Tolls on Montreal bridges?!

[naughtylady]

I cannot believe this is thought to be a good idea!

MONTREAL (CP) - The City of Montreal has unveiled an ambitious $8-billion public transit plan for the next 20 years, including a streetcar network and the possibility of tolls on bridges and highways.

Mayor Gerald Tremblay said at a news conference Thursday that the plan is focusing on sustainable development. The mayor says as a result of climate change the city must change its ways and encourage the use of public transit.


The plan would also include extending the subway system, more bicycle paths and an airport rail link.


Its expected to be adopted next fall and would also need federal and provincial participation.

 

[MakeIt]

Its an asinine idea. There is no good justification for the Tram idea except that it will be a permanent monument to Mr. Tremblay in the same way the Metro, Expo 67 and many other infrastructures in Montreal were thanks to Mr. Drapeau. However, the Tram idea is pale in comparison and totally useless. Tolls on bridges is just another tax grab. Claiming this is sustainable development is just more buzzword politics. The only problem with this idiot is that there is no one to replace him in the next election and he knows it.

 

[metoo4]

As long as the public transportation's efficiency is improved, I am 100% in favor of tolls on bridges to Montreal island. It's still incredible the amount of cars with 1 person on board we can see and, downtown, finding parking is a constant nightmare. I travel a lot and need to use my car and, parking in Montreal is the thing I hate the most, because of all these peoples living in suburbs but who insist in taking a car per person.

I have some customers who are right beside subway station and, it often takes me 45 minutes to find a parking spot within 1/4 miles from their location.

The bridge toll would also be beneficial in lowering smog. Already at least 1 smog alert in Montreal this year!

If a similar reglementation was successful in London, England, I don't see why it would fail?

Denver have a fleet of free shuttle bus on 16th street, covering the business center. It's efficient, fast and, since they run on natural gas, it's not contributing much to pollution. 16th street is closed to cars and regular traffic: only these busses, bicycle and pedestrians are allowed. Deliveries are restricted to off-peak hours and to small delivery trucks. In Montreal, Ste-Catherine could easily become like this.

 

[vtguy]

I'd focus first on improving the existing systems. Why can't the metro run past 1:00 am? Why is taking the bus such a royal pain in the butt?, with long waits between pick-ups and stops consistently off schedule? And I'd never ride a bike in MTL except on a bike path with such rude drivers everywhere. More/better bike paths?

 

[J. Peterman]

Lets run the bastard out of office...............

.........for just thinking of the idea.

 

[anon_vlad]

It never made sense that people from 30 km. away (Ste. Anne de Bellevue) have to pay tax to the MUC as they supposedly use Montreal's services, but residents of the South Shore and Laval don't. Of course, the latter pay Quebec taxes, but Quebec takes far more money out of Montreal than they pay back. The off islanders can hardly complain that by paying tolls that they are being taxed and don't use Montreal's services as they will only pay if they are crossing over a bridge to Montreal.

All this being said, Quebec elections are won and lost in Laval and the South Shore. Tremblay proposed tolls don't, in my opinion, have any chance of being realized.

 

[hormone]

Owning a car is fast becoming a privilege and not a right. In order to provide better public transit, money and bodies are needed.

I totally agree with you DiTD! Buses are not efficient because there is so much car traffic, amongst other reasons, especially downtown.
Another reason people take their cars is that there is little service in terms of frequency of buses and metros. Major european cities have learned this a long time ago. For example in Barcelona, there are buses every 5 minutes and metros every 2-3 minutes on average on most lines during rush hour. We need more public transit options in/ out of the city and within the city too...
But I agree that the tram is not exactly a good idea... especially with our winters...

 

[Love big tits]

Tolls on Montreal bridges: Unless it is electronically done with no narrowing of the roads all it will do is increase traffic congestion and smog

Now as in any government program there is always the question of where is the money going to go and how much of it will really be used to achieve the goal i.e reduce the number of cars in the city.

I definitely agree that public transport needs to be improved to really make an impact. If I look at my situation from where I live to go to work takes me 25 mn to 35 mn depending on traffic. If I use the public transport it takes me 1H30 mn and at night I couldn't go back because I usually finish when the train doesn't run. I could use the subway from laval to avoid a bridge but not enough parking. I managed to find a spot once out of the 5 time I tried.

