Follow up on commuter toll

In a theoretical sense I support the idea of user pay systems for a lot of services.  I think certain tolls are justified. If a new highway is constructed to shorten travel time, why not toll it if the older slower route is still available? If there was a bridge that is used to transport goods to market but not by local residents then tolling it might make sense.

However, the idea of user pays is predicated on the premise that the user is getting a service for what they pay for.  So if we were to charge commuters a toll to come into the city centre (pretending that this wouldn’t lower the amount of people coming), they would need to be getting something for it. 

If I paid $8 to come into SJ, I would expect that to be spent on servicing me. So you don’t get to use that money to address poor governance decision.  The commuter should not be paying for excessive municipal buildings, or for pension plan deficits.