rbt
Senior Member
No body seems to want to help the transit operational budget.
Not even TTC Riders wants to help with the operational budget. I miss the old Rocket Riders who focused on service first, fares second.
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No body seems to want to help the transit operational budget.
The total sales and use tax rate in New York City is 8.875%.
This includes:
There is no sales tax on an item of clothing or footwear that costs less than $110. An item of clothing or footwear that costs $110 or more is subject to the full 8.875% tax rate. Sales tax is calculated per item, so even if you buy two or more items that add up to $110 or more, you only pay tax on the items that individually cost $110 or more.
- New York City local sales and use tax rate of 4.5%
- New York State sales and use tax rate of 4%
- Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District surcharge of 0.375%
The following purchases are exempt from sales tax:
- Unprepared and packaged food products, dietary foods, certain beverages, and health supplements sold by food markets
- Diapers
- Drugs and medicines for people
- Medical equipment and supplies for home use
- Newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals
- Prosthetic aids and devices, hearing aids, and eyeglasses
- Laundry and dry cleaning services
- Shoe repair services
- Some items used to make or repair clothing and footwear
- Veterinary medical services
What Houston did is re-organize their bus network in order to make the best use of existing resources in response to budget cuts, so if anything this is what the TTC would do if it had to follow through with Tory's 2.6% cut. However, I don't know if this could be effectively applied to Toronto since our bus routes already follow most of the principals that Jarrett talks about for efficient bus service (straight lines on arterial roads). Montreal, on the other hand, has an awful spiderweb of circuitous and infrequent bus routes that could really use an outside consultant to re-organize.
That's mostly true in the West Island, where about 15% of Montreal's island population live. Elsewhere on the island, it works mostly on a grid system on arterials like in Toronto, with frequent service.
Apparently the routes will be reorganized in the West Island once the REM is in service (~4-5 years, if all goes well). So there's hope!
Scrap all discount passes, and provide a discount to each according to their needs.