Downtown parking and public transit are linked.
Public transit is an important public service because many of our citizens need it to go to work, attend medical appointments, purchase groceries, etc.
But in spite of its importance and the fact that Codiac Transpo is well run, it will still cost Moncton taxpayers approximately 8 million dollars in 2021.
Moncton is New Brunswick's biggest city and our demographic and economic growth will continue. However, our population is too small and too scattered to make public transit a profitable or even a break-even venture. Therefore, public transit will always need support from Moncton taxpayers.
Codiac Transit managers and employees continuously seek greater efficiencies and client satisfaction. I commend them and I always have.
Nevertheless, I have an idea that should increase ridership, as well as improve downtown development: eliminate downtown surface parking.
To reduce the burden on taxpayers, public transit needs more riders. To increase ridership, we need to provide the right incentives.
The low cost of parking downtown is one of the incentives enticing folks to use their car instead of public transit. Rather than take the bus for $67 a month, many Monctonians prefer to drive from home to work and back for a few dollars per month and park their car for approximately $100 a month.
One of the reasons downtown parking fees are so low is the abundance of surface parking lots. They cover approximately 40% of our downtown. Competition between parking lot owners keeps fees low. If most of the surface parking lots disappeared, the parking rates would increase significantly.
Increasing downtown parking rates significantly will provide an important incentive to use public transit.
Surface parking lots are a legitimate business, but they provide little property tax revenue to the City in comparison to multi-story buildings. A surface parking lot assessed at $100,000 provides $3,150 per year to the city, while the same lot with a $10 million building on it would provide $315,000.
Eliminating surface parking lots is one way to increase transit ridership and city revenues, but also to accelerate downtown development.
I commit to aggressively purchase downtown surface parking lots, then give them free of charge to the developer who submits the best proposal to develop the lot, in order to increase public transit ridership and city revenues as well as to accelerate downtown development.
The City has taken this approach to protect our Turtle Creek water reservoir: Council aggressively seeks to purchase lots around the reservoir to protect the water source as an important public good. Why not do the same for parking lots as a way to support public transit and downtown development?
My solution will not resolve all the challenges faced by Codiac Transpo and by our downtown.
Nevertheless, it is an important piece of the puzzle and it should be a game-changer.