American Block Redevelopment | 3 fl | U/C

[jeffster]

The Tim's at Weber and Bridgeport does not have a drive through either.
In my opinion, drive throughs embody much of that which is wrong with certain aspects of North American society.

Completely Agree with this statement. If I were in charge in the region I would implement a regional tax on all drive-thru purchases. Not only are drive-thrus bad for the environment. They provide an unhealthy and car centric built environment. They Also give an unfair advantage to Multi-national food corporations. I think by adding a 5-10% tax on them would be a great alternative to banning them all together. This would dissuade them from new ones being built. It punishes people that Idle for 5 mins for a coffee. It would also raise some important money that could be used towards housing, and transit.

I have no issue with having some sort of tax for the customer of drive-thru's, like 5 or 10%, but I don't see it as 'punishment'. Drive thru's exist, and have for a long time, to some extent for a large group of people that simply can't get out to their car for whatever reason. You have a mom or dad with two toddlers, dragging them out of your car to wait for 10 minutes for your coffee is hardly a solution, nor is it a solution if you have someone with limited mobility, in particular to our winters with the risk of slip and falls. In both cases, speaking from experience when my children were young, and now that my mother is 80, we occasionally go through the drive-thru, and quite often the walk into the store is more a risk (she already had a slip and fall and broke her wrist). Just not worth it, plus the OHIP costs in here case were in the $10's of thousands.

I would point out that drive-thru's aren't the problem with our environment; people taking vacation flights, cruises, speeding, unmaintained cars, etc. These are what hurts our environment more at a people level (as in, what can you do to make it better).