Cheaper ways to get to City Hall

Elected officials should practise what they preach, Marianne Giguère and Christine Gosselin write.

In November 2013, we were elected borough councillors in Plateau- Mont- Royal. Like all our colleagues, we were offered free indoor parking spaces at City Hall for the duration of our four- year terms. We politely turned down the magnetized pass cards offered to us since we have no use for them. We get around the city overwhelmingly by foot, bicycle and public transit.

The monetary value of one of these parking spaces is $ 175 a month. This means that we in effect turned down a benefit worth more than $ 2,000 per year. Elected officials are not the sole recipients of this benefit; it is also extended to high- ranking civil servants.

How is it acceptable that so many parking places, among the costliest in Montreal, be made available for free, year after year, at the taxpayers’ expense? In the case of the city’s 38 borough council- lors, these spaces are especially difficult to justify, given that elected officials in this category spend almost all of their time in their respective boroughs and don’t even sit on city council at its regular monthly sessions.

This state of affairs, in addition to being unfair to those of us who don’t use a personal car in the city, encourages car use — and ownership. As numerous studies have shown, the most important factor in a person’s decision to use a car or not is whether there is a parking spot available at their destination. Even if taking a car takes longer and costs more, many people will choose to drive as long as there is guaranteed parking waiting for them.

The central city has long paid lip service to the need for more Montrealers to leave their cars at home and get around by public or “active” transit. But to this day, no tempting offer is made to encourage it among elected officials, those who should be out there setting the example.

Indeed, one could afford yearlong Opus card privileges ($ 82 a month) and a membership to Bixi ($ 84 for the whole season) and still have more than $ 1,000 left in the public purse each year.

Looked at in this way, the gift of a free parking space without the offer of an interesting transport alternative is exposed for what it is: unfair, regressive and illogical. In fact it goes against Montreal’s own transport policy and numerous other development initiatives.

We are not saying that all our colleagues should get around on bike or by public transportation. But as the public in effect subsidizes their transport, civil servants and elected officials should be offered a choice, one that is equivalent, fair and forwardthinking. If equity in this matter is deemed too expensive, then logically citizens should be spared the cost of paying for heated indoor parking spaces and all con- cerned parties should take financial responsibility for the choices they make with respect to getting around.

Montreal has adopted an ambitious transport policy which places active transportation, as well as public transit, at the top of its priorities, along with the very “parking cash- out” option we are proposing here. In addition, Montreal has signed on to the Toronto Charter for Physical Activity and Public Health which promotes physical activity and forms of active transportation. Last autumn, city council unanimously and enthusiastically adopted the Suzuki Foundation’s Declaration for the Right to a Healthy Environment. It is time to put our money where the mouth is in this matter.

Talk, as they say, is cheap. If things are really to evolve in the direction that everyone recognizes as inevitable, small but crucial monetary gestures will make the biggest difference toward implementing change.