Just a little comment on what metoo4 said: if I understand you well you want people not to use their car downtown so you could find a parking spot when you use your car for work???

In Calgary they have a subway/tram system, covering the city and its vicinities, that runs within certain limits of the downtown area for free as long as you stay within those limits. I found it to be of great value to use to get around town for shopping and even on business. It is also a great incentive to use it because it is free, people love free things.

 

[Cosmo]

Public transporteation are a pain in the ass.A trip to downtown,from where I live,west-Island, takes a good 75-90 minutes for a mere 30 km!
By car it takes merly 30 minutes,sometimes less,when there is no traffic of course.
Plus, in my car I get to have radio and CD player,no fat smelly ass hole sitting next to me,no suspicious looking gangsta eyeing my watch and wallet and I don't have to deal with those rude,unmotivated,bored to death drivers and operators who act like they are doing you the favor of the century even if the word ''bonjour'' is not part of their vocabulary.

 

[naughtylady]

Tolls on bridges will increase trafic congestion rather than encourage public transport because our public transport system, especially to Laval and the south shore is inadequate.

If someone wants to go downtown for an evening of fun, they cannot count on the metro since it closes too early.

The buses are not air conditioned and that is a must in our summers especially if you want to encourage people who are used to using their car. Also the buses do not pass often enough; waiting 30 (to 60 minutes for the night buses) is a very long time in our winters.

Before even considering tolls, we need to fix these problems. As for street cars, what would be the point? To replace taking the bus?

I just don't get the logic.

What we need to do is write our mayor and tell him what we think of his idea and most importantly WHY.

Ronnie,
Naughtylady

 

[Reppy]

New York and London adopted these changes. People protested at the beginning but in the end, the idea went through and now everyone is used to it.

I think we will end up doing the same.

Btw, with tolls, not many people will go downtown at all, trust me

And anyways, most places are starting to get trendy anyways that there is no need to really go downtown. Look at the West Island and all the trendy restaurants opening recently...and cleaner air too

 

[Techman]

Does anyone really believe that any money raised by tolls will go to improving public transit? The money that will go into the various committees before anything is even decided will probably eat up 10 years worth of profits before the first dime is ever collected. We pay an extra road improvement tax on our gasoline and our roads are still worse than Beirut. We are taxed to death in this province. It's not a problem of there not being enough money, the problem is the people in charge don't know how to spend it properly. It doesn't matter how much cash is funneled into the system, there will never be enough.

 

[naughtylady]

Reppy>>> I agree with you about the trendy restaurants in the WI but the fact remains that most jobs are still in the downtown area.

See This thread: https://merb.cc/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=26090

the summit might be just the place to make our opinions heard.

Ronnie,
Naughtylady

 

[Techman]

...the expenses are higher than present revenues.

Then they should work on cutting their overblown expenses instead of always going to an overtaxed populace for more and more money. If a company that had to answer to it's shareholders was run the way our city, province and country are, most of it's executives would be fired along with 50% of the employees. The entire system needs an overhaul.
Just look at our roads compared to those in Ontario. As soon as you cross into Ontario the roads become nice and smooth without a pothole to be found. But here in Quebec, Mtl in particular, roadwork seems to be treated as a make work program. The roads are always patched, never repaired. It's the same with everything here, whether it's health care, public transit or the water system. Things are always just patched up when they really have to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. But there is never enough money because it's all going to the never ending patching process.

Maybe if they hired people who knew what they were doing and actually took some pride in their work, things would get done properly. But most public servants here don't give a shit and just want to get to the end of the week and their overinflated paycheck that the rest of us are providing the money for. It's a never ending cycle.

As far as changing lifestyles, maybe the high and mighty politicians should try changing their lifestyles and live on the salary that most normal people make.

 

[hornyanglo66]

I love the elitist attitude of people stating that driving is a privilege. Is it as much of a privilege as going to a movie, going to a restaurant, having clean water to drink, etc? This is NORTH AMERICA. We have the right to freedom of movement for ALL people not just the rich. Of course now the naysayers will come in and state that we have freedom of movement via public transit....

