4X4 is bang on. Many people chose to live in the innercity and the downtown core because the neighbourhoods are walkable and transit can quickly get you everywhere you need to go. With the rapid growth in the city and the expansion of the train lines with little increase in capacity, transit in the innercity has gone down hill.
I live innercity, just out of the downtown core. Ive lived here for years and have seen my transit options go from great to terrible.
I have the option of the bus or the train... both within walking distance.
The train used to be great. But slowly overtime it got more and more packed. At first i wasnt able to get a seat - not a big deal as it was a quick ride into downtown. Then as they expanded the line, I was no longer able to get on the train during rush hour. Id have to wait for several trains until I could squeeze on.
As the train got busier, I would take the bus. Again, at first Id be able to get a seat, then you could get on the bus but would have to stand, and now you can see 2 or 3 buses fly by without stopping (and its even worse on cold winter days).
Both the train and the bus (this route starts quite far in the burbs) are barely useable for me during rush hour. I live close enough that Im able to walk to work and thats what I do most days.
Id love to take the train or bus but its packed full of suburbanites. If I use the train, I dont need a park and ride. For suburbanites, it may seem punitive to have to pay $3 for parking. But you are the ones who need the service and you should pay for it.
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Originally Posted by Resolute 14
The majority of transit users are coming from the suburbs. We're the ones paying for the entire system day in and day out.
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Originally Posted by 4X4
I respectfully disagree. More accurately, I think that alot of people in the inner city (and I'm talking north of heritage) would use the train if they weren't already packed by the time they leave fish creek.
Give the people that get on at Chinook a slight break on fare and tack it on to the fares of people getting on at somerset and I bet you'd see an increase of users in the inner city. Maybe not a significant and immediate increase, but things would change.
People in the far reaches would start to consider car pooling a bit more and people in the inner areas would be more inclined to use the train more.
The more I think about it, the more sense it makes to me. I'm not trying to punish users from the outer areas so much as I'm trying to even things out.
I find it funny that homeowners in the inner city pay more for everything, yet people in the outer areas get more. Taxes are way higher in the inner city and roads are smaller. The people that live on the south leg of Deerfoot (and that used to be me, so I'm not trashing it, just saying) enjoy a beautiful four lane freeway until Barlow, then three lanes until Anderson. Overpasses, spacious parking lots at the shopping centers, big yards, big rec areas, yet taxes are lower. And it's subsidized by inner city people that pay more in property taxes.
Now, don't get me wrong and think that I'm suggesting that property taxes are out of whack. Property taxes are based on property values, so they're right where they belong. I'm just saying that something like a graduated fare system on transit is a good way to correct what I see as something that is a bit unfair.
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