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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Printable Version

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RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - embe - 07-05-2019

(07-04-2019, 10:54 PM)Bob_McBob Wrote:
(07-04-2019, 09:16 PM)jeffster Wrote: Ok, so I'll put it out there: even it was semi-true, isn't that the point? Why does it matter who uses it? So what if it was 75% student? They be people too!

It matters to the people who say it because they believe students don't pay any taxes and are getting a massive free ride from actual taxpayers. ...
Last time I checked taxes are paid on just about every purchase in Ontario.  Do students get some sort of exemption?

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - tomh009 - 07-05-2019

(07-05-2019, 12:48 PM)embe Wrote:
(07-04-2019, 10:54 PM)Bob_McBob Wrote: It matters to the people who say it because they believe students don't pay any taxes and are getting a massive free ride from actual taxpayers. ...

Last time I checked taxes are paid on just about every purchase in Ontario.  Do students get some sort of exemption?

Students will tend to pay little to no income tax. They will pay HST the same as everyone else. And contrary to many people's perception, they (indirectly) pay property taxes -- which are used to fund transit -- the same as any other tenant of a rental apartment or house. (Possible exception: I don't know whether university-owned residences are exempt from property taxes.)

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - MidTowner - 07-05-2019

tomh009 Wrote:
Quote:Students will tend to pay little to no income tax. They will pay HST the same as everyone else. And contrary to many people's perception, they (indirectly) pay property taxes -- which are used to fund transit -- the same as any other tenant of a rental apartment or house. (Possible exception: I don't know whether university-owned residences are exempt from property taxes.)

A typical student will receive most or all of their HST paid back to them from the HST credit, I would imagine.

That's actually an interesting point about student residences. My understanding is that the provincial government transfers some amount to municipalities in lieu of property tax payments from post-secondary institutions, and that it is less than what the tax owing would be were they taxed at commercial rates.

It's neither here nor there, though. I don't think that was really the point of the editorial. The point was, no one takes transit who has a choice. Which is false.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - jeffster - 07-05-2019

(07-05-2019, 01:16 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(07-05-2019, 12:48 PM)embe Wrote: Last time I checked taxes are paid on just about every purchase in Ontario.  Do students get some sort of exemption?

Students will tend to pay little to no income tax. They will pay HST the same as everyone else. And contrary to many people's perception, they (indirectly) pay property taxes -- which are used to fund transit -- the same as any other tenant of a rental apartment or house. (Possible exception: I don't know whether university-owned residences are exempt from property taxes.)

Well, even if that were true, most students, I believe, do not live in university owned apartments. So technically, it a round about way, they do pay property tax. I'd only imagine that it would be close to $200/month per unit -- with 4 students. But I don't have hard numbers to back up anything I said.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Coke6pk - 07-05-2019

(06-21-2019, 07:34 PM)jeffster Wrote:
(06-21-2019, 04:43 PM)GtwoK Wrote: Jeeeeesus christ, waiting at the Uptown Square station, right as a train is turning into the station from King, an SUV came flying down the tracks TOWARDS the oncoming LRV and very nearly had a head on collision. Police officers standing around and no one did anything.

Seems that the police in this region are pretty useless when it comes to traffic issues. I contacted WRPS regarding a hit-and-run, no response back. It is what it is.

Before we bash the police too hard, I know that for opening weekend there were AUXILIARY Police at stations along the route.  Their powers to go off and deal with HTA issues are almost non-existant.

Coke

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - tomh009 - 07-05-2019

(07-05-2019, 02:17 PM)jeffster Wrote:
(07-05-2019, 01:16 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Students will tend to pay little to no income tax. They will pay HST the same as everyone else. And contrary to many people's perception, they (indirectly) pay property taxes -- which are used to fund transit -- the same as any other tenant of a rental apartment or house. (Possible exception: I don't know whether university-owned residences are exempt from property taxes.)

Well, even if that were true, most students, I believe, do not live in university owned apartments. So technically, it a round about way, they do pay property tax. I'd only imagine that it would be close to $200/month per unit -- with 4 students. But I don't have hard numbers to back up anything I said.

That's why I said "exception". Smile

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Coke6pk - 07-05-2019

(06-27-2019, 08:05 AM)SammyOES Wrote: I don’t blame Conestoga Mall for not giving up their parking spots for free.  Although I think a better business decision would have been to embrace the free week.  Advertise to people they could come and park this week only and then make it clear that once regular service starts they aren’t a park and ride.  

When I took a "tourist train" last Friday, I'd say 90% of the people on board walked towards the mall [I'm assuming they went shopping... there wasn't a huge line to get on the next train going back to Fairway].  So either they all parked in Conestoga to get the train, or Conestoga had a bunch of shoppers delivered to them.

Yes, there will be people who abuse the parking lot, but many will take the train to become shopper there and it will wash out in the end.

