New Calgary transit fees.

[burn_this_city]

Still beats $600 a month to park downtown.. $75/month doesnt cover the costs of operating the transit system. I believe you use the system, you should pay to maintain it.

[Madman]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I believe you use the system, you should pay to maintain it.

Absolutely agree. So if they aren't making enough money maintaining the system at the current rates, raise the rates.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by fotze

I wonder what the true fare would be, if you took the total budget and divided it by the amount of trips.

Still wouldn't be right. That budget is pretty much staff, gas, and maintenance. The cost of busses, trains, and tracks would be capital.

I think I read somewhere it was $7 a trip - back when the fares were maybe $1 each trip.

[Bobblehead]

I tried finding some budget stats for Calgary Transit - I know I've seen them before - but I didn't have any luck.

I just see this as a cash grab, pure and simple, but a shortsighted one.

[REDVAN]

This whole thing makes me wonder if I really do want to work downtown.

Maybe I should continue at school and get a masters?

[Ethaniel]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Still beats $600 a month to park downtown.. $75/month doesnt cover the costs of operating the transit system. I believe you use the system, you should pay to maintain it.

K Burn_this_city,

Do you drive. Start paying tolls.
Do you walk. Start paying for sidewalks.
Do you use the +15. Start paying for the maintenance of it.

This is all part of the Budget and Taxes that everyone pays. Some people don't drive so why should they have to pay that? Some people don't work downtown so why should they pay for the +15.

I don't have a problem paying i just have a problem taking on 1200 more for next year compared to this in a one time hit.

[FireFly]

14000 parking stalls at $3/day is $42,000/day in income. Granted those lots won't be full every day, but say even at 200 days/year thats 8.4 million/year. I don't especially care where that money goes, but I'm certain that the transit cops to monitor the lots won't cost that much.

Cash grab? Maybe. But it's a gooder.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by Ethaniel

K Burn_this_city,

Do you drive. Start paying tolls.
Do you walk. Start paying for sidewalks.
Do you use the +15. Start paying for the maintenance of it.

This is all part of the Budget and Taxes that everyone pays. Some people don't drive so why should they have to pay that? Some people don't work downtown so why should they pay for the +15.

I don't have a problem paying i just have a problem taking on 1200 more for next year compared to this in a one time hit.

So if they charged you 50c per day to park for the first year, $1/day the next, up to $3/day in 5 years, then it would be okay?

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Ethaniel

K Burn_this_city,

Do you drive. Start paying tolls.
Do you walk. Start paying for sidewalks.
Do you use the +15. Start paying for the maintenance of it.

This is all part of the Budget and Taxes that everyone pays. Some people don't drive so why should they have to pay that? Some people don't work downtown so why should they pay for the +15.

I don't have a problem paying i just have a problem taking on 1200 more for next year compared to this in a one time hit.

I do pay for sidewalks, and people who ride the bus still use the streets. I agree its bs that the cost of everything in this town seems to be going continously up. But we need to find a way to sustain this infrastructure if its going to be continually expanded and improved. Don't even get me started on people living outside the city who drive in and park and ride..

[Superflyer]

Originally Posted by Madman

So you think the addition of the parking fee will improve Calgary Transit? How? It won't pay for the upgrade of nearly every station to handle 4 cars. It won't pay to have parking lots monitored.

That's the thing. If the City said, "With the $3 parking fee, we will do X", then I could see people perhaps getting on board - depending on what X was of course. But a blanket $3 user fee, plus an increase in rates that really do nothing for the everyday rider is what I find stupid.

No this may not pay for all of the station upgrades but it will help.
I think they said they have 1600 parking spots so that is almost $1.25 mil. (1600 parking spots x $3 x 5 days a week x 52 weeks).
The city has not said for sure that X dollars are going to this and X dollars are going to that, but then this is not set in stone yet either. For the past couple months when I first heard about this they have been saying that most of the money collected will go to paying for extra security to patrol the lots as that is what people wanted as well as going to transit projects. They said MOST money all along, I remember because I said sure and the rest is going to pay for the execs houses....so sure even if it is 50% that is 600K which will help.

[moncton golden flames]

my tax dollars were used to purchase the land required for those park and rides. having them sit there creating no revenue is a waste of my (our) money, especially when they can and will eventually be developed into TOD. a user pay system is the right way to go until the city can afford to build parkades concurrently with TOD.

[jammies]

Why isn't bus fare still a nickel; why should you have to wear a seatbelt if you don't want to; why can't you smoke in restaurants anymore; what's with this metric system anyway; that durn loud music makes my joints ache; blah blah blah.

