. The only fair way would be to install a great many toll booths (or automatic) and most streets - a significant infrastructure investment in itself. A GPS technology in all cars that could track your movements and charge a toll would also be fair but has the same and more issues with it.

I think a gas tax would be the best idea. It apply to everyone, not just those who happen to take a few specific routes into the city. However, we could'nt have a drastic jump in tax at the Municpal boundary crossing. It should be something like 3 cents per litre in Toronto, 2.5 cents in adjacent communities, and keep reducing by 1/2 centre the farther you get from Toronto. Some formula would have to be worked out to give some of the money to GO and Regional Transit - but TTC would get the most. However, this would have to be done by the Province - and they do not want to help Toronto out while taking the blame for raising taxes.

The only thing left is a parking surcharge.
 
Cool then I guess all the Regions can toll all the people from Toronto (a bedroom community) for coming into their municipality. Essentially creating a moat around the city of Toronto.
You can go for the extreme, and include all of GTA (replace "Toronto" with GTA, and "outside of Toronto" with outside of GTA); however that'd involve the province.
 
Why not, it's a good idea, if it is used to subsidize something that 905ers currently use, but don't contribute their share of. Like the 1/3 of TTC operating costs that are paid for by the City of Toronto.

The 905 should have there own road tolls specifically for Torontonians as well, to pay for the costs of 905 roads and transit that Torontonians use.
 

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