Vancouver: Transit ridership up 11% with high gas prices

[interchange42]

Oh come now, interchange. The Liberals introduced billions of dollars in gas tax transfers directly to transportation projects. That's a lot better than a measly tax credit at the end of the year to encourage ridership on already-overcrowded systems, and even then only for the relatively well-off. Much better to spend that money on improving service and attracting new riders that way.

I say you have to do both.

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[unimaginative2]

Alright, that's fair. Still, I think it would be much more effective if it were a refundable tax credit.

 

[dowlingm]

unimaginative - I agree completely, it should be refundable. But the Tory owt is better than Paul Martin's nowt - not only have I purchased and used a metropass (on trips I would have driven or not taken at all) but I have persuaded others to do so on the basis of the current credit. Hopefully Dion will commit to going refundable.

You could write to McGuinty to make that case for refundable credit for Ontario tax...

[one more thing - one of the good things about making the tax credit personal is that it gives individual taxpayers a stake in transit which makes it easier to sell capital projects later.]