Pitch to charge out-of-towners more for transit rejected

City bureaucrats are recommending council not charge out-of-town users of transit’s park-and-ride system — at least for now.

Council has long debated whether those who don’t live in the city — coming from communities such as Cochrane, Okotoks and Airdrie — were being subsidized by Calgary taxpayers when they used transit services, including reservations at park-and-ride lots.

Calgary Transit collects postal codes associated with reserved parking and, of those, 11.2 per cent, or about 340 reservations a month, are assigned to residences outside of Calgary.

The report, which comes before the city’s transportation committee Wednesday, looked at options for charging out-of-town customers a higher fee for reserved parking to make up for the subsidy from Calgary taxpayers. It considered three courses of action: checking registered licence plates, using a piece of government identification or mailing out a discount code to addresses in Calgary.

However, administrators concluded all the options would result in little financial benefit to the city, while creating extra hurdles for taxpaying transit users.

Despite bureaucrats suggesting council shelve any two-tiered payment system, Coun. Shane Keating, who chairs the committee, said he’d like to see a way to recoup the money from non-residents.

But Keating, who opposes charging more for parking and would like to see more options considered, acknowledged finding a balance is difficult.

“Some (American municipalities) actually tax employees of companies that don’t live in the city. For example, every January the employer deducts $100 from their paycheque and then sends it to the city,” Keating said.

The city report finds the three options on the table would do little to improve the city’s balance sheet.

Checking licence plates, the report said, would bring in a net estimated increase in revenue of just $37,000, though there would be very little potential for fraud and would have only a minimal impact on customers’ experience.

If the city required using government identification, revenue would rise by an estimated $137,000, but it would also see a higher potential for fraud while having a significant effect on locals.

The use of a discount code would similarly pose high risks of fraud and have a major effect on customers, while only bringing in an extra $105,000, the report said.