I am totally for this!! And I can't believe no where in Toronto we don't have full pedestrianised zones!

Don't forget all the suburban commuters as well. Most congestion in Toronto is cause by out of town folks commuting in for work or personal reasons. Doug wants to keep these folks commuting into the city daily.

Also worth mentioning, property taxes in the suburbs are generally lower, whereas property taxea in Toronto are generally higher.

Obviously property taxes help pay for things like roads and public services, but it seems like Torontoians are indirectly subsidizing suburbanites that are commuting into the city. Which in turn is what's causing Toronto residents to miss out on a city that is enjoyable to live in, and it just makes Toronto a place where out of town folks commute into for the day.

This is why I strongly believe Toronto needs to implement congestion pricing, so if a person chooses to live in the suburbs for a lower property tax as a example, but still chooses to commute by car into the city each day, they pay a small fee that Toronto recoups for city expenses and funnels that directly into transit options and improving the lives of local residents.

I would suggest a 3 zone approach at first, with the center being in the financial district of Toronto. As you drive into the center you get changed a fee of $3 as you pass a zone boundary. So a suburbanite coming into the financial district for the day would pay $9 maximum.

You only pay the charge coming into to center, not when leaving it, and you can't be double charged within a 3 hour window.

This would drastically reduce the amount of congestion on Toronto's streets improving local resident safety, it would still allow the people to choose to drive the ability to drive by car. And it would mean the city would spend less money, less frequently on roadway maintenance (because of a lower number or cars).

I saw a comment from another person on here not to long ago talking about their only car having their engine explode on them.

Anyways the comment was them realizing they did not have $30,000 to $50,000 just laying around to purchase a brand new car. A car that they realized they don't use much outside of a 50km radius around their house, and that they only purchased the car to be able to get to work because there are not other options avaliable. How is this considered freedom.

Most people don't realize, but owning a car is in some cases something that can push a chunk of the population into poverty. Or at the very least cause people to choose between purchasing food, or gasoline.