Things change and there are always going to be people that get the short end when that happens. In this particular instance, the city is going to PARTLY recoup some of the large amounts of money lost on keeping Calgary Transit running, but you'd think they were going to set up involuntary limb donation sites at every bus stop the way some of you are carrying on. The city doesn't have some magic "ooh let's make EVERYBODY happy" wand that can be pulled out, and the rising costs have to be at least partly ameliorated somehow. Talk about how they aren't improving service is beside the point, it is costing them more to provide that service and those that use the service can't expect much sympathy when they are still not paying anything near the real cost of keeping the buses and trains going.

[burn_this_city]

The city will make it permit parking within walking distance. So I don't think parking in the adjacent communities will be an option.

[Superflyer]

Originally Posted by jammies

Why isn't bus fare still a nickel; why should you have to wear a seatbelt if you don't want to; why can't you smoke in restaurants anymore; what's with this metric system anyway; that durn loud music makes my joints ache; blah blah blah.

Things change and there are always going to be people that get the short end when that happens. In this particular instance, the city is going to PARTLY recoup some of the large amounts of money lost on keeping Calgary Transit running, but you'd think they were going to set up involuntary limb donation sites at every bus stop the way some of you are carrying on. The city doesn't have some magic "ooh let's make EVERYBODY happy" wand that can be pulled out, and the rising costs have to be at least partly ameliorated somehow. Talk about how they aren't improving service is beside the point, it is costing them more to provide that service and those that use the service can't expect much sympathy when they are still not paying anything near the real cost of keeping the buses and trains going.

For more on this I used to do tech support for the city and I would deal with people from every dept. One day I was working on one of the higher ups for transits computer. It was a fix that was taking a bit of time so we got to talking. It came up that transit has NEVER come close to breaking even, much less making money. So with that, yea this is just trying to recoup some of the money that is spent for transit. It is not going to replace all of it by a long shot but hey a little is better then none.

[GGG]

I have two views on this fee and have a difficult time reconciling the to.

1) The Parking lots are full everyday so why should someone who gets there early and starts work early should have more right to a spot then I do who works later

2) If I drive to a train station I don't use a community shuttle program and therefore don't cost the transit system as much as the person using the shuttle. I would bet the the parking lot costs less to operate then the buses.

So for me to support this I would want a limited number of monthly passes sold for weekday parking to guarentee people a parking space. This way you are paying for an improved service rather than just paying for th esame service.

Or

I would want people taking a bus to the train station to have to pay an extra 50 cents a trip and for the city to sell bus only passes, Train only passes and combination passess.

For those who think that transit shouldn't be subsidized remember that for everyperson who takes transit it takes a car off the road and frees up a parking spot down town. If transit is more cost effective then building higher capacity roads (I believe it is) then drivers should subsidize transit users because the driver is getting the better service and therefore should pay more for it.

[First Lady]

I must preface this with; "being away all day, I have not read every post in detail"

I did scan all 12 pages though.... and I am afraid to say, I agree with most of what Ozy_Flame has said.

I do support having an element of user fees; which this essentially is. The total cost is still well below driving downtown paying for parking and the additional gas.

I don't think every department in the city can be "self-supporting"; but if they can bring themselves a bit closer to having a balanced budget, it is a step in the right direction.

[Ronald Pagan]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

This whole thing makes me wonder if I really do want to work downtown.

Maybe I should continue at school and get a masters?

As someone with a masters I would highly recommend doing one.

My earning potential and job opportunities rose significantly upon its completion.

[Rathji]

The reason this 3 bucks sucks for me is I am forced by transit to drive to the train station since they don't provide service to Mackenzie Towne except during rush hour. So I am paying more money, so those people who actually get good bus service in their neighbourhood don't have to cover these costs through increased fares.

Why should someone who gets worse service be forced to pay more while the person who gets better service pays less? This seems fundamentally wrong for a City service.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by First Lady

I must preface this with; "being away all day, I have not read every post in detail"

I did scan all 12 pages though.... and I am afraid to say, I agree with most of what Ozy_Flame has said.

I do support having an element of user fees; which this essentially is. The total cost is still well below driving downtown paying for parking and the additional gas.

I don't think every department in the city can be "self-supporting"; but if they can bring themselves a bit closer to having a balanced budget, it is a step in the right direction.

Driving to downtown should always be significantly cheaper because if it were the same cost nobody would use transit. As well every transit user subsidizes drivers by removing a car from the road and reducing the neccessary infastructure required to make traffic flow therefore it makes sense that the Drivers subsidize in terms of higher taxes the transit user.

[Ronald Pagan]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

I tried finding some budget stats for Calgary Transit - I know I've seen them before - but I didn't have any luck.

I just see this as a cash grab, pure and simple, but a shortsighted one.

It's not a cash grab. It's the city cutting expenditures in this case subsidized parking. Something you have waxed on about for a while now. You should be happy.