Quote:
Originally Posted by Rathji
Ok, so lets play this game.
If you change the fare payment as you are suggesting, and assuming there are zero costs to implement such a system, why would you assume it would bring in more money?
People closer to their destinations would pay less, and people far away would pay more. Logically, people somewhere in the middle would pay the same amount. If CT wanted to raise fares across the board to pay for this service, they could just do that, without hiding that fare increase in a complicated zoning system.
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Don't lower the rate. You only have to increase it. The first concentric zone originating from the centre of the city pays the current rate. The next concentric zone a higher rate, and so forth.
Increased revenue will pay for far-reaching bus and LRT systems. The further out you live, the more you pay to ride transit, given you use the service more - the way that is should be.
Ridership might go proportionally down from residents living further away (but I doubt as much as some might think). Really, there is no benefit for the city to have suburban citizens paying the same cost as an inner-city citizen. They pay the same and use more resources to commute.
This is happening in other cities around the world; this is not a new and fresh idea. Not sure why Calgary can't adopt it too. It's a great source of revenue for the city to pay for services, especially in a sprawling city such as ours.