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Originally Posted by phil235
Well, we are talking about having the province do this. However, in any metro of 1.4 million, there are going to be a significant number of people commuting from nearby towns and cities. The City's primary interest is in getting those people on transit and out of their cars. (It looks like the figure is about 6% in Ottawa, so that is roughly 35-40,000 commuters.)
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The city's primary interest is actually in deterring further increases in ex-urban commuting.
We have a climate crisis. In no small part because people think living 3000 sqft homes and commuting 50 km is normal. We shouldn't be facilitating any of this. Least of all in a city that has plenty of room to develop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by phil235
The secondary interest is generally improving connectivity in the region, which has economic benefits.
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You don't say who those benefits accrue to. Unlikely that the bulk of that gain is helping the City of Ottawa and its residents.
Quote:
Originally Posted by phil235
Lastly, I'd argue that places outside the greenbelt are actually the kind of places that are served by commuter service in most metros.
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The question is how far outside the greenbelt, at what population levels and on whose dime?
The GTHA didn't even get GO service until they were well over 3 million in population in '67. And that was a handful of GO Trains with bus service only starting in 1970. And all of Toronto's satellite cities were much larger in that time period than what surrounds Ottawa today.
Also, GO charges quite a bit for fares. Good luck to any service in Ottawa running on that kind of fare box recovery ratio actually paying for infrastructure like a downtown terminal.
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