“Will you soon be paying to drive the 401, DVP, the Gardiner and QEW?”
Coming up with enough cash to adequately fund public transit is an ever-present issue in the GTA, but a new study suggests digging into motorists’ pockets for some of that money could be a reasonable answer.
Road tolls and a gas levy are two suggestions being floated by in the Trent University paper, written by Professor Harry Kitchen, as a way to come up with more money to fund both highways and public transit systems.
Released Monday, the study proposes drivers pay to use the 400-series highways in the GTA and Hamilton along with the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), Don Valley Parkway (DVP) and Gardiner Expressway.
According to Kitchen a seven-cents-per-kilometre toll would bring in $700 million per year. Drivers could be billed by mail, he contends.
“What has happened over the past few years is there’s been an increase in demands for roads and public transit and the supply hasn’t kept up,” Kitchen said. “People are now recognizing that something has to be done, and I think there’s a general consensus that charging the users makes the most sense.”
The study also calls for a fuel tax of six cents per litre to bring in an additional $420 million annually. The goal is to ease gridlock and improve public transit without increasing property taxes. Of course motorists asked about the plan weren’t too keen on paying more than they already do.
“You take into consideration all these things, it’s not going to be good for the pocketbook,” said one female driver.
“The 407 is the most expensive highway I’ve ever seen,” griped another.
One more motorist contends, “I don’t think we should be gouging the public for the use of the roads.”
A final proposal looks at the viability of taxing non-residential parking spaces
The Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario, which commissioned the study, will be meeting this week with Transportation Minister Jim Bradley to talk about its findings.
The 407 being an exception, because it is privately owned and was initially opened with the idea that the tolls would be in place right off the hop…but what a horrible, horrible Americanized idea to charge Canadians for their use of public roads…just makes me shake my head.
Tolls here would definitely suck ass and I hope they don’t introduce them as it’s just another money grab.
I’d say get rid of the provincial tax all together if they are going to introduce tolls.
They just get annoying when your in the states, especially if you have to to make a couple trips back and forth using the same interstate but I guess you could always get off the exit before the toll and get back on after :dunno:
i think that this is some pretty retarded shit. If they charge the people to use the highways then its just gonna make gridlock every morning in the local roads. small roads will become roads for speeding suv’s in a rush to get to work. Angry soccer moms speeding in 40 zones endangering children seniors and everyone else on the roads. maybe they should just learn some better damn money managing skills instead of wasting it on garbage they don’t need.
another thing but not on topic, don’t mean to thread jack but they should also stop cutting funds to rec. centers, and community centers.
As much as I hate the idea, do keep in mind that at least the tolls would be 407-style though, drive underneath the tolling-overhang at speed and get billed later, thus not holding up traffic.
the gov’t is f-in retarded. One of the things i cant believe is the fact that they allowed the 407 to be built privately. It makes absolutely no sense. all that money that ppl pay to use the 407 should be ours not some private persons pocket money. Its ridiculously expensive. $15 to go from huronntario to the 400.
stupid gov’t imo
this is a horrid idea. the traveling costs are already too expensive. Ughhh…dont get me started haha id right more but time to go to class
This will accomplish two positive things:
People that can’t afford a real car, won’t go on the highway anymore, so I’ll be able to go faster.
People that like to drive slowly on the highway, will just drive slowly on smaller streets instead, so I’ll be able to go faster. I don’t go on the 407 often, but I know that everytime I do, I’ve never had to contend with some idiot twatwaffle doing 90 infront of me, everyone does like 130-140, and I like that. A lot.
That’s key right there, if we’re paying for the “privilege” of driving on these highways, then the speed limits either need to be increased drastically, or there needs to be more leniencey on fines.
i agree ^^^ but the highways sucks ass and they do need to fix it. especially the qew and gardiner, so many fucken bumps. atleast those who can afford it would drive on these highways as usual and those who have to use the highway but cant really afford would use public transit more often or even car pooling to work, so this may force ppl to make changes, hopefully in the end, making less pollution.
