If Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has her way, perhaps cyclists will stop having to pay for motorists' infrastructure.
The story is this one, which is floating around the various print and electronic media. Wynne, when she was running for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party, floated out the idea of tolls and other "revenue tools" to generate money to pay for transit and transportation infrastructure. That test issue seems to be gathering more strength.
On the KW CBC radio station today, University of Waterloo enviro prof Jeff Casello was talking about how consumers pay the hidden costs of motoring infrastrucuture. The "free" parking lots at Conestoga Mall, for instance, are the hidden overhead costs of doing business there, and every shopper winds up paying higher prices to cover the cost of the free parking, whether they drove to themall, walked there, took the bus or cycled.
If Wynne wins the argument and the support of the opposition, the costs of those infrastructure goodies will be carried by those who use them most. And that won't be pedestrians and cyclists, my friends.
Unfortunately, our municipalities force the cost of parking on everyone by instituting parking minimums for new developments.
Posted by: Mike Boos | 03/26/2013 at 07:49 AM