What Fools We Mortal Be – Regional Mayors Support Road Tolling
I see many civic politicians are gambling with theirAi??political futuresAi??with taxpayer’s hubrisAi??by supportingAi??road tolling.
Are they mad?
Evidently so, as they all seem to have collective amnesia over the HST fiasco, which saw the humiliation of just reelected Premier Gordon Campbell beingAi??chased from office.
It seems tax and spend transit policies are the order of the day and zweisystem has a very uneasy feeling that the road tolls are going to be implemented so a $4 billion+Ai??SkyTrain subway is built under Broadway.
It has beenAi??mooted that TransLink wasAi??created to build the RAV/Canada Line subway in Vancouver, subsidized by regional taxpayers and there is an uneasy feeling that regional mayors are being duped again. No wonder the provincial government treat the taxpayers as rubes, because we keep electing village idiots to run municipal business.
Zwei has a few BRE-X and BRICK shares in the drawer, maybe the same mayors will like to buy them? The way they support the idea of road tolling, I think these guys are nothing more than carnival suckers, easy for the taking.
Metro Vancouver mayors hope to avoid property tax incease with host of tollsAi?? and road taxes
By KELLY SINOSKI, Vancouver SunFebruary 24, 2012Vancouver politicians will push the B.C. government to introduce legislation for everything from a regional carbon tax to a vehicle levy by this spring in hopes of avoiding a potential property tax increase in 2013.
Langley Mayor Peter Fassbender, vice-chairman of the mayorsai??i?? council on regional transportation, said the mayors must find new short-term funding by this fall ai??i?? if itai??i??s to be approved as part of TransLinkai??i??s funding plan ai??i?? or they will be forced to hike property taxes by an average $23 per homeowner on Jan. 1, 2013.
Mayors are slated to meet with Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom on March 7.
ai???Weai??i??ve given [Lekstrom] a list of things that could be added tools …,ai??? Fassbender said. ai???Once itai??i??s in the legislation then itai??i??s up to the mayors in the region to work with whatai??i??s in the legislation to find something in the short term.ai???
The mayorsai??i?? council, TransLink and the province are trying to find alternative sources of funding to generate $70 million annually for future transit projects, including the Evergreen Line and express bus service in Surrey and along Highway 1 to Langley. About $40 million of that funding will come from a two-cents-a-litre boost to the gas tax, but mayors hope to raise the other $30 million without raising property taxes ai??i?? although they have that option.
A 12.5-per-cent increase in transit fares is also proposed for 2013.
Lekstrom said Friday he believes there are short-term ai???opportunitiesai??? available but wouldnai??i??t elaborate, saying itai??i??s up to the mayors to come up with a ai???palatableai??? solution. ai???This is about the mayorsai??i?? council,ai??? he said. ai???Theyai??i??re going to have to talk to the people they represent.ai???
Fassbender said the mayorsai??i?? council hopes to have a range of legislation for short-term funding available so they can continue to finance projects while researching longer term options such as road pricing, which could see tolling major water crossings, tolling entry and exit points to defined areas of Metro Vancouver ai??i?? possibly varying by time of day ai??i?? or by tracking and charging for total kilometres driven.
A confidential report, Evaluation of Revenue Sources to Support Transportation Improvements in Metro Vancouver, obtained by The Vancouver Sun, estimates a toll of $1.60 per trip at major bridges and tunnels ai??i?? which are not named ai??i?? could raise $100 million a year. Another table suggests toll revenue could total between $100 million and $200 million a year.
Fassbender said regionwide tolls would be equitable for all residents in Metro and generate significant revenue. TransLink has tolls on the Golden Ears Bridge, and is likely to slap tolls on the new Pattullo Bridge. The province also plans to toll the new Port Mann, which means those living south of the Fraser will bear the brunt of the costs of those projects.
ai???If we do it on the North Shore bridges, south of the Fraser bridges and northeast sector bridges then nobody can say ai???weai??i??re the only ones paying,ai??i??ai??? he said.
Robin Lindsey, a professor of operations and logistics at the University of B.C.ai??i??s Sauder School of Business, said regionwide tolls would also be lower. Vehicles crossing the new Port Mann Bridge will soon be charged $3 each time, while unregistered users of the Golden Ears Bridge pay $4.10 per trip.
ai???As a means of generating revenue it is effective if itai??i??s done comprehensively; if you just toll the Golden Ears Bridge youai??i??re not going to collect a lot of money,ai??? Lindsay said. ai???If you charge for all tolls, which admittedly is a big step, on all the bridges and tunnels, then youai??i??re going to collect for all the trips. You can also argue itai??i??s fair; people are contributing equally.ai???
London has congestion tolling in and out of its city core, as do Shanghai and Singapore. In the U.S., Lindsay said, several states charge tolls on their HOV lanes, which are free to cars with two or more people but allow single-occupancy vehicles to use them for a price.
Lekstrom said he was surprised to hear tolls were being considered for all bridges, tunnels and even the Sea to Sky Highway. ai???Right now the government is not looking at putting tolls on the Sea to Sky.ai???
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said he would oppose regionwide tolls, as his residents would have to pay to get in and out of the island community. He said road pricing ai??i?? paying for the distance travelled ai??i?? would be a fairer alternative as a user-pay system. He also supports a vehicle levy, although Fassbender said that would be unfair to south of the Fraser families, many of whom need three or four cars because of a lack of transit.
But Brodie said Surrey and Langley will benefit the most from the money that will be generated in the future transit plan. ai???Weai??i??ve wasted a year getting to this point,ai??? he said. ai???We have to come up with something fast to get rid of the property taxes.ai???
Meanwhile, Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan said he doubts the mayors will be able to avoid raising taxes next year because the province is not likely to approve a vehicle levy ahead of a provincial election. ai???There are not a lot of palatable choices out there,ai??? he said.
ksinoski@vancouversun.com
Isn’t there already a “shadow toll” on the sea to sky?
Yes the taxpayer pays it.