That’s what bothered me though, on paper it sounds brilliant…a ton of drivers will resort to transit, less pollution, everyone’s happy happy etc etc…
In reality, working class Torontonians, a decent majority of which drive, will stubbornly continue to drive, inheriting an even higher cost of living with the tolls and gas taxes. Pollution continues, more money out of an average citizen’s pocket to the gov’t while salaries stay flat…and of course who knows how much of these fees will actually go towards our roads?
What is our 13% paying for?
If they’re serious about pollution, they just need to keep following through with incentives for taking transit (such as their tax deductible stuff & tax credits etc) and supporting car manufacturers’ production of hybrids…which they are doing as far as I know (MANY different kinds of hybrids are on there way in the next few years).
I guess the fact is none of us actually hold the Toronto gov’t budget in our hands though and thus can’t know all the factors in why they do what they do.
Just leave my 2am “I feel like going for a drive down the 401” time alone!
well if u want i can get the bill for u when i go back to milton in march. I dont have a transponder. theres no use in me having one if i drive on it twice a year…not everyone has transponders keep that in mind. and they do cost money aswell
Actually if you drive it twice a year it already paid for itself. I believe they’re in the neighbourhood of $20/year for a transponder. It’s $3.55 every time you get on or off the 407, so $7.10 every trip… After 3 trips the transponder becomes cheaper. Doesn’t matter how short or long those trips are either. You could go one exit, or one end to the other.
originally the $5/new tire tax was suppose to take care of this… but it was diverted almost the moment it was introduced to fund other things… things that had nothing to do with roads or vehicles… and it’s stayed that way ever since… what makes you think Toronto, with it’s deficit is actually going to use that money to fix roads. HA!
lol well really. i only drove on it once in 3 years so it hasnt paid for itself…
but w.e no use arguing. if i drove it everyday i would get a transponder for sure.
NO TO TOLL!!! my mom has a bill for over 2500.00 from the 407, she cannot renew her sticker untill she pays it. What they have to do is stop fixing the same road over and over again.
tolls with higher speedlimits and less traffic are ok, autobahn style, but that won’t happen and the 407 doesn’t even have higher limits when it really should. considering how fast people drive on it anyways, why not just legalize that speed.
in the end it won’t work and nothing positive will come of it…
I’m not totally opposed to the idea of toll roads, or a fee for entering the city, it’s been effective in places where it’s been employeed. Although the rich will find ways around the fee’s like they did in london. (Hybrids and “minicabs”).
The problem right now is Miller is trying to generate cash anyway he can. If it’s not adding taxes on gas or houses, or cars, it’s trying to bully students at Local universities and colleges into this U-pass.
Currently trying to bully Ryerson (last year George Brown). The way it works is every student, no matter if they want it or not has to pay an additional $480/semester to get this U-pass(essentially a metro pass). Seems like a good idea right? Wrong, more than 1/2 the students at Ryerson wouldn’t have a need for the pass, and it’s non transferrible. It’s like an old bus pass with your picture on it. It doesn’t swipe in the machines. This leaves you stranded at certain Subway stalls because there is no counter worker.
If he wants to free up some revenue, change the way we dispose of our garbage. Something like a Billion/year is ridiculous. Buy some damn land and dump it HERE, not in the states.
Lastly, enough with the damn taxes! It’s getting bad enough people are moving out of the city, causing more congestion. Get rid of all the stupid new taxes. Put a 1% toronto sales tax in place on anything bought or sold. We’re all used to paying 15%, would we really be outraged if tax here was 14% instead of 13%? It’s the most non-invasive way to generate the money we apparently need.
So it is still subject to the same enforcement, which IIRC they have to pay for…but yeah you’ll see the OPP there doing their thing.
And lucky I agree with virtually everything, except that while tolling has been “proven to be effective” - a survey or numbers does not really factor in the nuisance of bills coming your way for having driven a certain road etc etc…know what I mean? As in, people there probably hate it, and that’s not necessarily worth the amount collected.
For many new to the city, these bills in the mail will be a surprise and for me anyway, I feel it is a step too far and rubs me the wrong way.
Taxes can go up or down, fees come and go, but once road tolling starts on our roads, it will never end.
