The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

economist sunsuntribune saturday aug 28 2004 staff photosteve somerville traffic appears to be moving well in this view of the interchange at highways 404 and 407 in richmond hill but motorists know thats not always the case us may hold congestion answers fourth in series about congestion in the region by mike adler staff writer for a few years york region has tried hard to be more like portland oregon it committed to a big bold rapid transit plan to get a portlandsized ridership boost 51 per cent during the 1990s and its politicians arid planners returned from portland praising its travel demand man agement clubs for weaning employees off the singleoccupant commute ontarios new liberal govern ment has portland fever too a page in its platform lessons from port land praised the citys growth boundary for holding the line on congestion producing sprawl now ontario is planning a greenbelt to steer new development south of the oak ridges moraine but what if its all a mistake after all york region cant change what it is lowdensity homes office paries and big box stores only a few of our neighbour hoods and commercial zones are being built with transit in mind yet york has bet it can hold grid lock at bay by boosting transit rider- ship sixfold over the next two decades raising its peakhour tran sit percentage from eight to 33 while the population doubles some american thinktanks say what portland did made its conges tion worse and argue other fast growing sprawlplagued cities such as adanta shouldnt follow its exam- ross oads yorks congestion challenge pie neither should york because transit cant solve congestion according to john charles of the portlandbased cascade policy institute who says many portland politicians are trying to increase traffic woes and punish motorists theyre not trying to solve the congestion problem they like it he says before denouncing trimet portlands transit agency as a sovi etstyle monopoly stealing money from taxpayers other experts arent that extreme but warn against unrealis tic goals for transit ridership youre not going to turn fringe suburban communities into munich says frank moretti policy and research director at trip a washington dg based group pro moting policies relieving traffic congestion people have an unfortunate ten dency to ignore planners and act in what they see as their best interest he adds still trips recommendations for adanta read much like yorks own transportation shopping list widened roads and expanded costefficient transit intelligent transportation systems that give minutebyminute information to drivers and the region plus sup port for programs that curb peak- hour trips the cascade institute perhaps more ideologically driven since mr charles refers to free roads as socialist promotes the auctioning of roads to entrepreneurs who will price travel on them according to congestion what is his shining example of what other regions should do with their roads the 407 etr ottawa facing about the same growth rate as york has decided to concentrate spending on more dedicated busways and a lightrail network its goal is increasing peak- hour ridership to 30 per cent from 15 says dennis jacobs the citys planning environment and infra structure policy director even if you widen roads all it does is encourage more traffic he says its not a strategic way to spend your money yorks plan to reach 33 per cent is ambitious but it isnt impossible says michael roschlau president of the canadian urban transit associ ation unlike portland york isnt focused on serving one downtown but transit in the region is already stronger than it is in most us cities he says adding much will depend on outside factors such as oil prices and how serious the province is about containing sprawl free parking could be thing of past it may finally be time to discuss meulrirnate suburban heresy- paying for parking j free parkfegtppsihejist of rea sons people keep taking the car instead of a bus its more impor tant to commuters than gas prices or congestion because its a visible cost says michael roschlau presi- i dent of the canadian urban transit association in markham for instance charging for a parking space isnt just an unpopular idea its illegal for landlords to charge for spaces mandated by thernunicipality exceptions to the bylaw include commercial parking lots which markham doesnt have public institutions and hospitals the town says other buildings ah office tower for example could chaise for prestige parking if they start charging drivers to park at markham civic steps away from hwy 7 or at the york region headquarters in newmar ket would there be riots would people stop coming theregionisldokingforawayto ease the parking situation at its yonge street building which opened in 1992 with 600 employ ees it now contains 1000plus visi tors and community groups that use it for meetings little wonder then that the lot is often full the region is working on plans to expand it and a dedicated visitors area with a gate and a fee is an option though not one politi cian or staff have discussed the matter property services director barry crowe says although the headquarters is on a major transit route the region is desperately promoting as an alter native to the car mr crowe says the region believes many of its staff have no reasonable transifroute to the building if they are charged for a parking space space will be more valuable in new urban centres the region plans in markham vaughan and new market so expect some parking charges there says paul may the regions infrastructure planning director hospitals already do it and large employers and institutions should start he adds about half of the regions 26 public high schools typically not the ones in rural areas charge stu dents a yearly parking fee york dis trict school board spokesperson rossvtrgo says set by the principal its usually quite low but as much as 90 in one case mikeadler bmk a sunqlestviitl imiuud yiif i piiv sviriimivutr higgagb sri arid a clicked camera re12i fcmivii main street travel cruises iv 43 mnhi street northi markham wr 905 4710056 bbbmhhh fnks3mjcs4ipcitstrnj5klwfertnslitetat5hiriirlnca3ri jew rpxnt lusirmk a mbvttarxt km fltihrrtuitiansyrnrrcnsmwtwit3ul nttevutr rnplrrlhjv ttttttxif