When do they finally Axe Park N Ride?

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

This creates a spinoff market for the passes (paper, plastic, codes, whatever). The easiest way to do this is to piggyback on the registration system information and have your municipality be known based on the address linked to the vehicle's licence plate.

How hard would it be to have someone scan licence plates and tell instantly where the vehicle is registered? Because obviously that would be the best system.

[Slava]

I admittedly skipped a few pages here, so my apologies if I missed someone else saying this.

The point of a public service is not "supply and demand". Frankly just because they could theoretically charge $500/month for someone to park beside the LRT doesn't mean that the city should. Same argument for education, or healthcare or basically any other service that the government provides for its citizens...the goal is not profit.

[mykalberta]

Why not change the ParkPlus system to everyone who has their vehicle registered to a Calgary address parks for free, everyone else pays $10/day.

I am fine with the City of Calgary taxpayers not paying, but not someone from Airdire, Cochrane, Okotoks etc should have to pay as they dont contribute anything financially to the city.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

I think forcing users from parasite communities to pay full freight for parking at Park N Ride lots makes perfect sense. They're a captive audience since most of the time the reason they moved out of the city was because they're cheap. You know if they have to go downtown for work every day, those cheapskates not going to pay for expensive downtown parking. So you set parking for them at something like $8 / day.

It'd be easy enough to distribute passes to Calgary residents so that their parking fee is much lower or nill.

Listen Bud, you are barking up the wrong tree. And by the way, using the term parasite is totally offensive. Get off your high horse.

First of all, I am on record in this thread that I have no problem with extra parking fees, with extra library fees, with any user fees whatsoever for non residents of Calgary. And where applicable, I pay them every time.

I am also on record as opposing what Ducay wrote and that is

Its times like this when I'm glad you don't live within the city limits. Even after they get rid of the $3 fees, I hope they implement some sort of extra charge for people from Okotoks, Airdrie, Cochrane, De Winton, to use our C-train.

I am willing to pay that extra fee only when Calgarians pay for all of the capital expenses for its transit system, and are not subsidized by any provincial or federal tax dollars.

You are going to have to realize that it is not only you who has paid into Calgary Transit system and as such, it is not only you who should get the benefit of using it.

And for all of you who are thinking every non resident is a parasite, that every non resident is cheap and avoids service user fees, well you are wrong.

First of all, we have lived in the country since 1980 and for almost that whole period of time, my husband owned and operated a business downtown and as such has paid taxes towards Calgary Transit. And contrary to what you might think, he did pay for his parking downtown. He is not the only person in this situation.

Second, there are countless people who have moved to the country who have also kept their homes in the city, either for their children to use, or for rental purposes. They pay Calgary taxes too.

I would wager that when you do a breakdown of all these "parasites" who are a burden on your transit system, that there are as many Calgarians you are subsidizing who are riding free on the honor system as there are people in the country getting a so called better deal than you.

Adopting more and higher user fees only increases your burdening bureaucracy, discourages people from using the system, and encourages people to try to beat the system.

Why not make a friendlier system that encourages people to use the system. Provide better bus service or dart service to get people to the C Train stations, adopt a token system to pay, whatever.

When you can say you never step outside of the city of Calgary period, is the day you can call me a parasite.

[Phanuthier]

In the San Francisco Bay area, there are stickers for cars of people who live in the city (for the popular cities, like San Francisco or Berkeley) who can park their car for free and people outside of the city have to pay to park. I also know that the major bridges do have a RFID tag so cars that have already paid can cross the bridge without crossing a toll, and if you try and cheat through, there is a camera to take pictures.

I think it makes sense to implement similar tolls or parking costs for those non-residents who are making frequent use of the service. As a suburban city, I think Calgary has to have the implement suburban city budgeting rather then plan it like a single city.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Slava

I admittedly skipped a few pages here, so my apologies if I missed someone else saying this.

The point of a public service is not "supply and demand". Frankly just because they could theoretically charge $500/month for someone to park beside the LRT doesn't mean that the city should. Same argument for education, or healthcare or basically any other service that the government provides for its citizens...the goal is not profit.

