Transportation minister questions idea of charging GO riders for parking
Transportation Minister Glen Murray says charging for parking at GO stations runs counter to efforts to get people to use public transit.
Murray was responding to a recent trial balloon from Metrolinx suggesting that charging for parking might be a way of raising funds for regional transit expansion.
“On first blush it seems counter-intuitive to getting onto GO trains,” Murray told the Star Tuesday.
GO, which has more than 65,500 parking spots at its regional stations, already charges for some reserved spots, but Metrolinx says a more general parking charge is an untapped source of revenue.
“Quite frankly, I haven’t seen any evidence-based evaluation of it. We don’t know what the consequences are,” Murray said.
Murray said that in many areas GO serves, riders have no choice but to drive to their local stations, “and we want to make that as inexpensive and as convenient … as possible.”
The minister explained that Metrolinx has a responsibility to consider all options.
“They are going to evaluate all these different options and they are going to make a shortlist of recommended investments and financial tools we can use to better fund transit and transportation,” he said.