Why a $5 road toll makes good sense

Lorenzo Mele.

Congratulations to Sarah Thomson, candidate for Mayor of Toronto, for introducing us to her bold vision to support transit expansion in the city. Thomson seems to understand that Toronto needs more than a "cap in hand" funding strategy to support transit expansion since senior levels of government are growing weary of bankrolling our transit vision. And we can’t forget that once the subway and LRT systems are built, money is needed to operate, maintain and ultimately replace them.

The challenge is that such a powerful economic measure must be considered in broader terms than simply collecting $5 from each motorist using the DVP and the Gardiner Expressway to fund subways instead of light rail transit.

As a candidate in a municipal election, it takes courage to introduce unpopular ideas, and it would be unfortunate if we devolve the important discussion that Thomson has started down to the simple "war on cars" or 416 versus 905 struggles. We deserve an informed civil debate to better understand how we might apply a tried-and-true economic strategy to improve traffic congestion, air quality, and fund our transit and cycling dreams.

Road pricing or tolls were used in Roman times, places like Singapore continue to evolve road pricing schemes first introduced there in 1975 as a way to manage ever-growing traffic congestion, and charging a fee for a good or service is the very foundation of our revered market economy.

The "law of supply and demand" is applied effectively to virtually every aspect of our consumer society, save for transportation. Tolls or road pricing implemented strategically across the GTA and Hamilton (not only on the DVP and Gardiner Expressway) and combined with improved transportation services (transit, bike lanes, rapid transit, vanpools, carpool lanes and parking lots, community shuttles) and better land use planning that puts people and the places they need to go to closer together, would transform the way we choose to travel around our city.

Along with rising fuel costs, road tolls would give motorists an economic incentive to seriously consider travel choices other than the private automobile. Overnight we would see increases in carpool activity, and transit use, more employers would allow their employees to work from home, and some people might decide to work closer to where they live or live closer to where they work so that they could cycle or even walk to work.

The interesting thing is that the future is here with respect to road pricing since we have a world class example right in our own backyard. According to www.tollroadnews.com in 2009 the 407 ETR (Express Toll Road) had revenues of $560 million and average weekday trips of 380,000.

The challenge with the 407 ETR is that "we the people" no longer own the highway so we don’t share the revenue, and although that’s a matter that I won’t address through this blog, we are collectively benefiting from having a alternate parallel route to the 401 and Highway 7 that is used daily by transport companies delivering our goods and services and commuters, the majority of which likely have a 905 area code.

Experience world wide has demonstrated that travel demand can be better managed with road pricing than without. As our population grows and our municipal budgets shrink due to competing spending priorities, road tolls will become a vital ingredient in our transportation future as we strive to maintain the quality of life of everyone in our city and surrounding regions.

About Lorenzo Mele

Comments

[Jason]

If you want to put in road tolls in the City of Toronto (those with a postal code starting with "M") should NOT be charged to drive within their own city as I already pay an extra $60 per year on my license plate and get no benefit from paying that tax. Nothing, nada, zilch. Let the 905ers/outsiders pay when they use our roads. I live by Scarborough Town Centre and my girlfriend lives by Sherway Gardens (in Toronto), which is about 40KM one way. We drive across the 401 during off-peak times (7am Saturday morning for example) to see each other to avoid the rush and travel home when it's not busy. Taking the subway to see each other takes FOREVER and only lets me out at Kipling station. Why isn't the subway extended to Sherway Gardens? I know why, the car-happy rich won't allow it. I could walk from there and I would if I could. Currently, I would have to take a bus and who knows when that will ever come and even when it does, 3 show up at the same time and the wrong one stops for me while the one I want drives away! (which has happened plenty of times, hence, why I refuse to use surface TTC vehicles for a couple of years now). TTC will mean TAKE THE CAR for me until I have a viable alternative that is on time, quicker and cheaper.

[ron]

Motorists are already charged gasoline taxes which theoretically were to fund building of roads.

As the cost of gasoline (and gas taxes) increase it will have the same effect of converting more people to public transit.

