By Tom Stoukas
Most drivers in Toronto still aren't willing to cough up some change at toll booths.
Professor Eric Miller, a transportation engineer at the University of Toronto, uses the Gardiner Expressway like thousands of other drivers in the GTA. Unlike some drivers, he can’t understand the big fuss over tolls. He says drivers who bristle when they hear the four-letter word should instead look at how potential revenue from tolls could improve their lives.
“If you think you have trouble on the Don Valley Parkway today just imagine if the Yonge Street subway didn’t exist. Just imagine if GO Transit didn’t exist,” Miller said. “You need a balanced transportation plan. You need to invest in transit… We need to fund the transportation system.”
In its report released in September, Metrolinx, the transit agency formulating a regional transit plan for the GTA, deferred discussion over toll roads until 2013.
Instead, it will concentrate on immediate improvements to GO Transit and construction of new light rail transit (LRT) lines throughout Toronto.
The 25-year plan put forward by Metrolinx calls for $50 billion in new transit infrastructure spending. Less than half of that funding, however, has been guaranteed under the province’s Move 2020 plan, leaving a shortfall of $30 billion.
Transit enthusiasts decried the Metrolinx decision to put tolls on the backburner, especially with the population of the GTA estimated to soar by 40 per cent by 2030, but Edward Levy, a transportation consultant who sat on the Metrolinx advisory committee, said waiting on tolls was the right choice for now.
“It’s probably a reasonable way to go because we have this $12 billion worth of provincial money,” he said. “If projects like the Sheppard, Finch and Eglinton LRT can be done and shown to be workable and attractive then you might have some civic engagement.”
While the GTA was introduced to toll roads in the form of Highway 407, drivers have the opportunity to avoid it in favor of other routes. Introducing tolls on the Gardiner Expressway or Highway 401, however, is a proposition political leaders are desperate to avoid.
Levy pointed to cities such as London and Tokyo that have extensive transit networks which makes the introduction of tolls more acceptable politically.
Experts promote tolls as a great way to fund public transit and get some cars off Toronto's expressways.
“The only reason it continues to work (in London) is that they have an incredible public transport system,” Levy said. “You can’t just impose that on a place like Toronto, which has a skeletal subway system and streetcars stuck on narrow streets with other traffic.”
The Canadian Automobile Association, an organization that represents nearly five million drivers, also sat on the Metrolinx advisory committee. The CAA was pleased with the decision to put the issue of tolls on the back burner. Kris Barnier works as a CAA communications officer.
“It’s more expensive for the motorist and frankly it’s bad for the environment because you’re not getting as good fuel efficiency,” Barnier said, arguing that cars forced to stop at toll booths would burn more gas.
“It’s also a bad safety idea,” he added. “More than likely what’s going to happen is you’re going to steer people from the expressway onto (residential) roads.”
While CAA criticized tolls as counterproductive, it also said drivers pay more than $5 billion annually in gas taxes and registration fees and shouldn’t be punished further.
Miller pointed out that motorists aren’t aware of the full impact of driving, including greenhouse gas emissions, lost productivity and injuries due to car accidents.
University of Toronto Professor Eric Miller specializes in transportation engineering solutions. He says drivers should try looking at the bright side of tolls.
“Despite what CAA and other auto enthusiasts might say, cars don’t pay the full social costs in terms of pollution,” Miller said. “Tolling or congestion pricing is inevitably going to come in order to make motorists aware of the full cost, particularly social and environmental, of their actions.”
Still, CAA insists that the responsibility of funding transit infrastructure through tolls should not be a concern to drivers who choose to live outside the city core, where transit options are limited.
“Transit is a public good and, of course, government should be largely subsidizing it, but to suggest that motorists should be punished for trying to get to work, we have a problem with that,” Barnier said.
While the issue of toll roads is seen as political suicide for politicians at all levels of government, both Levy and Miller say standing idle is not an option. They say that politicians need to craft their message so the public understands the connection between road pricing and the improvement it will bring.
“Road pricing in general has to be part of the solution. The future just doesn’t work with the status quo,” Miller said. “It’s not going to get better unless we do something about it.”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: caa, congestion, gta, metrolinx, move 2020, public transit, road pricing, tolls, Toronto | 1 Comment »
