Raise the Hammer

Ryan,

My Girlfriend and probably countless others agree with you. I however think that there is more to it than that.

"In transportation, supply creates its own demand"

Induced demand is real, but the nuances and effects are debatable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_dem...

Regular Maintenance is variable and not fixed, the more you drive the more regular maintenance you need. Also there is incidental maintenance such as tires, brakes, suspension, bushings, tie rods etc etc that is also variable, but I got your point.

"people will choose the transportation mode that is the best combination of convenient and affordable."

The affordability (as in $$ not time) of driving is also a variable.

The Economist argues that North Americas biggest mistake over the last 20 odd years was letting the price of gas fall after it had spiked. They argue that it we would have been far better off to artificially keep the price of gasoline up by inserting a new/larger tax each time the price of crude dropped back down and the public had become accustomed to the new price.

As far as I know, the price of gas isn't significantly different now than it was 40 years ago when you control for inflation and average wages.

While that's not a Municipal issue, it would be nice to see a Federal government that would be willing to increase the cost of gas a bit.

I know about Summitpark and while Red Hill may have been a deciding factor in their decision to build it, that doesn't mean that the road serves no other purpose.

For instance the road will benefit business logistics in the area, which will make those businesses more competitive. I hope we can agree that that's a good thing.

I think we both agree that Hamiltons public transportation could use a lot of work. I used it for 2 years and it was a colosal annoyance and time eater.. so much so that it wasn't possible for me to continue to use it. While I was saving a lot of money, I was wasting a lot of time, so much so that it didn't make sense to continue to use it. I must explain that I own a house that is constantly being repaired and arranging to have use of a vehicle to get certain jobs done was becoming more than an inconvenience.

I would really like to see the downtown of Hamilton rejuvenated, but I don't think the Red Hill Creek Expressway has done anything to hurt that. Generally, the kind of people who flock to brand new development arn't the type that would be willing to take on fixing up a 100 year old house. As for condo units and the like, there has to be some way to make that kind of development seem more attractive to developers. Maybe the only way to do that would be to halt or slow down green field developments.

Oh and of course a Mayor willing to do that would be nice aswell.