[woob]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Some interesting ideas, but I find it hard to see any of them significantly increasing revenue compared what is currently raised through taxation (direct and indirect).


Here's a fairly simple idea that would raise some cash while driving a bunch of other desirable outcomes, and reduce certain expenses: Congestion Pricing

Calgary is pretty well set up to implement this in the core, with 4 bridges crossing the river, and 6 underpasses, and 1-2 western access points (though really only one as the 5 Ave connector reversal would become unnecessary and be converted to a 'wheeling highway' and letting the current very busy MUP become walking only, but I digress)

- direct cash raised from this

- increased transit usage = increased revenue (also leading to generally improved transit service)

- it should be noted that there would be reduced parking revenue for CPA, but it's also worth noting its incredibly dumb how current policy encourages private parking lots in DT, but reducing parking demand can turn some of these private and publicly owned parking facilities into more productive assets, including housing (DT will become even more desirable to live in)

- reduced road expenditure across the board (all of the cars heading into DT use other roads to get there, so we could slow down road expansions that are already unnecessary, but I digress)

- health benefits from reduced pollution and making alternate modes more attractive

DBA would #### bricks, but I'm not sure that would be totally founded - some trips may redistribute around the city (fine from a broader civic standpoint), while alternate mode access should improve significantly. And between Map Town and A&B Sound closing, there's really no reason to go downtown for anything other than employment, anyways (do we have a text colour for half-serious?)

A major unintended consequence would be shifting a lot of vehicle traffic to the beltline, but there would be ways to mitigate that

Can you imagine the UCP backlash if Calgary put in congestion pricing on roads into downtown?