[Joe]

Here's the truth: Most of us don't have bicycle or transit dreams. Most of us live on tight schedules juggling work, kids, shopping and chores. Most of us are taxed to death as it is with little money left over for saving much it. Most of us pay enough taxes related in one way or another to owning an automobile. Most of us think subways are a great idea. Most of us want politicians to find the money to build subways from the existing money they already collect in taxes because they can't keep coming back to the people for more money. Most of us are tired of hearing how we can't have a great city without paying for it. Last time I checked, we pay well over 50% of our wages to taxes and I'm tired of being asked to pay more so that things can be better. I'm at the point that to make things better, my life is being made worse! Most of us are intelligent enough to know that putting tolls on the Gardiner and DVP will lead to increased traffic on arterial roads and side streets. Only shortsighted individuals believe that by putting road tolls in, the traffic volumes won't decrease on the toll roads and instead increase somewhere else. Just like bicycle lanes were supposed to decrease congestion by replacing a car with a bike ( of course it was assumed that enough people would actually ride bikes to make a difference! ), road tolls will simply increase congestion somewhere else.

[Rash Gordon]

The concept of road tolls, despite their use in the past and in other countries, must be rejected on the grounds of equity. Public road should remain open to all. Gasoline taxes, vehicle licensing fees, and property taxes are used to build and maintain our roads. Fees simply push our poorer citizens from select corridors - roads they already paid for - onto roundabout routes that require more time and fuel to negotiate. Tolls are just a further surcharge, easily paid by the rich, so that certain roads remain uncongested for their own use. This is the real motive behind selling off the 407. It is also why we have Drive Clean in the GTA. An equitable approach would be to allow even numbered plates on even numbered days. This would encourage car pooling and deferred trips - except for the fact that rich people would likely purchase an extra car with alternate plate numbering.

[James Ellis]

My biggest disappointment with Miller - and I had many - was that he didn't implement road tolls. I want to pay them, pass the cost on to my customers and have an easier time earning a living when I have to drive through and across the city. It's only a matter of time before the shrillest and most irrational 'don't tax me' baby boomer waddles into a nursing home and road tolls will be in place.

[Adrian]

This is a very insightful comment. Consolidating the entire transportation network of Toronto would level out the field. Highways and cars received hundreds of billions of dollars worth of investment throughout the 20th century. Transit was ignored and silenced throughout. Now that we know cars are bad for several reasons (economic, environmental, social etc.) on large scales as we have in Toronto, having them fund a more efficient mode of transportation seems logical.

Before all the conservatives start yelling blindly about government extension into the market and so forth, they should realise the extent to which the government distorted the market by backing cars instead of transit. If it was left up to the market, transit would have dominated because it is the most efficient and economic method of travel.

Thomson might get my vote; I am voting pretty any way to keep Rossi out.

[April]

Worst idea ever. I'm going to echo my previous comments and make it very clear. This will affect many families who support a 3 generation household and who are barely living above the poverty line. The residents of Toronto already have to suffer enough with being taxed for license plate renewals, gas tax, property tax - find another means of encouraging public transit and raising funds for transit improvement.

[darkenergy]

This is a serious matter, it would cost myself personally 260.00 per month, this is added to the cost of car, insurance, registration and etc...
Before congratulating each other why someone take look at the situation for middle class people and see how this would impact their lives. Toronto wants to cut tax from her residents, should not dump her problems to other counties.
It seems to me, every few days an article pops up with the same title from different writer??!! and their pictures are up??!! what is this about, people or one's popularity

[Adam Leggett]

Has Toronto actually considered building an expressway? I mean, other than the two or three six laners that already exist? Or perhaps, widening the existing ones? I'm not suggesting paving over the city with concrete, but there are many cities in the US with just a couple hundred thousand people and more expressways than Toronto has.

[Rick]

Great idea to keep us pesky outsiders from entering the 'Kingdom'. It would certainly put a stop to my trips into Toronto for sports, theatre, shopping, etc., I'll just take my business elsewhere.

