The political will to do that doesn't exist, unfortunately
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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
robmausser
Senior Member
Tory tried and the Libs said no.
I wonder why he hasn't tried again with the Cons. Maybe behind closed doors they said no too.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
You honestly think that Doug Ford of all people would *ever* support road tolls?
Midtown Urbanist
Superstar
Rob Ford raised taxes for Scarborough subway.
Maybe Doug Ford would raise tolls to build the Ontario Line. After all, there comes a breaking point where you can't take any more money away from health care and education.
JasonParis
Moderator
micheal_can
Senior Member
Lets say that we removed all parking at all stations, and instead we built condos there. How much better would those stations be?
I am all for parking lots and garages, but they should be paid for by the person parking.
I am all for parking lots and garages, but they should be paid for by the person parking.
asher__jo
Active Member
I think this policy change of charging for parking was long overdue, economics forced it. Without charging, parking lots and parkades would have to continue ballooning.
APTA-2048
Senior Member
But it needs to go hand in hand with large scale transit expansion (or rethinking) in the 905. A rush hour only bus that make 4-5 trips in the AM and PM is not going to cut it.
micheal_can
Senior Member
Actually, the problem is local. Maybe this will force the local transit to rethink it's routes to better align with the trains. This could be the resurgence of local transit needed. Everyone may want to see doom and gloom, but think about it, most park because the local transit isn't good. Remember, those making decisions at the local level are elected by those who are currently parking.
44 North
Senior Member
Are there charts/graphs of avg commuter rail fare for North America? And also stats on parking for these regions? I guess it's hard to tabulate but perhaps just a basic average. I think knowing this would help the debate.
I'm not one to be a huge proponent of free parking, but just taking a guess I'd say GO has one of the highest fares on the continent. We start charging for parking we're obviously going to be hitting riders where it hurts. As MisterF notes, an across-the-board fare rollback would be beneficial if parking becomes paid.
I'm not one to be a huge proponent of free parking, but just taking a guess I'd say GO has one of the highest fares on the continent. We start charging for parking we're obviously going to be hitting riders where it hurts. As MisterF notes, an across-the-board fare rollback would be beneficial if parking becomes paid.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
Metra in Chicago is really the only comparable service in North America. NYCs commuter services are so worlds ahead of ours in operations, frequency, and extensiveness its hard to compare, and other commuter services are small have have pretty low ridership.
Fares | Metra
Metra single ride tickets start at $4 USD ($5.28 CAD) and go up to $9.50 USD ($12.53 CAD). Seems pretty comparable to me.
I also believe that most Metra stations have limited parking and a lot of it is paid.
ShonTron
Moderator
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At most stations on the Metra (Chicago), NJ Transit, Metro-North, LIRR, MBTA (Boston) and SEPTA (Philly), parking is not free - these are the big legacy commuter rail networks that were originally provided by private railways. Newer commuter rail systems, like GO, generally offer free parking (several stations on the old CN Lakeshore commuter train were moved specifically for highway access and land for large parking lots). For the most part, parking lots on the US East Coast and Chicago systems are small - GO Transit is unique among North American commuter rail networks for the vast amount of parking available.
Northern Light
Superstar
Metra in Chicago is really the only comparable service in North America. NYCs commuter services are so worlds ahead of ours in operations, frequency, and extensiveness its hard to compare, and other commuter services are small have have pretty low ridership.
Fares | Metra
metrarail.com
Metra single ride tickets start at $4 USD ($5.28 CAD) and go up to $9.50 USD ($12.53 CAD). Seems pretty comparable to me.
I also believe that most Metra stations have limited parking and a lot of it is paid.
Just to compare one 'similar' trip.
I looked up Kitchener GO to Union Station.
Distance vs Distance
Metra, Chicago Union to Fox Lake: 87km
GO: Toronto Union to KW 101km
Travel Time:
Metra: 1hr 37
GO: 1hr 54
Price:
Metra: 12.53 CAD
GO: 16.32 CAD (Presto Fare)
Price per KM:
Metra: 0.14
GO: 0.16
But....METRA charges for Parking at Fox Lake Station!! $1.50USD per day or $2CAD
Adjusted price with parking
Metra: 14.53CAD
GO 16.32CAD
Price per Km:
Metra: 0.167
GO:.0.144
hw621
Senior Member
Without proper funding I am not sure how much improvement rethinking can make.
micheal_can
Senior Member
Look at downtown Toronto for what has happened to all the lots. I am talking about a similar thing with those parking lots near GO stations.
So, start charging thee same as a round trip local fare is.