If the public service needs additional funding from a specific portion of its users to fund a service that only they use, then you need to charge for that service accordingly. You can't charge the same rate a private company does in an attempt to make a profit but you need to charge enough to make administering the fee worthwhile.

This is no different than a swimming pool charging to rent water wings for your kid. Sure they are a public service, but they also need to charge enough to cover their costs and prevent abuse.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Rathji

If the public service needs additional funding from a specific portion of its users to fund a service that only they use, then you need to charge for that service accordingly. You can't charge the same rate a private company does in an attempt to make a profit but you need to charge enough to make administering the fee worthwhile.

This is no different than a swimming pool charging to rent water wings for your kid. Sure they are a public service, but they also need to charge enough to cover their costs and prevent abuse.

Right, but if that charge begins to cut the number of users than you can clearly see that the fees are too high.

Plus, lets not kid ourselves here, people pay for transit to begin with. They are not getting a free ride at all. The cost of providing parking didn't suddenly enter the picture, and the cost of transit didn't double just before this new charge was implemented at all.

Bottom line to me is that we should encourage more use of transit. This charge does the exact opposite of that.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by redforever

Listen Bud, you are barking up the wrong tree. And by the way, using the term parasite is totally offensive. Get off your high horse.

Would these communities be booming without proximity to Calgary? No, they're parasites living off the opportunities provided by Calgary.

I am willing to pay that extra fee only when Calgarians pay for all of the capital expenses for its transit system, and are not subsidized by any provincial or federal tax dollars.

Do you not think that a significant portion of provincial and federal tax dollars come from Calgary?

You are going to have to realize that it is not only you who has paid into Calgary Transit system and as such, it is not only you who should get the benefit of using it.

Hey, I haven't paid into the system. I'm not a Calgary resident.

And for all of you who are thinking every non resident is a parasite, that every non resident is cheap and avoids service user fees, well you are wrong.

Did I say that? No, I didn't. And I don't think anyone else here did either.

First of all, we have lived in the country since 1980 and for almost that whole period of time, my husband owned and operated a business downtown and as such has paid taxes towards Calgary Transit. And contrary to what you might think, he did pay for his parking downtown. He is not the only person in this situation.

And your husband benefited by having customers who had access to his business through public transit.

Second, there are countless people who have moved to the country who have also kept their homes in the city, either for their children to use, or for rental purposes. They pay Calgary taxes too.

Well, for the rental properties it's actually the renters who are paying the taxes indirectly.

I would wager that when you do a breakdown of all these "parasites" who are a burden on your transit system, that there are as many Calgarians you are subsidizing who are riding free on the honor system as there are people in the country getting a so called better deal than you.

Calgarians aren't riding free since their tax dollars pay the bills regardless of whether or not they use transit or abuse the honour system. The only ones who are riding free are the people from parasite communities who abuse the honour system.

Adopting more and higher user fees only increases your burdening bureaucracy, discourages people from using the system, and encourages people to try to beat the system.

So they shouldn't charge people to ride the buses and trains at all then since doing so only increases bureaucracy, discourages people from using the system and encourages people to try to beat the system as demonstrated by all the people who beat the honour system according to you.

Why not make a friendlier system that encourages people to use the system. Provide better bus service or dart service to get people to the C Train stations, adopt a token system to pay, whatever.

Why should the city of Calgary encourage people to live in parasite communities and drain away tax dollars that could be invested in Calgary infrastructure?

When you can say you never step outside of the city of Calgary period, is the day you can call me a parasite.

Well, I haven't called you a parasite so don't get your panties in a bunch.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by Slava

I admittedly skipped a few pages here, so my apologies if I missed someone else saying this.

The point of a public service is not "supply and demand". Frankly just because they could theoretically charge $500/month for someone to park beside the LRT doesn't mean that the city should. Same argument for education, or healthcare or basically any other service that the government provides for its citizens...the goal is not profit.

Is Park and Ride a service or a convenience?

People should pay for the convenience to park and ride imo. They could always walk or take the bus to the LRT station.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Slava

Right, but if that charge begins to cut the number of users than you can clearly see that the fees are too high.