[Derek]

All of these "costs" everyone is always trying to unload onto those evil 905'ers will eventually be covered by big business. You see, generally (not always) people live in the 905 because its the only place they can afford a home for their family. Real estate in Toronto is far beyond reach of most these days with homes running minimum of $500k and well into the $700-800k range. Condos are not always a viable alternative for those with larger families -- they also aren't cheap when you factor in condo fees etc. So here is how it works: The 905'er drives for almost an hour each day, burning gas and putting lots of mileage on their vehicles. They arrive to their Toronto job, and generally spend around $200.00 per month to park it. They then go to their job and put in their time. They then leave at the end of the day and spend another hour on the road. Some are using the 407 -- a 12-14km drive runs around $150-200 per month. If you add road tolls on top, that ads to the expense "just to have the pleasure of working in Toronto". There is a fine line where it makes sense to quit your job and find something closer to home with less pay (especially if you take all the costs associated with Toronto work into account). Adding tolls will put many against this fine line. Then big business has a choice (when they can't find viable employees anymore) -- either pay a higher salary, or move outside of the city where they can pay lower wages, spend less money on taxes, and have more real estate space per $. What do you think they will do? Do you think there are enough people in Toronto to fill all the necessary positions? My solution would be offering massive government incentives to have these businesses promote teleworking, remote offices, flextime etc. It's 2010, do we really need to all drive 2 hours a day to sit in front of a computer connected to the internet, a voice over IP telephone, and a network drive?

[Tom]

Ah, taxes, the preferred solution to every problem!

[lc]

If the politicians have fore-sights and done their jobs, we would not be in this mess, don’t blame the tax payers

[Jeff Wood]

Eventually, I think that Toronto will have tolls on all the 400 series highways, the Don Valley Parkway, the Gardiner, and the QEW. Along with the benefits mentioned in the article, road tolls would also
- generate a pool of funds that politicians and bureaucrats would not be able to easily appropriate for uses other than for transportation network maintenance and upgrades (since the revenue stream is so well identifiable and visible)
- help with traffic load levelling (especially if you charged a higher toll during rush hours)
- help calm traffic (since the technology could (and should) be used to catch speeders).
- cut down on traffic-related pollution

And I agree with the implied comment about the private ownership of the 407 ETR... ownership of the toll roads should remain in public hands. There is too much opportunity for abuse when private sector companies have a monopoly on an essential good or service (transportation networks, provision of drinking water, garbage collection, medical services, etc.). Sure, privatization proponents will argue that the governments will end up being in control through regulation, but that argument no longer holds any water after seeing the debacle of the "regulated" financial industry in the US (not to mention the terrifying examples of neo-conservative greed and recklessness examined in Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" or the damning indictment of the corporate pursuit of profit-above-all-else mentality discussed in Joel Bakan's "The Corporation".).

So Rocco Rossi, be warned! If you think you can balance Toronto's budget through privatization of public goods and services, you had better come up with an iron-clad plan for protecting the public from being gouged once those assets are in private hands! Not that you will be able to, of course... the very political system we have in place makes that pretty much an impossibility!

[Whitfit]

Bring on the road tolls. A congestion charge, too. I live and work downtown. I pay taxes, and I hate having my city dominated by cars.

The outside environment of Toronto is dominated almost everywhere by cars.

Cars are a cancer on our cities, and the more we can do without them, the better off we'll be.

[Ed Mann]

The reason for our traffic congestion in Toronto is because of the inefficiencies and waste that exist in Toronto City Council and the TTC. Everyone prefers to drive, even though we have the most congested city in the world, because it is faster than taking the TTC.
Whoever says tolls will solve the TTC and transit expansion crisis needs to be laughed at. And laughed at mockingly for that matter. For every five dollars that is collected in tolls, three dollars will go to the Union and its employees, and two dollars will go to expand transit.
Do you know that every TTC employees gets two days of for their birthdays. Do you know that if a TTC employee can use their uniform allowance on any type of clothes at Mark Works Warehouse.
How is it possible Sir, that a TTC Ticket collector makes over one hundred thousand dollars. And we have the TTC defending it. Haven't we ever heard of part time jobs. Haven't we ever heard of contracting out jobs. Don't we know that the TTC employees are employees of the City and not the Unions. Don't we know that that each employee has a "JOB DESCRIPTION", and working to rule or going slow, is a violation of their employment contract.
So if you think that road tolls will solve our issue.. think again sir.

[RustyB]

Bottom line...519ers and 905ers....start being part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
Your choice to move outside of the city and commute is your choice....here is a novel idea try living close to where you work! wow..what a novelty.
The government of the City of Toronto is there to defend the intereste of it citizens. NOT commuters. You are spewing polution in my city where I actually live and work...Noone in the city cares about your concerns nor should they. Take your beefs to your oun municpal councils and stay out of my business.

