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To Toll or Not To Toll

Today’s Metro Morning included a discussion of road tolls as a way to fund public transit.  Let’s put this in perspective.

The Gardiner Expressway report talks about a toll equivalent to a transit fare, and it would generate $130-million annually.  What can we get for $130-million?

  • Over 150 new buses per year, or
  • 15 to 20 percent improvement in TTC service, or
  • A 3 year project to build all of the eastern waterfront transit improvements, or
  • A 10 year project to rebuild and expand Scarborough’s transit network, or
  • A 20 year project to build the Spadina Subway to Vaughan

There is an unfortunate tendency to talk about funding sources such as tolls without putting them in context.  We know that the TTC’s own Capital Budget projections require about $1-billion annually for the next 10 years.  This includes about $3-billion worth of subway construction.

We keep talking about better transit, but we need to be honest about the amount of money involved.  $130-million a year is small change beside the Board of Trade’s estimate that congestion costs the GTA $1.8-billion.  Tolls might raise some money, but they are not going to solve all of our funding problems by a long shot, especially if we add major road projects like the Gardiner to our project list.

Any government thinking of funding transit has to face up to one basic fact:  tax revenue (whatever you call it) has to go up.  The only question is which pocket you pick.

7 thoughts on “To Toll or Not To Toll”

  1. I think a secondary argument in favour of Gardiner tolls is that it’s an economic incentive for people to drive less and transit more. I don’t know about transit’s capacity to bear new users, but it’s a way to reduce congestion.

    It also reminds people that highways are subsidized by the government just like public transit is. If we are going to charge user fees, it should at least be for things people overuse.

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  2. I would only support Tolling for 2 reasons…

    1) Gardiner Expressway is bored into a brand new tunnel/trench in a new alignment from Dufferin to DVP. This time beautification must be stressed 100%. Expressways can look beautiful if you attempt to make it. See Central Expressway US 75 in Dallas.

    2) New Tunnel Expressways that will get rid of a good chunk of traffic & secure very nice revenue for the future. The most important routes would be Gardiner Expressway East Extension along Railway land to 401 (6 lanes + 2 HOV). Also a 400/Black Creek Drive Extension to meet the Gardiner Expressway somewhere around Parkside, but done in a way that cannot even be seen using extensive tunnels & “lidding” to hide the ramps.

    Although i know expressways do not solve problems, they do however remove ‘some’ traffic and most particularly freight movements which should never belong on an arterial where pedestrians & light vehicles belong. Trucks & Pedestrians dont mix, see Highway 7 & Jane!!!

    Any New Route or New Construction could use Tolls, otherwise its not really worth it. And most people will use nearby lakeshore to avoid tolls anyways.

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  3. 130 million is 130 million… although tolling the gardiner would be great for the city, as long as they make it fully automated like the 407, the core streets would just fill up. however, if the city tolled for only 10 years, it could pay for itself to be demolished and be built into whatever suits us best.

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  4. Tolls are a good tool, as London, England will attest.

    However, there are two problems with this particular toll proposal with the Gardiner:

    1. The toll is not high enough to really change behaviour.

    2. There are alternate untolled routes.

    I believe that a better proposal would be to set the toll in the range of $10-15 and use 407 style technology to toll every road crossing the Toronto border.

    This proposal would not only change behaviour but also raise a much larger sum of money.

    Kevin Love

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  5. Yes, but that proposal will only make Toronto even worse economically then it is now.

    Check today’s headlines showing that Toronto will possibily loose status of being economic hub with 905 taking away jobs.

    It says Calgary can surpass us.  Only one reason I can think of is that Calgary has the best Expressway system in the west and yet transit lines are outpacing Toronto’s with LRT in Freeway medians.  Cheap way to build both in one.

    Toronto has to lower corporate taxes and at least improve major roadways.  Only toll roadways into downtown if necessary because transit is good.

    But tolling every entry into Toronto is just stupid.

    Steve:  Calgary also has no rush hour to speak of compared with Toronto, and was able to build the freeway network because there were no neighbourhoods in the way.  I take today’s article in the Post with a grain of salt, but it contains one important point: the problem’s of Toronto’s revenue stream are caused by Provincial policies of downloading social services and transit, coupled with overtaxation of businesses for education.

    Collectively, it’s about a $1-billion deficit annually.  Funny how Dalton can carp about the deficit between Ottawa and Queen’s Park, but refuses to admit that one exists between his own government and the major cities of the province.

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  6. Tolling the Gardiner excessway is overdue, but in terms of the politics of it, it’s a shame we have not moved ahead with either the Front St. Transitway idea or more GO trains or something with that quarterbillion of waterfront money that’s now slated for Dumb Growth instead of transit.

    If we’d built some transit instead of pushing the FSE we would soon be in a better spot to push to toll the Gardiner because we’ve provided a transit option.  And I think we have to boost the transit first not just add the fee, but the other gov’ts have to help out and the City has still got to be able to toll, and keep the $.

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  7. Ummm Joseph, Calgary has no Expressways. Calgary ditched it’s expressway plans back in the 70s. All our so called “highways” are really boulevards. The only real highways, are Deerfoot Trial and the Trans Canada Highway.

    With exception of the SE half of the city, most Calgarians ride on the trains to get to work. They only drive to the LRT stations.

    I wish Torontians would stop having this image of gun touting, rightwing-Calgarians.

    Here is the plan which was stated:

    I am so glad we ditched that.

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