Plus, lets not kid ourselves here, people pay for transit to begin with. They are not getting a free ride at all. The cost of providing parking didn't suddenly enter the picture, and the cost of transit didn't double just before this new charge was implemented at all.

Bottom line to me is that we should encourage more use of transit. This charge does the exact opposite of that.

Has it reduced ridership or has it just reduced the number of people who park at the stations?

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Slava

Right, but if that charge begins to cut the number of users than you can clearly see that the fees are too high.

That is definitely true but at the last few lots for sure demand even with the fee exceeds supply so what is the most fair way to divide up the public resource. To me first come first serve is far worse than a nominal fee where people can evaluate whether it is worth $3 to save an hour vs using the feeder buses.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by redforever

Listen Bud, you are barking up the wrong tree. And by the way, using the term parasite is totally offensive. Get off your high horse.

Well, by definition, its true.

http://www.answers.com/topic/parasite

An organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.

One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.

In this case, the parasite (non-resident) is feeding off of the host (Calgary) without paying the cost (i.e. contributing nothing). This is a host-parasite relationship.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I know, but it isn't discounted! Well it kind of is, because there are 21 work days on average in any given month so it is $3 off.

If you buy a bus pass, you get a considerable discount over the cost of buying tickets. They should have an option, perhaps tied with buying those bus passes that gives you cheaper parking for the month.

That's an idea that I think would work. Give those that buy a monthly pass a break on their parking fees. Give em a sticker of something, once a month that hangs to their review mirror indicating they bought a monthly parking pass. A reward for using the system on an almost full time basis.

[Clarkey]

Originally Posted by Rathji

If the public service needs additional funding from a specific portion of its users to fund a service that only they use, then you need to charge for that service accordingly. You can't charge the same rate a private company does in an attempt to make a profit but you need to charge enough to make administering the fee worthwhile.

This is no different than a swimming pool charging to rent water wings for your kid. Sure they are a public service, but they also need to charge enough to cover their costs and prevent abuse.

People that take the bus to the train should be charged more?

[Shazam]

Well whatever.

The purple prince of Calgary has promised to axe the fee.

So there you go. Most of you voted Nenshi so what the hell are you complaining about?

[Dion]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

Would these communities be booming without proximity to Calgary? No, they're parasites living off the opportunities provided by Calgary.

The town of Okotoks is booming right now with the addition of all the big box retailers being built (Wal Mart, Home Depot, etc). The latest being a Costco that opened a few months ago - with a gas bar and liqour store added to it.. With me living in High River it's getting to a point where I don't have to travel to Calgary anymore to do my shopping. In fact it's attracting a lot of Calgrians from the deep south of Calgary. Much easier to drive to Okotoks than fight the traffic in Calgary to get where you want to go.

As it stands now most of my trips to Calgray are to either visit friends and relatives or for trips to the Rockview hospital to see 2 specialists that I have to see on a regular basis. Our hospital is a fraction of the size of those in Calgary and offer a fraction of the services, thus the trips I have to make.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Well whatever.

The purple prince of Calgary has promised to axe the fee.

So there you go. Most of you voted Nenshi so what the hell are you complaining about?

He only has one vote and has to convince a majority of council to vote for his idea. Don't think it's going to happen

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Dion

He only has one vote and has to convince a majority of council to vote for his idea. Don't think it's going to happen

No, I don't think he's going to either.

So there's one campaign promise he's going to break. Typical politician.

Of course, I don't think the majority of posters here give a poop about that.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Dion

The town of Okotoks is booming right now with the addition of all the big box retailers being built (Wal Mart, Home Depot, etc).

You've got it backwards. Big box retailers are being built because Okotoks is booming. It's booming because lots of people living there have high paying jobs in Calgary. It sure isn't the people working at the big box stores that are causing the town to boom.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

You've got it backwards. Big box retailers are being built because Okotoks is booming. It's booming because lots of people living there have high paying jobs in Calgary. It sure isn't the people working at the big box stores that are causing the town to boom.

There's a market for big box retailers because of the surrounding population in all the nearby small communities. In fact the choice of the location for the new Costco came down to the Shawnessy area in Calgary or Okotoks. They chose Okotoks for the reasons I stated. Besides you don't need high paying jobs to shop at these stores