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Metrolinx: Other Items (catch all)

W. K. Lis said:
From the above article:



Could the end of "free parking" at shopping malls, strip malls, and office parks be next? Could be. Why else do they charge for parking at Canada's Wonderland or Wet'n'Wild Toronto or even the suburban hospitals?
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Got to laugh at this, since free parking and reduced parking lots for GO was recommend years ago by the Round Table for the Ministry of the Environment that I was part of and supported by the Ministry in the first place. All the recommendations where rejected by the Cabinet.

Under the Big Move, all parking spots were to be charge a yearly fee as part of raising funds for it, but went no where. Parking lots have a major impact on rain run off since they are hard surface and no way to absorb it, other than the drainage system.

A wasted of resources and poor land use that sits empty about 50% of the time.

We are slowly seeing various malls starting to reduce their foot print for parking, as well the huge reduction of paid parking lots.
 
W. K. Lis said:
Why else do they charge for parking at Canada's Wonderland or Wet'n'Wild Toronto or even the suburban hospitals?
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Because those places don't have competition, so they can charge for parking. In the case of hospitals they just have to make sure that there isn't public outrage over parking fees, and in the case of a theme park they need to make sure it won't be so much that people will stay at home.

Go Transit does have competition. If they charge too much for parking, people will start driving into downtown. If they're going to start charging for parking they need to make sure it's not so expensive that people stop taking Go Transit altogether.
 
amnesiajune said:
Because those places don't have competition, so they can charge for parking. In the case of hospitals they just have to make sure that there isn't public outrage over parking fees, and in the case of a theme park they need to make sure it won't be so much that people will stay at home.

Go Transit does have competition. If they charge too much for parking, people will start driving into downtown. If they're going to start charging for parking they need to make sure it's not so expensive that people stop taking Go Transit altogether.
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GO needs to be sure that the viable last-mile alternative is available, and inexpensive, before they ratchet up the charges. That may cross lines to municipal transit. I'm not sure that the existing transit options at many GO stations provide the kind of penetration into the local residential areas that is needed to accomplish this.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
GO needs to be sure that the viable last-mile alternative is available, and inexpensive, before they ratchet up the charges. That may cross lines to municipal transit. I'm not sure that the existing transit options at many GO stations provide the kind of penetration into the local residential areas that is needed to accomplish this.

- Paul
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As I've been saying, last mile access will make or break GO.
 
crs1026 said:
GO needs to be sure that the viable last-mile alternative is available, and inexpensive, before they ratchet up the charges. That may cross lines to municipal transit. I'm not sure that the existing transit options at many GO stations provide the kind of penetration into the local residential areas that is needed to accomplish this.
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GO / Metrolinx is a provincial entity, and I suspect there's not a municipal transit provider alive that would turn down provincial money. So could they keep the existing lots the size they are as they increase GO service, and use a reasonable parking fee to subsidize the local transit system to provide better last mile connections?
 
hw621 said:
It's not about the fare media. If cars have to wait at the gate when making payments, the delay will be disastrous.
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Car licence plate linked to Presto Card/Account? And if you don’t use Presto, just have normal parking paying machines. If you don’t use parking, then you have your normal fare, but if you do park, then you’ll pay the fare plus parking cost, parking by time would probably make sense. Similar to default trip, have the default parking setting for a specific time period and an override button if you do/don’t use parking for that specific trip. There are many problems with this idea, as there are many edge cases to solve. Such as losing your Presto Card during the day, lots of enforcement required, getting off at a different station, and many more.
 
Leo_Chan said:
Car licence plate linked to Presto Card/Account? And if you don’t use Presto, just have normal parking paying machines. If you don’t use parking, then you have your normal fare, but if you do park, then you’ll pay the fare plus parking cost, parking by time would probably make sense. Similar to default trip, have the default parking setting for a specific time period and an override button if you do/don’t use parking for that specific trip. There are many problems with this idea, as there are many edge cases to solve. Such as losing your Presto Card during the day, lots of enforcement required, getting off at a different station, and many more.
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When do they plan to charge parking? Presto should start planning now.
 
hw621 said:
Another thing to consider is way of payment. Can't imagine the lineup of cars to pay parking at the gate during rush hour...
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If they did start charging for parking (I doubt they will outside of a handful of stations), in all likelihood it would be a pay-on-entry system like the TTC has for their bigger parking lots.
 
amnesiajune said:
If they did start charging for parking (I doubt they will outside of a handful of stations), in all likelihood it would be a pay-on-entry system like the TTC has for their bigger parking lots.
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You mean those gates where there are bars that will raise when you pay? That is exactly what is causing the delay...
 
hw621 said:
You mean those gates where there are bars that will raise when you pay? That is exactly what is causing the delay...
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They could work with 407ETR to link the transponder. Charge $5 without a Transponder (license plate fee included), $3 with. And reduce the base fee by $2.50 (so the base fee is $2.80...slightly cheaper than the TTC). The extra $0.50 is used to pay for the cost to install and bill the parking.

407ETR would earn an ongoing billing fee (potentially linked to the Presto account). Plus add thousands of new Transponders which then are more likely to drive on the 407.

Wait...it's Metrolinx. They will spend hundreds of millions of dollars building their own Transponder system that cannot handle the number of stations that are needed.
 
hw621 said:
Another thing to consider is way of payment. Can't imagine the lineup of cars to pay parking at the gate during rush hour...
Click to expand...

Oh wow, I didn't even think of that. Good point. Or the lines/crowds of people at the payment machines. To be honest, I get nightmares and laugh hysterically when I picture Presto handling parking payments given how much they're struggling with the readers already.
 
To be honest I don't really get the point of charging parking. If they are too expensive to build just stop expanding and invest in other last mile solutions. If parking spaces are limited people will know they can not find parking after certain time of the day. They will find other ways to get there. Charging won't do anything other than a revenue tool.
 
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