[Gordon]

Road tolls? Bring it on. We need to change our behaviour and we need to fund and promote alternative means of transportation. We really have no choice. I live downtown and work in Markham and would happily ride my bike most days but the routes are so not bike friendly. How about using toll money to put protected bike corridors along major highways like the 404 (or developing better routes along standard roadways). I'd use them and there would be less cars on the road.

[Booker]

In theory, I love the concept explained by Mele. By introducing user fees for roads, it means that the "poorer folks" using public transit shouldn't have to pay for all you rich folks who use your cars. The problem is that in practice, a road toll tax will not "correct" or rebate the road taxes already being paid by public transit riders. In order to add an incentive, I would suggest offering a free toll for using the HOV lanes. The great thing about road tolls is that it places accountability and decision making in the hands of users - if you want to save money, take the arterial roads; if you want speed, then pay for it; if you can't afford the tolls, take public transit. btw, Joe, as much as I hate your "rich vs. poor" argument, I love the "even-numbered plates" solution.

[chris]

It would be interesting to see if doing this drives jobs out of Toronto (and into the 905) or increases (even more) the real estate values INSIDE toronto.

[John house]

Move out of toronto. IT seems to me that the price of living there is to high. businesses should move to ,and take empolyee,s with them. There are lots of small communities in ontario that can offer a cheaper and better standard of living. Look around . I moved and saved thousands . Housing cheaper don,t have to drive as far to work. Better all around life. Toronto and area just a money grab.

[Larry]

Mele mentions Singapore's electronic road pricing (ERP), the most established and sophisticated system to date (at least until ERP is introduced in the Netherlands in the next 10 years or so) but seems to think a flat $5 will fix everything.

What we could do is gradully eliminate, for drivers in Toronto and/or the GTA, registration fees, taxes on new cars, fuel taxes, emissions test charges, etc., and then charge according to the use that they make of roads within a defined area. Rates can be differentiated according to time and place that driving occurs and the environmental characteristics of the vehicle. Drive more, pay more. Drive less, pay less. Pollute more, pay more. Let's stop pretending that driving is free and start charging according to road use.

[Mark]

It appears one intention of road tolls is to encourage more people to take transit, which is a lovely thought, but exactly what transit are these people supposed to take? I subway daily, and board at Donlands. Somewhere between 5 and 10% of the time, I'm unable to board the train because it's already too full. We can't be using cost to force more people onto the service until we have capacity to handle them!

[JP]

I currently live in London, UK and they do have congestion charge system with in the City during weekdays 7am-6pm. The current charge is £8.00 a day(silly money considering minimum wage is less then that an hour) and yet the traffic is always on stand still. Same amount of people still drives through the city and pays £8.00/day. Congestion charge does not solve traffic problems.. its just inplace to ripoff general public and to make some government officials rich.
And I’ve been to Singapore.. The only reason they don’t have traffic problem as bad as Toronto is because car is a luxury and normal people can not afford it. Plus if Toronto had a weather like Singapore.. Surly lot more people would be taking their bike to work or walk.

[Mark]

I honestly think this is ridiculous. We have a transit system that is funded by our gas taxes, we a transit system that if something goes wrong in the downtown core it takes people 2 hours or more to get home, 20 buses cannot carry as many people as one train can carry. Imagine living in the Yonge and Finch area and having to take transit to Mississauga, that is a 2 hour ride across the city using the subway and bus how is that a better way to travel, even in rush hour traffic it only takes 1 hour to get there using the 401. When the 407 was given to a company to run and collect tolls did the tax payers get there initial investment back, NO all that has happened the government just keeps taking more money from us not only that they take the company to court to complain they are charging too much, did know one think that they would be taking advantage of the average driver. Again how is the 407 faster when they are just as many people complaining that a lot of the times it can be just as slow as the 401 do the users of the 407 get a reduced rate or discounts when there are problems on the 407? Not likely...Has anyone really looked outside this country to see what the transit systems are like, they are amazing you mention Singapore there subway system is by far much better than ours so maybe we get a better transit system then we can start talking about tolling the road...Check out Japan's subway system I have ridden it and it is extensive it makes Toronto's look like a joke. Lets stop robbing the little guy and start using our tax money wisely some of us actually work really hard for the dollars and cents that we have in our pocket and would like to see it used a little more wisely.