And I say, “good!” These parking lots sit on prime real estate. Further, there’s the cost of paving, patrolling and repairing the lots. And it’s only $3 a day to park there!
I heard a spokesman for Better Calgary on QR77 news saying, “this is the worst idea City Council has ever had.” Or something very near to that. Really? Worse than spending 1% of any public project on art for that project (hello expensive underpass fish, I’m looking at you). Worse than suggesting that the City budget should go up 10% year-over-year? Worse than launching a blue box service ten years or more after private enterprise has taken on that role?
Here’s a bad idea: giving some citizens a tangible and valuable service, such as parking near a C-Train, and then not charging a fee for that service. Here’s a tangential bad idea: having all Calgarians foot the cost of that tangible and valuable service instead of charging a user fee. Yet another tangential bad idea: possibly increasing overall fares on transit so that it, in theory, dissuades people generally from taking transit, rather than charging said users for said tangible and valuable service.
Whining about three bucks. Pfft. A private company would charge you five, and it’d still be reasonable.
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