Comment 118662

By kevlahan (registered) | Posted May 17, 2016 at 10:32:44 in reply to Comment 118661

But is the "transit service in those areas" the relevant measure of the cost of providing bus service to those residents?

It would be if residents never took bus trips that went outside their wards, but the vast majority of bus user trips cross ward boundaries: that's precisely the advantage of having a bus system. I can take the bus from Dundas to McMaster, then take a bus downtown and then transfer to a bus going to Limeridge. The level of bus service in Dundas itself is only a small part of the overall transit service I have access to.

To properly cost transit service on a ward by ward basis would mean starting with the service level within the ward and then accounting for the cost of the portion of trips that start in the ward but end outside it (and vice versa).

That would be ridiculously complex, which is why it makes sense to have a uniform rate for all urban areas. It would also make it easier to expand service to under-served areas because they wouldn't need to cover the whole cost locally.

That's why no other municipality charges different transit tax rates to different urban areas. Hamilton is strangely unique in this respect.

Comment edited by kevlahan on 2016-05-17 10:54:58

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