@mayintoronto @chu On a pragmatic level, this is something Council would have to vote on. Implementing a commercial parking levy, while technically something the City has the power to do, has politically been a non-starter. Raising parking rates at all has only recently been raised as a possibility, and arguably the only reason it's palatable is because the TPA is rate-based and is supposed to pay for itself just like water and garbage.Even councillors who would like transit to be free may disagree with solely using parking revenue to do it, on principle. (Probably various principles.) So it could be near impossible to get a majority on side.Now, Olivia Chow could drink the Water of Life and become Kwitsatz Haderach and immortal God-Sandworm-Queen of Toronto, capable of using Bene Gesserit mind control techniques to bend not only Council but the province and feds to her will when they attempt to step in and intervene (you know Doug Ford would be trying to outlaw it immediately, and he would have the power to do so). But in that case, why not just get the province and feds to give Toronto a share of sales and income tax? It would be massively more lucrative than parking could ever be, and would not decrease as demand for transit increased. It is also more in line with how other jurisdictions fund transit.Also we would save money on the capital side because with her immense, long armoured body, Olivia Chow could bore through the earth herself, making it much easier to create new transit tunnels. Although the City and province would still have to worry about expropriations, managing construction, etc.
