Transit dollars make sense for a traffic-snarled Calgary

In Transit by Chris Phalen

Published: December 01, 2008 5:03 a.m.

Last modified: December 01, 2008 12:05 a.m.

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It’s economics.

When the city decided to halt subsidizing drivers at park-and-ride lots by imposing a daily $3 user fee, it may have encouraged more people to hop a bus.

While successfully adding revenues of $6 million annually for increased security, cleaner facilities and general maintenance — city hall and Calgary Transit gave the transit public exactly what it wanted.

According to Dr. David W.D. Walls, a transportation economist at the University of Calgary, pricing parking competitively downtown and subsidizing it at other locations probably makes public transit look more successful than is really the case.

But considering the LRT system needs to remain progressive, the park-and-ride user fee has arrived in due time.

The far-reaching economic functions of the fee will undoubtedly have an effect on all commuters, who will now be forced to ponder the full cost of their decisions.

Considering the vast majority of park-and-ride users are destined for downtown, and only make up 10 per cent of the entire transit ridership, it would be difficult to conclude that any perceptible gains in traffic will occur even with the fee in place.

Walls said the imposed fee would have to be much higher.

Six million dollars a year won’t create miracles, but at least more dedicated and visible security detail in and around the LRT should make patrons more comfortable using transit.

The high price of parking downtown is far more complicated than the obvious fiscal ramifications. Where space is a premium, less traffic is better.

Revenues for an underdog transit system battling rapid growth should not be used to subsidize those choosing to contribute to our traffic dilemmas.

Infrastructure strains are already snarling traffic unnecessarily, and the user fee, although a drop in the bucket, sends the right message.