|
Post by Mark Dewdney on Apr 22, 2010 12:39:36 GMT -5
"If you build it, they will come." Okay, it's from "Field Of Dreams", and we don't want comparisons to baseball, given how "well" the Jays are doing right now, but...
Picture this. You're driving in to Toronto. You're groaning at the prospect of spending yet ANOTHER hour - if you're lucky - in stop-and-go bumper-to-bumper gridlock.
Suddenly, you see a billboard which says, "NEXT EXIT: PARK ALL DAY FOR $10.00 - FREE TTC INCLUDED!"
Huh. This sounds worth checking out. Five bucks ain't so bad, now is it?
You wheel your car off the DVP, off the Gardiner, off the 401, and into a nice multi-storey parking garage. Park the car, lock up, then walk over to the elevator (or the stairs if you need to lose weight) and down to the ground floor.
There, you find a bus that will take you right to the subway. Since it's a short trip, you're off the bus in less than ten minutes - and on your way downtown.
For the price you'd normally pay to park your car anyways (some places, it will cost you more than $10 per day!), you get free parking, save on your own gas, and you can work on the subway - or better yet, relax, listen to some music, get ready for the day ahead...
|
|
|
Post by Mark Dewdney on Apr 22, 2010 12:40:00 GMT -5
COST DEFRAYMENT : I suggest that these parking lots be owned by the city, and that the transit deal be offered 24-7, 365 - but that the lot also be opened to commercial parking.
Advertising, partnerships with local businesses and "smart staffing" (supervisory staff with a lot of students & lower-income people recruited from the welfare rolls & paid a real wage) would help a lot; so would "green" initiatives like solar panels to feed back electricity to the grid, thus generating a profit.
At that point, a logical, green and semi-self-sustaining (I'm not optimistic enough to think these lots would pay entirely for itself) would attract federal and provincial transit, environmental and business monies, just enough to top up operations.
I also feel that this should be a separate entity, not run by TTC itself, but by the City. What's the difference? The TTC's in the business of moving people, that's it, that's all. All other decisions and programs, especially those with the potential of making money, should be separately budgeted so that they don't fade away into the TTC's budget.
|
|
|
Post by Mark Dewdney on Apr 22, 2010 12:45:41 GMT -5
Joining the lots to transit; This one's a little harder. Where would you place such a thing? It has to be EASILY accessible to the highway - AND has to be easily accessible by transit. I envision two "dedicated" buses per facility (assuming there isn't room right beside any existing stations, which really aren't close to highways in general right now). Those buses will roll back and forth to the nearest subway (I'd hope the trip would be, at WORST, less than fifteen minutes, therefore a forty-minute round trip, allowing for driver breaks, etc). During rush hour, these could even be the "articulated" buses, which are harder to drive/fit onto city streets, but carry double the passengers. Optimally, you'd like one of these lots around the Gardiner (bus into Kipling Station), the 401 (this one's harder - bus into Yorkdale?), the top of the DVP (to the Sheppard line) and one out east too - Kennedy Station right now, with subway expansion to Scarborough dictating potential movement.
|
|
|
Post by Mark Dewdney on Apr 22, 2010 12:56:38 GMT -5
Other wild-eyed ideas; It might even be possible to build these lots so that TTC riders got a great deal - and let's face it, it DOES have to be a darn good, if not FANTASTIC, deal to get people out of their card - but also for commercial purposes. I don't know enough about operations of such a place to comment intelligently, but it strikes me that, if we want it to pay for itself, then tapping into all possible sources of revenue makes sense. Heck, we all know parking garages, located properly within Toronto, are an outright license to print money; if I had my way, the City would completely take over the private-parking game, establish lots EVERYWHERE (including small "satellite" lots near major surface-transit routes), keep the price as low as possible (barely defraying costs + a small profit) and reap the environmental profits - not to mention getting many more people onto TTC.
I'm not allergic to MAKING a buck, but VISIBLY keeping the costs low is the best marketing of all - that is, if the goal really IS about getting more people out of cars and onto subways. If a new subway was needed, then we could TEMPORARILY put the fees up by a buck or so - provided we told people what the "extra" dollar was going for - long enough to help knock off some of the costs of the new subway line.
|
|
|
Post by Mark Dewdney on Apr 22, 2010 12:57:01 GMT -5
One crazy idea down. Let's see what happens with it!
|
|
|
Post by Justin on Jul 19, 2010 10:33:36 GMT -5
I thought about this a awhile ago, they allready exist, at many subway stations at the end of line, put one at castle Frank, CNE grounds, 401/DVP or Victoria park & Consumers Road link to under used Don Mills station, Steels or Finch & Victoria Park also to Don Mills line (which should be extended EAST to link to EAST/WEST Line
|
|