In any regards if tolls go up then yes I will pay as I prefer the 30 minute sto get to work compared to the hour+ that it would take via the great public transit we have. Oh wait, guess it will be faster by tram car... (Tremblay, you really are a fucking idiot).

However I guarentee that the $5k to $8k a year I spend in town shopping, at restaurants, bars, etc will VANISH as I will never spend another cent there again. So Emperor Tremblay you will get my $50 or so a month but the extra money that you enjoyed getting business taxes off of will vanish. The merchants will depart the shithole of Montreal as their businesses will suffer (assuming they survive your business tax grab, increased parking fees, etc) and many will close up, or relocate to the South SHore/Laval where this bs is non-existant.

Maybe we can have a special toll of $100k for any asshole with the name of Gerald Tremblay when he/it leaves Montreal for any reason...

 

[joelcairo]

We are taxed to death in this province. It's not a problem of there not being enough money, the problem is the people in charge don't know how to spend it properly. It doesn't matter how much cash is funneled into the system, there will never be enough.

Quite true Techman and the reason there will never be enough is that the rat bastard politicians will always need more, more, more to pay for their stupid inefficient programs, their undeserved salaries, inflated expense accounts, unjustified and ridiculously high pensions and whatever else they can steal. In short, they're like politicians everywhere!

 

[naughtylady]

When public transit makes sense people will use it.

Personally I take the bus to go downtown to school but when I have classes at Loyola campus I take the car. From where I live (not far from Lafontaine park) this is just the most logical way for me to get to my classes.

Ronnie,
Naughtylady

 

[Techman]

This is not an elitist argument. It's about countering the North American culture of entitlement. The idea that people are entitled to continue to live beyond their means without any consideration of the consequences - and deciding that they don't want to pay for it.

I don't understand how the idea that individuals should be held accountable for their personal decisions is an appeal to elitism.

And when are governments going to realize that they also have to live within their means? When is the mayor of Mtl going to realize that he can't continue to expect the citizens of Mtl to fund his ridiculous ideas? Any one else want to host the Gay Games or World Aquatics again? How much more taxpayer money is going to go to subsidize corporations who make millions if not billions of dollars in net profit? The reason many people can't live within their means is due to the percentage of their income that goes to the govt in taxes only to be wasted.

I don't understand how the idea that politicians should be held accountable for how they spend and waste our money could be thought of as unreasonable.

 

[hornyanglo66]

This is not an elitist argument. It's about countering the North American culture of entitlement. The idea that people are entitled to continue to live beyond their means without any consideration of the consequences - and deciding that they don't want to pay for it.

I don't understand how the idea that individuals should be held accountable for their personal decisions is an appeal to elitism.

The reason people are having difficulties living within their means is because of government waste and overtaxation. If the price of a liter of milk went to $20, or bread to $15, or vegetables quadrupled in price overnight would you say the same thing? You are willing to let government throw in new 'taxes' (yes that is what it is) which eats away at people's bottom line and forces them to live beyond their means.

I agree with Techman (this may be a momentus occassion.... j/k) in that the government needs to stop with these bullshit waste of expenses that do nothing but drain more money out of our pockets. Did anyone actually believe the idiot when he claimed the Gay Games would make a profit or the World Aquatics and that it wold not cost taxpayers a single penny?

Show me a fiscally responisble government who is taking care of the city first and foremost....

 

[metoo4]

...Just a little comment on what metoo4 said: if I understand you well you want people not to use their car downtown so you could find a parking spot when you use your car for work???
...

My car is a tool for me. I live in Gatineau and I go from customers to customers daily, not always during rush hours, not always on the hour, but all the time. When I can, in Montreal, I park at Place Ville-Marie and walk/use subway as much as I can but, it's not always possible to do so, because of tools/equipment I carry or simply because the underground doesn't reach.

Since for me, it's not a daily routine to go from the same point A to same point B at the same time, relying on bus schedule can't be an option. Somebody who always work at the same place and start always at 8:30 and finish always at 17:00 and go back always to the same home can plan bus and such. I can't.

It's often the case it takes me less time to visit customers by foot or subway than taking my car, even if I don't have trouble to park so, I still use my feet as much as I can. But, for example, Maisonneuva and Moncalm, almost no parking spot and lots of peoples who spend the entire day occupying a parking spot. When I go there, it's 30 minutes to find an available meter space.