A resident comments on the Parking Master Plan.
I appreciate your efforts to create a Parking Master Plan for the City of Guelph. However, the scope of the plan does not accommodate the majority of citizens who travel to work in the industrial areas nor does the plan propose any solutions for people who drive into Guelph nor out of Guelph, to the North, South, East and West.
Please consider the development of commuter parking lots located in the North, West, East and South ends of Guelph that are served by the Guelph Transit system. The MTO has had a commuter parking lot solution in place for many years along the 401. A transit service would bring Guelph residents to the carpool parking lot where they would meet their carpool ride. Commuters from Kitchener and Waterloo could disembark from their car ride and take Guelph transit to their various places of work.
The advantages of building carpool parking lots potentially include
Reduced incoming vehicle volumes to the City core, reducing the need for parking.
Reduced vehicle traffic on roads, decreasing traffic volumes on roads throughout Guelph and reducing road maintenance costs.
Reduction in green house gasses due to automobile pollutionA transit plan that stop or terminate at carpool lots could provide express travel to major destinations and businesses. By providing time-efficient, economical service, automobile volumes could be reduced, providing an effective means for employees to travel from home to work and back again.
By making carpools a feasible alternative to driving to work in other cities will save citizen significant sums of money. I for one, save $100 per month in parking lot fees at my destination in Kitchener. My fuel costs have been reduce from about $2500 per year to about $850 per year to make this return trip to Kitchener. The total saving is approximately$2850 annually in after-tax dollars. I urge the City to study the traffic arriving and leaving Guelph on Highway 7 during the morning and afternoon commute between Guelph and Kitchener. Consider the reduction in vehicle load on Highway 7. Would it be feasible to delay the expense of constructing a new highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph? How much travel time might be saved for commuters to and from Kitchener due to a reduction in vehicle traffic? The same rationale and advantages might be gained by people commuting south to Hamilton, East to the GTA and West to Cambridge. Consider the success of the commuter lots at Highway 6/46 and the 401. I believe that the same benefit could be gained by regional commuters as those traveling to other regions to work, recreation and enjoyment. RK