The only issue if nothing is done, you will have mall parking lots filled with students/workers paying for a $70 transit pass instead of the $130 parking downtown (or whatever University lots charge)

Coke

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - ijmorlan - 07-05-2019

(07-05-2019, 03:33 PM)Coke6pk Wrote: The only issue if nothing is done, you will have mall parking lots filled with students/workers paying for a $70 transit pass instead of the $130 parking downtown (or whatever University lots charge)

Coke

$42.94/month:

https://uwaterloo.ca/parking/stafffaculty-parking

Ridiculous, I know. Especially because they have waiting lists for some lots. Evidently it never occurred to them to set prices differently in the different lots and eliminate the waiting lists. Also it would make it obvious when to build a parking structure: when the fees in a lot rise high enough that the existing plus projected future surplus is enough to fund the construction and maintenance of such a structure, that, almost by definition, is when it makes sense to build the parking structure.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - ijmorlan - 07-05-2019

(07-05-2019, 01:16 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Students will tend to pay little to no income tax.

However, that is because they have little to no income, not because they are students. So it is not correct to say that “students” don’t pay income tax unless it is clear that one is talking about a tendency or correlation.

Sort of like how I say that drivers do not pay for the roads they use, even though everybody pays for the roads.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Coke6pk - 07-05-2019

(07-03-2019, 09:19 PM)Bob_McBob Wrote: When it comes down to it, it's police policy to park wherever they want for their convenience. Does an officer responding to a shoplifting call at Walmart have to park on the sidewalk beside the entrance? No, of course not. If you call them on it, they'll just say it's department policy in case they have to respond to another call. There will always be an excuse like this, and in the end they can park wherever they please and nobody can do anything about it because they're above the law in this respect. If they feel like blocking an entire LRT station rather than parking across the street, they'll do it, and that's the end of it.

I'd be wary of making statements that they think they are above the law.  If the law provides an exemption for them (Which parking by-laws do), they are operating within the law.  You may not like it, but its legal.

I have a lot of respect for the police and other law enforcement (in most cases), and as a member of this group, I won't play "what ifs" in internet arguments.  Sometimes there are reasons for something that others outside the LE community wouldn't understand.  No different than how car drivers don't get cyclists or transit riders POV. 

As an Auxiliary officer in this community, I learned at an event in Cambridge that where I parked my cruiser blocked a bike lane.  I pulled to the right to avoid traffic.  When I was out in the intersection, I ended up apologizing to cyclists as they went around my vehicle for "parking in their lane".  [Ironically, it was the Tour de Grand, a bike race].  This year, I parked my cruiser in the full right lane of traffic, and left the bike lane clear.  The only reason I felt bad is that I had learned from the views of avid cyclists in this forum... and I pass that along to colleagues.  We are constantly learning new things, and its sometimes hard to break old habits.

I know WRPS has LRT specific online training over the next few months, and perhaps that will help change the "non-enforcement" mindset we have seen recently. [I haven't taken it yet, so I don't know what it discusses]

Coke

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Bob_McBob - 07-05-2019

I have no qualms about describing police officers as being above the law in this respect. A common definition of "above the law" is "exempt from the laws that apply to everyone else".

The exemption for emergency services in Kitchener's parking by-law only applies when complying with the by-law would be "impractical". It is clear to almost everyone WRPS has an extremely generous definition of what constitutes impractical in many situations.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - jeffster - 07-05-2019

(07-05-2019, 03:02 PM)Coke6pk Wrote:
(06-21-2019, 07:34 PM)jeffster Wrote: Seems that the police in this region are pretty useless when it comes to traffic issues. I contacted WRPS regarding a hit-and-run, no response back. It is what it is.

Before we bash the police too hard, I know that for opening weekend there were AUXILIARY Police at stations along the route.  Their powers to go off and deal with HTA issues are almost non-existant.

Coke

Though this hit and run I saw happened *before* the Ion start-up. But perhaps they were too exciting about the Ion launch....who knows. It's already heard enough to deal with their super rude dispatch, and you can't use 911 for non-emergencies (this hit and run was relatively minor). In many cases, the only difference between an officer and a criminal is their uniform and their god given right to break the law.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - goggolor - 07-05-2019

I had an interesting experience with my first time paying a fare this evening - I tapped on at the station, about 10-15 seconds after the people in front of me. When I approached the pedestal, the screen had some general welcome screen. I tapped my card and the screen switched to something like "Valid Wat card detected, welcome!"... but I don't have a Wat card, I have a pay-as-you-go card with $20 loaded on it. I pulled my card back and tapped again, and it seemed to detect my card and deduct the proper fare.

But it seems like the first time I tapped, it displayed the information for the people ahead of me (I saw a Waterloo lanyard on the person's pocket). If last tap had also been a pay-as-you-go card, I might have not realized that I wasn't being charged.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - bgb_ca - 07-05-2019

My tap didn't work tonight apparently. When a fare inspector checked my card, it said it was not tapped, even though it was. But I had a monthly pass so he said just make sure it registers the tap correctly next time.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Bob_McBob - 07-05-2019

Can they actually fine a monthly pass holder for not tapping? I can't find the bylaw governing public transit payments on the region's site.